In Chapter 2 of Frankenstein, Victor
begins the study of mathematics, but it is "destiny" that causes him to change his
course of study to natural philosophy:
Before this I was not unacquainted with the more
obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural
philosophy was with us, and, excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation
of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was
at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade
Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by
some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies.
It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that had so long engaged
my attention suddenly grew despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind, which we
are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations; set
down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation; and
entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science, which could never even step
within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook
myself to the mathematics, and the branches of study appertaining to that
science, as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my
consideration.
It is destiny
that causes him to meet M. Waldman, who develops Victor's passion for the natural
sciences of galvanism, electromagnetism, and alchemy. Victor might have been a good
mathematician, if he were devoid of passion. But his passion causes him to pursue his
dreams and the God-like ideal, and so he seeks intuitively to seek the answers to
stopping death through the life sciences.
The Romantics
believed heavily in destiny. To them, it was the inevitable by-product of their
passions. So says Victor:
"I would account to myself for the birth of that
passion, which afterwards ruled my
destiny, I find it arise, like a mountain river, from
ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the
torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and
joys.
Victor ends the chapter
thusly:
It was
a strong effort of the spirit of good; but it was
ineffectual. Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws
had decreed my utter and terrible
destruction.
This brash
idealism will cause Victor to rationalize his abuses of science (playing God and
isolating himself from others, all for the sake of discovery). His belief in passion
and destiny is reckless. Perhaps the world would have been safer if he had chosen
mathematics.
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