Immanuel Kant was born on the 22nd of April 1724 in Konigsberg, Prussia (now called Kaliningrad, Russia). He was born into a family of Lutheran Protestant faithful during the age of enlightenment. He was educated at Collegium Fridericianum and the University of Konigsberg and his main interests are epistemology (theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion), metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and cosmogony.

https://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/ethics/kantian%20ethics.htm

Immanuel Kant believed that a person should be judged on what their intentions were, not the outcome that occurred due to their actions and this comes together to create someones (lack of) moral wealth.

Anyway, Immanuel believed that actions were not “rightful” or “wrongful” based on their actions, rather they were rightful or wrongful based on the intention behind the action. This theory is an example of a deontological moral theory. Kant says that a person is “good” or “bad” depending on the motivation and reason behind their actions, and not on the consequences of the actions that were partaken. He says if this drive was based on morality (right or wrong) then a person can gain moral worth, but if a person was driven by desire or emotion, they will not gain moral worth (this can relate to Victor Frankenstein as his drive to create the creature was not considering morality at all, he was driven by his desire to be a leading figure, to be successful and knowledgeable and to be in charge. Because of this, he gains no moral wealth and his intentions would have left him judged, as they weren’t good intentions). According to Kant, a good person is somebody to does actions based on their duty, something you would do whether it’s enjoyable to not, but it is for the better good. This can also relate to the creature, as – at the beginning of the novel – his intentions were only to find Frankenstein and find acceptance and a place in the world. His actions were often misunderstood by the people around him, as all they saw was a monster, not a creature with pure intention. This is where Kant would say that the creature had good intention and thus he is a good person, however, this may change later on in the novel as the creature’s actions become more sinister and he intends to hurt Victor and the people around him purposefully.

A couple of quotes from Immanuel are, “An action, to have moral worth, must be done from duty.” This quote shows that a good decision is one made for the intention to be done for a good cause, whether or not the person enjoys it, but it is the right thing to do. This can relate to Frankenstein as the reason behind Frankenstein’s actions were that of self-obsession, and he only undertook the actions he did to bring himself to a God-like level with the creature being one of his followers.

Another quote is “Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we make ourselves worthy of happiness.” This quote shows that what is right or wrong is not decided by what will make a person happy, but choosing to do the right or wrong thing will determine whether or not somebody should be happy. Relating to Frankenstein, Victor never really succeeds in happiness. He always seems to have misery following him, before he makes the creature following the death of his mother, after creating the creature, and after the creature attacks his brother and his wife. It could be said that following Kant’s theory, he didn’t deserve this happiness and thus he never found it, as he didn’t make himself worthy of happiness by having dark intentions behind his actions. Since the beginning, Victor made decisions based on what they would do for him, whether it makes him rich in knowledge, thus better than others, or being a God-like person with followers.

Paragraphs above-containing information about human morality and human action is from: https://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/ethics/kantian%20ethics.htm