Read the passage from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the
evil principle, and at another as all that can be conceived of as noble and godlike.
What word best describes the tone of this passage?
1. threatening
2. sentimental
3. philosophical
4. melancholy lo

I believe the word that best describes the tone of the passage is:

3. philosophical.

Explanation:

The passage is questioning the very nature of man - our capacity to be both good and evil, vile and noble. The beginning of the passage itself presents a philosophical question: "Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent yet so vicious and base?" Philosophy has as its purpose the questioning of our assumptions and understandings concerning different topics - for instance life, morals, behavior, meanings, etc. A passage that questions human nature seems, therefore, to be a philosophical passage.

no

explanation: