Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, demonstrates themes of life and the dangers of scientific ambition. Victor Frankenstein is a young devoted scientist. As a child he learns of older philosophers and their ideas even though they had been proven to be wrong over time. When he goes to college, he learns that everything he's studied is wrong. Even so he falls back into his old studies and with good intentions develops the elixir of life. Victor goes on to create a new race, but seeing its ugliness he turns his back on it and it causes his downfall. Victor treads too far into the realm of god and that is shown through his ambition, his irresponsibility, and his narrow-mindedness.

Victor's ambition causes him to go too far and break the morals of society. Victor addresses this when he says, "I believed myself destined for some great enterprise. My feelings...