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What is the main idea, or message, of Frankenstein by Mary Shelly?

There are a number of themes in Frankenstein, as there are in any great work of literature, but perhaps the idea that Shelley emphasizes most in the novel is the dangers of unchecked ambition, or in other words, the consequences of humans playing God. In vowing to understand the nature of life and death and in building and bringing to life a creature assembled of the parts of dead bodies, Victor Frankenstein essentially tries to play the role of "the Creator," usurping both divine authority and the natural birth process (he takes the mother out of the equation altogether). The novel goes on to show the disastrous consequences of Victor's actions. 


Not only does Victor take upon himself powers that should not, it is implied in the novel, be given to man or to science, he also shirks his "parental responsibilities" after he awakens the creature. Victor runs from his creature in fear and disgust, forcing it to fend for itself in a world for which it is woefully unprepared. Here, Shelley also implies that Victor is being punished for his lack of forethought, or the fact that his ambition to be the first and only man to understand and control the fine line between life and death, as Victor had no plan as to how he would rear the creature after "birthing" it. Victor's choice to abandon his creature plants the seed for the creature's animosity and aggression later in the novel. 


Victor's ambition eventually results in the deaths of everyone he cares about, as the creature kills Victor's younger brother, and later his wife and best friend, to avenge Victor's broken promise -- that he would make the creature a female companion. Victor's father dies of the stress and grief of all of the family tragedies that are the result of Victor's actions. When Victor is picked up by Robert Walton and his shipmates at the start of the novel, Victor is wasted away and near death, all in pursuit of the creature so he and it can put an end to each other. 


Essentially,  the novel is a cautionary tale against excessive ambition in that it shows the disastrous consequences of a man trying to play God. 

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