Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, also known as “The Modern Prometheus, was published in 1818. It is an example of the Gothic novel. The story revolves around a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates an artificial man with corpses as a part of a science experiment. The scientist meets his end at the hands of his own creation, displaying the underlying irony of the situation.

The novel also explores the theme of ambition and its consequences through the characters of Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton. As a young scientist, Victor is ambitious to venture into unorthodox science experiments to achieve glory as the greatest scientist. Blinded by the pursuit of glory, Victor’s attempt at playing God turns awry when the creature begins to destroy his life physically and mentally. This forces Victor to admit his mistake and he succumbs to the consequence of his actions, killed by the monster he created.

Robert Walton too is an example that can be considered for this theme. Heeding all warnings posed to him, Walton takes a crew on an exploratory endeavor to reach the North Pole. In the end, he is also forced to abandon his treacherous journey, but accepts it out of defeat and anger for the loss of his glory. Thus, the role of ambition and its consequences are explored in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, also known as “The Modern Prometheus, was published in 1818. It is an example of the Gothic novel. The story revolves around a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates an artificial man with corpses as a part of a science experiment. The scientist meets his end at the hands of his own creation, displaying the underlying irony of the situation.

The novel also explores the theme of ambition and its consequences through the characters of Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton. As a young scientist, Victor is ambitious to venture into unorthodox science experiments to achieve glory as the greatest scientist. Blinded by the pursuit of glory, Victor’s attempt at playing God turns awry when the creature begins to destroy his life physically and mentally. This forces Victor to admit his mistake and he succumbs to the consequence of his actions, killed by the monster he created.

Robert Walton too is an example that can be considered for this theme. Heeding all warnings posed to him, Walton takes a crew on an exploratory endeavor to reach the North Pole. In the end, he is also forced to abandon his treacherous journey, but accepts it out of defeat and anger for the loss of his glory. Thus, the role of ambition and its consequences are explored in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.