Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein  was quite a masterpiece. Shelley had depicted a tale about a man's quest for power. A person who was born with everything and was given all the love, but was still unsatisfied with what he had and made a quest to defy the laws of nature and create this being to prove that we can do anything and survive death. But for a man who was willing to do anything for his cause, the minute the creation had come alive, Dr. Frankenstein was so horrified by his looks that he couldn't look beyond the exterior form and was so shallow that he abandoned his work immediately and this is what lead to the downfall of the doctor's life and ultimately his death. Shelley shows the true nature of mankind and how man and women are never satisfied with what they have and we are always reaching for more, but if for some reason it doesn't come out the way we intended, ninety-nine percent of the time we dismiss it like Dr. Frankenstein and abandon all hope because we fear the chance it may be different. This novel is based on the theory that playing God will only lead us to man's downfall (at least in my opinion) because as you can see Victor could not handle the responsibility of his creation and abandoned it on laying his eyes on it for the first time. But Shelley also shows us the nature of raising a being (the creature) and how good or bad influences can affect its actions, just like raising a baby. Now let's begin like every story at the beginning. This novel takes place in the artic where a man named Robert Walton is on a journey to reach the North Pole. On the way he finds this individual in the snow and this is where you are first introduced to Dr. Frankenstein. The main plot is taken aboard the ship and it is a story that the doctor recants to Walton. The good Doctor begins with his early life from childhood up until the point where he meets Walton in the ice. Like any story by Shelley or any other author, she gives the back story to the main character to appeal to the reader and feel sympathy (but after reading this story, I do not feel bad for Dr. Frankenstein) to the main protagonist, but be prepared for what is up ahead. The story shifts to Victor's childhood and how he grew up. His family loved him and was very supportive in his work. As he grew older he had fallen in love with the woman that the Frankenstein family had adopted, her name was Elizabeth. Now even has he was growing up Victor was always reaching for more. He wanted to make the best of himself (and sometimes I think he was trying to impress his parents to) and reach his true potential. A line from the text had said "No youth could have passed more happily than mine. My parents were indulgent, and my companions amiable. Our studies were never forced; and by some means we always had an end placed in view, which excited us to ardour in the prosecution of them.  (Shelley VI, CI 21). You could see by his recollection of his childhood, that he was quite loved and cherished by his friends and family. He was never forced to do his studies, but his parents encouraged him to do what makes him happy. Frankenstein troubles began a few years later when his mother became ill and died suddenly. Her death really hit him hard; even though you didn't really see any emotion from Victor his actions spoke louder than words. Her death motivated him to go to school at Ingolstadt and start studying science (in particular chemistry). His new found sensation with death motivated him to solve man's greatest question "How to cheat death.  I feel his unresolved issues with his mother passing, has left a sort of scar on his soul and the doctor never really coped her death leaving him with