In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley challenges the motivations and ethical uncertainties of the science of her time period. This is a consideration that has become increasingly pertinent to our time, as we see modern scientists venturing into what were previously unimaginable territories of science and nature, through the use of things like human cloning and genetic engineering. Through careful evaluation, we can see how the novel illustrates both the potential dangers of these scientific advances and the conflict between them and creationism. Before the publication of Frankenstein, Shelley had been interested in advances in science and theories about the future of science. . In the introduction to the novel MK Joseph states that "Shelley was writing in the dawn of modern science, when its enormous possibilities were just beginning to be seen" (Shelley, xii). Considering that Shelley was a Romantic, post-Enlightenment developments, such as experiments with electricity (galvanism), and other emerging concepts of evolution were of great concern to her. The latest scientific studies of their time offered Shelley, her husband, and those with whom they associated with many topics for discussion: "Many and long were the conversations between Byron and Shelley... various philosophical doctrines were discussed, and among others the principle of life, and whether there was any probability of its ever being discovered and communicated,” Shelley wrote in her 1831 introduction. It is evident that in her story Mary Shelley chose to convey a symbolic meaning concerning the scientific researches of her time, but the meaning The question remains: what was the message he intended? In his 1818 preface, Shelley writes, “I have thus endeavored to p… half the paper… and excellent natures owe their existence to me” (Shelley, 54). This tests both his lust for greatness and the power of his ego. In a document of literary criticism, the scholar Lunsford argues that it was certainly Frankenstein's "quest for social position that led to his downfall" (Lunsford). Finally, Shelley suggests a powerful and dangerous goal of science: the search for immortality. “I thought,” he explains, “that if I could impart animation to lifeless matter, I could in time… renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.” While Shelley's ideas are conveyed through Frankenstein's words and actions, Kass's observation is more overt: "Indeed, the prolongation of healthy and vigorous life and, ultimately, the victory over mortality is perhaps the goal central and the meaning of the modern scientific project" (Kass, 300).