In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley questions the ethical motivations and uncertainties of the scientific developments of her time. This critique has become increasingly relevant as modern scientists venture into previously unimaginable areas of the natural world through cloning and genetic engineering. Through careful analysis, we can see how the novel illustrates both the potential dangers of these exploits and the irony of the conflicts between science and creationism. Before history was born, Mary Shelley had begun to learn about advances and speculations in science. world of the early 19th century; in the introduction to Frankenstein, editor MK Joseph asserts that "Mary Shelley wrote at the beginning of modern science, when its enormous possibilities were just beginning to be seen" (xii). Interest in electricity, premature concepts of evolution, and other post-Enlightenment developments attracted the attention of Mary and her lover, the English writer Percy Shelley. Scientific news and rumors were many topics of discussion between the Shelleys and their peers: "The conversations between Byron and [Percy] Shelley were numerous and long...various philosophical doctrines were discussed, and among others the principle of life , and whether there was any probability that it would ever be discovered and communicated," Shelley wrote in his 1831 introduction. Marylin Butler, in her article "The first Frankenstein and Radical Science," describes how William Lawrence, a physician, lecturer and friend of the Shelleys, may have had a profound influence on the Shelleys' scientific perceptions and opinions. Butler reports that Lawrence was a keen student of "materialist science", a middle of paper ......ngman York Press, 1992. Garber, Frederick. Self-autonomy from Richardson to Huysmans. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982. Kass, Leon R. Toward a More Natural Science. New York: The Free Press, 1985. Levine, George. The endurance of Frankenstein. Los Angeles: Moers, 1974. Nelkin, Dorothy. “Genetics, God and Sacred DNA.” Society May/June 1996: 22-25. Patterson, Arthur Paul. A Frankenstein study. http://www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/Frankenstein.htmlShelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. Smith, Christopher. Frankenstein as Prometheus. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankCS.htmlSpark, Muriel. Mary Shelly. New York: Dutton, 1987. Williams, Bill. On Shelley's use of nature imagery. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankWJW.html