Victor Frankenstein can be considered to be a tragic character. His flaw is one many in our world face, that of a lack of foresight. They fail to see all the consequences of their actions, and are shattered when they find out what they have done. Victor is an example of one fictional character in which this leads to his downfall.

In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, we hear the tale of Victor Frankenstein. He had, while younger, been convinced by ancient tales of medical miracles that it is possible to create life, and to restore it to where it once had been. When his mother died of the scarlet fever, he decided that it was time to depart for Ingolstadt, to put what he learned into practice.

There, he was alternately mocked and encouraged by his professors. He discovered the key to the problem that he was attempting to solve, and finally managed to figure out a way to revive the dead.

I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation...
(original text)

Victor's quest was not to destroy life, however. He was not some sort of social outcast, but rather had a reasonably "normal" life. He did not need science to create life, he had Elizabeth for that. But the creation of life was not Victor Frankenstein's goal. It was the elimination of death.

It is the obsession with the downfall of death (Almost certainly caused by the death of his mother, by his own omission the first tragedy that befell him.) that blinded him to the consequences of his experiments: that when death is ended, the result is life.

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?
(original text)

It is the lack of planning for the consequences of his experiments that leads, at least somewhat, to his reaction at it's birth. While it's true that most characters in the novel regard the creature's appearance as hideous, it's also true that the same is true at the moment of a normal birth. It's simply millions of years of genetic programming that prevents a sense of revulsion of the latter, while the creation of a creature that is both newborn and full-grown triggers no such programming.

As a result of the initial reaction, Frankenstein's relationship to his creation falls into a set pattern of irresponsibility and retribution that continues for the course of the novel. A warning, perhaps, to those who would ignore the consequences of their work.

In the time that has passed between the initial publication of Frankenstein and today, science and technology have marched on. But Shelley's message has not always gone heeded. For now we move from the day of Frankenstein to that of Einstein, and the high stakes nuclear arms race the world has been in since World War II.

Albert Einstein's letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt was perhaps the most important factor in convincing the president of the necessity and desirability of nuclear weaponry. The Manhattan project gained funding and prestige, and in 1945 the results of it were dropped on Japan.

Einstein was horrified by the destructive potential of this new weapon, and changed his mind about them. He became the president of several groups in opposition to nuclear disarmament. He realized his mistake, and was dedicated to correcting it... but like Frankenstein, not until it was too late.

Shelley's message, as relevant as it may be to people today, will likely be ignored as science moves toward the specialization needed to make progress. The results will be left for history to judge.