'Concept of Prometheus Within Frankenstein\r'

'The concept of â€Å"Prometheus” deep down bloody shame Shelley’s â€Å"Frankenstein” Index Introduction †3 classical Promethean invention †4 The mod Prometheus †5 Conclusion †7 Bibliography †8 Introduction In this short work, it go out be made an write up about what is the Greek Promethean myth and the message so-and-so this myth. It will also be made a comparison between this message and the subjacent field of the â€Å" new(a) Prometheus” in Mary Shelley’s â€Å"Frankenstein”.Looking at the main character of Mary Shelley’s novel, it will also be important to describe in what way, and according to the Greek Promethean myth, winner Frankenstein is the â€Å"Modern Prometheus” as referred in the title of the book. Greek Promethean myth The Promethean myth first appeared in the late 8th-century BC Greek epic poet Hesiods Theogony. He was a son of the colossus Iapetus, one of the Oceanids (keepe rs of the water). In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a goliath whose name meant â€Å"forethought”, and indeed, he was verbalize to have got the abi lighten upy to look into the future.Prometheus was the cr wash upor of macrocosmkind. The goddess Athene taught him architecture, astronomy, mathematics, navigation, medicine, and met allurgy, and he in turn taught them to hu kind-hearteditys. genus genus Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods, became raving mad at Prometheus for making people powerful by teaching them all told these useful skills. He is the junior brother of Atlas, who was banished to Tartarus during the titanomachy. Prometheus, however, locationd with the gods in the war, having foreseen their victory. Helios and Epimetheus also chose to defect.In doing so, Prometheus also strain to persuade his brother Atlas and their father Iapetus to side with the Olympians, but both of them ignored his attempts. After the large War, Prometheus fashioned man from t runk and helped them, even to the floor of severely angering Zeus and, when the gods chose Prometheus as arbiter in a dispute, he fooled the gullible Zeus into choice the worst parts of the sacrificial bull by hiding them under a rich shape of fat. To punish Prometheus, Zeus withheld bolt from men. â€Å"Let them eat their flesh raw,” he declared.In response, Prometheus, snuck up to Mount Olympus, lit a torch from the sun, and hid a burning humankind of charcoal in a hollow stalk. He slipped away with it and thus de colorfuled fire to mankind. As penalization however, Zeus then chained him to a push-down stack for an Eagle to peck out his liver-colored all(prenominal) to have it regenerated through the night. Heracles eventually killed the eagle and freed Prometheus, which Zeus allowed as he deemed Prometheus suffering sufficient. Modern Prometheus The Modern Prometheus is Mary Shelley’s novel subtitle (though approximately modern publishings of the work now drop the subtitle, mentioning it only in an introduction).The term â€Å"Modern Prometheus” was actually coined by Immanuel Kant, referring to Benjamin Franklin and his experiments with electricity (this having to do with the way the instrument was brought to life). As mentioned before, Prometheus was the Titan who created mankind, a task prone to him by Zeus. He was to create a organism with clay and water in the image of the gods. Prometheus taught man to hunt, read, and heal their sick, but after he tricked Zeus into accepting poor-quality offerings from humans, Zeus kept fire from mankind. Prometheus took patronise the fire from Zeus to give to man.When Zeus detect this, he sentenced Prometheus to be eternally penalise by fixing him to a rock where each sidereal day an eagle would peck out his liver, only for the liver to regrow the next day because of his immortality as a god. He was intended to suffer alone for all of eternity, but eventually Heracles (Hercules) released him. The way Prometheus makes man from clay and water is a relevant theme to Frankenstein, as superscript rebels against the laws of nature (how life is naturally made) and as a result is punished by his creation.The Titan in the Greek mythology of Prometheus parallels original Frankenstein. Victors work by creating man by new means reflects the like innovative work of the Titan in creating humans. concord to the original myth, fire was the one thing that man was non supposed to have because it belonged solely to the Gods, so when Prometheus stole fire for man, it meant that man was trespassing on immortal territory and man suffered because of Prometheuss gift. While Prometheus had his liver eaten every day, Victor didn’t have an organ ripped violently from his lower torso.But he did suffer a similar form of prolonged torture: all his loved ones creation singled out and killed. He was non punished for stealing fire, but he was punished for trespassing on immo rtal territory by playing God. Also, fire is associated with goodness and knowledge. Fire is emblematic of human progress as well as the dangers of human invention, or possibly the dangers of nature as opposed to humans, and Victor’s creature is paralleled to fire in the Greek Myth: the creature could be good or bad, depending on how much handle you take in approaching it. And in Victor’s case, that would be no care at all.While fire is good and useful, bringing warmth and the talent to cook, it can also be a weapon, a massively caustic force, if non properly controlled. The demon is the same. He had so much potential for good. He desired to be good, gentle, kind, and loving, but at every turn he was denied. Because of this he became a destructive force bent on the ruin of his maker. Victor Frankenstein is plagued by his creation. He is hunted, haunted, and tormented. The rest of his life becomes a game, a chase between creator and created. some(prenominal) like Prometheus, Frankenstein suffers greatly for the good he tried to do. However, there are differences.Fire is an unthinking, unfeeling thing. It need not be taught. It does not control love. Fire did not require anything from Prometheus. The monster, on the other hand, was a being of great depth and feeling. He was capable of proceeds and good, but his master neglected and abandoned him. Frankenstein should not have abandoned the thing he created. He should have face up what he had done and tending(p) it a chance at a remedy life. There is also an other interpretation for this, by chance a more than plain one. In more recent science fiction, the Promethean myth is utilise in the following way: mankind receives technology that is beyond their understanding.For instance, in the TV show â€Å"Stargate”, the first human interstellar ship is called â€Å"Prometheus” and it is build with the help of an foreign race. This concept can also be applied to the work of Ma ry Shelley, explaining that men do require time and study to understand things as they very are. The creature was not bad. It was made bad by men surrounding it. So, it can be said that both Prometheus and Frankenstein successfully created human life and faced results not in line with their expectations. In an attempt to help their creations, both Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein caused more ravish and disorder.This eventually led to the harm of both, either through death or eternal torture. Conclusion As we could see, there are many similarities between the stories of Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein. Both tried to do â€Å"bend” the rules, in order to achieve something they believed would be beneficial. But in the end, they both caused more harm than good. Bibliography Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Ed. Susan J. Wolfson. tonic York: Pearson Longman, 2007 Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths, Moyer Bell Ltd. , 1955. Mellor, Anne K.Mary Shelley: Her Life, her Fiction, Her Monsters. London: Routledge, 1990 Why is Frankenstein subtitled The Modern Prometheus? , available in http://www. angelfire. com/anime5/frank/Prometheus. html Frankenstein as Prometheus, available in http://cmaree. hubpages. com/hub/Frankenstein-as-Prometheus Analysis on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, available in http://www. articlemyriad. com/analysis-frankenstein-mary-shelley Who was Prometheus? , available in http://www. enotes. com/frankenstein/q-and-a/frankenstein-who-was-prometheus-262555\r\n'