The Role Of The Modern Prometheus In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
The contrast between humanity and god rests across the thin line of divinity. God, the gods, or simply the creator god, use their “divine” will to create life. Humans, in their own right, use their own power to parent life. Both invoke the same sense of authority, but only one holds the gift of creation from truly nothing. Victor Frankenstein, of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, steps across the boundary between humanity and god and, while Frankenstein’s act of creation is grand, Shelley purposefully designed Frankenstein’s experiment as a crude mockery of godly creation to illustrate the fall of humanity as caused by the Enlightenment movement. By simply titling her novel ‘The Modern Prometheus’, Shelley is not only naming
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His rebellious nature combined with his defiant compassion made for a hero, romantic writers could believe in (Hustis 848). Shelley titled her story ‘The Modern Prometheus’ to send a message: the Enlightenment’s destruction of everything Prometheus stood for. Frankenstein is the Modern Prometheus because, had the figure of Prometheus exist in Shelley’s time, Prometheus would have turned down the same path as Frankenstein. Prometheus, when discouraged away from alchemy, would have rebelled just as Frankenstein had, by obsessing over his creation. Because of the lack of romanticism in the world of Frankenstein, Prometheus would not have known how to live in tranquility. And, because of the focus on Enlightenment values, Prometheus would have been ever focused on using science to create a better life. Thus, Shelley sends the message to her fellow romantics and to the remainder of the world, her belief in the destruction of society caused by the Enlightenment movement. Shelley set about to write a ghost story and that is exactly what she did. Prometheus, who represents romantic ideals, is turned into a cold self-serving scientist because of the Enlightenment. He lacks compassion because of the world he lives in and turns from the savior of humanity to its destroyer. And in Frankenstein’s final moments, the Modern Prometheus is
His rebellious nature combined with his defiant compassion made for a hero, romantic writers could believe in (Hustis 848). Shelley titled her story ‘The Modern Prometheus’ to send a message: the Enlightenment’s destruction of everything Prometheus stood for. Frankenstein is the Modern Prometheus because, had the figure of Prometheus exist in Shelley’s time, Prometheus would have turned down the same path as Frankenstein. Prometheus, when discouraged away from alchemy, would have rebelled just as Frankenstein had, by obsessing over his creation. Because of the lack of romanticism in the world of Frankenstein, Prometheus would not have known how to live in tranquility. And, because of the focus on Enlightenment values, Prometheus would have been ever focused on using science to create a better life. Thus, Shelley sends the message to her fellow romantics and to the remainder of the world, her belief in the destruction of society caused by the Enlightenment movement. Shelley set about to write a ghost story and that is exactly what she did. Prometheus, who represents romantic ideals, is turned into a cold self-serving scientist because of the Enlightenment. He lacks compassion because of the world he lives in and turns from the savior of humanity to its destroyer. And in Frankenstein’s final moments, the Modern Prometheus is