3
Prometheus Bound
Frankenstein
LITERARY CONNECTIONS
Dr. Frankenstein may be considered a nineteenth century version of the Medieval German necromancer Dr. Faust whose story is also the basis for Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus. With his desire to control and manipulate nature, Dr. Frankenstein recalls the magician Dr. Faustus, who sells his soul to the Devil to go beyond the human knowledge but is finally destroyed by his ambition. The story gives origin to the famous myth of Faust.
Dr. Frankenstein is also a modern Titan Prometheus of Greek mythology in his desire to overcome man’s limitations and gain God-like power. The full title of Mary Shelley’s novel is Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus and the influence of the myth of Prometheus as described by the Greek dramatist Aeschylus in his tragedy Prometheus Bound may be noted. For the Romantics, Prometheus became a symbol of man’s resistance to and rebellion against political despotism.
Whereas in the Greek myth, Prometheus bows before the power of the gods, the hero of P.B. Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound” is relentless in his resistance and glorifies the virtues of revolt, representing authority (political, religious and scientific) as responsible for men’s sufferings.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein combines characteristics of the mythological hero with those of the Romantic one. Like Aeschylus’ Prometheus, Frankenstein defies God and upsets the pre-established nature of the universe. Like the Romantic Prometheus, he does so by manipulating science and thus resisting traditional authority, especially that of the church.
Mary Shelley’s metaphor of Prometheus the scientist has far-reaching implications. If Prometheus is a creator then so is the scientist. Not only art is creative, science may be too. If the revolting monster is the short-term result of speculative scientific Prometheanism, what effects may it have in the long-term?
Mary Shelley’s use of the Prometheus myth opens up the way for future imaginative-horror writers, who will be inspired by the scientific possibilities of genetic manipulation.
Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus
Short Summary
Prometheus is one of the richest characters in Greek mythology. Before going through a summary of the play, understanding the play’s rich mythological background is vital. In early variations of the story, Prometheus is a trickster figure, like the coyote character in certain Native American folklore traditions. He outwits Zeus, king of thee gods, on more than one occasion, usually as part of his efforts to help man. As time passed, Prometheus became more than a trickster. Myth and literature gave him an awesome place as visionary, genius, and suffering champion of mankind.
Prometheus was a Titan, the race of old gods who reigned before Zeus and the Olympians. Prometheus, whose name means “Fore thinker,” was blessed with the gift of prophecy by his mother Themis, the primal earth goddess and ultimate mother of all. Prometheus initially tried to counsel Cronos, lord of the Titans, in his strategies against Zeus and the new young gods. But he failed to convince Cronos of his plans, and hoping to save himself and his family; he defected and joined the Olympians. With Prometheus’ help, Zeus and the Olympians defeated Cronos and the old gods and banished them to Tartarus, a gloomy abyss far deeper and darker than Hades. Prometheus was a clever deity, a master craftsman and creator. He created man, and taught man the many crafts that were necessary for man’s survival. But man lacked a crucial gift: fire, sacred to the gods, denied to man by Zeus’ command. In the version of the story chosen by Aeschylus, Prometheus stole fire and gave it to man. As punishment, Zeus had Prometheus chained to the rocs of a desolate mountain wilderness.
The play begins here, as Might and Violence enter, restraining Prometheus. Prometheus remains silent as they hold him down, and Might heaps abuse on him. Reluctantly, Hephaestus, smith of the gods, chains Prometheus to the rocks. Hephaestus is a compassionate deity, and he shows that he has no love of his duty. Yet he must obey Zeus. The captors leave Prometheus alone, and the Titan laments his fate. He knew his crime when he committed it, but the punishment is excessive and cruel. The daughters of Oceanus, who constitute the play’s chorus, enter. They have come to comfort him and to hear the story of why and how Prometheus has come to be chained. Oceanus enters later, announcing his intent to go plead on Prometheus’ behalf to Zeus. But Prometheus warns him that the plan will only bring Zeus’ wrath down on Oceanus, so the sea god does not go. He exits, but to return home rather than go to Olympus. Io enters. She was once a consort of Zeus, and will be again, but in the meantime Hera’s wrath has led to Io being transformed into a cow. She is pursued by a gadfly to the ends of the earth. She begs for Prometheus to tell her the future and he warns her that her wanderings are only beginning. He does assure her, however, that one day she will find a home and be the mother of a great family; from this line, Prometheus’ deliverer will come. Prometheus tells Io and the Chorus that he has knowledge crucial to Zeus’ survival as ruler of the gods: one day, the king of the gods will make a marriage that brings about his downfall. Io leaves, to continue her arduous journey.
Hermes arrives. Zeus has heard of Prometheus’ secret knowledge and Hermes has come, under Zeus’ orders, to threaten Prometheus with torture. Prometheus refuses to tell what marriage will destroy Zeus. The play ends with Prometheus being tortured with fantastic and terrible pains: organ devouring beasts, lightning, pain that will not end because Prometheus is a Titan and therefore cannot die.
Questions:
1) What did Prometheus do to upset Zeus?
2) Why did he get in trouble for this?
3) What was his punishment?
4) Based on what you know of Frankenstein, why might have Mary Shelley used the title Modern Prometheus? (What parallels might there be between Prometheus & Frankenstein? Provide 3 minimum.)
THE MYTH OF PROMETHEUS
Two elements are combined inside the myth of Prometheus:
Greek in originPresent in Aeschylus'
Prometheus Bound
Prometheus is the bringer of fire
from the sun to aid mankind
Zeus punishes him for his audacity
by chaining him to the Caucasus and
sending an eagle to feed on his liver
/ Roman in origin
Prometheus is the creator
or recreator of mankind.
He does this by animating a
clay figure.
By the 3rd century A.D. these two elements had become combined: the stolen fire
was also the fire of life.
The Neoplatonic interpretation gave Prometheus the meaning of demiurge
or deputy creator
In the Middle Ages Prometheus was considered a representation of the creative power of God.
In the Renaissance, the image was the same as we can see from Othello's words:
"…I know not where is that Promethean heat
that can thy light relume."
Later, Prometheus became an accepted image of the creative artist
In the 18th century Prometheus symbolized the creator as in
Shaftesbury's Characteristicks
In the early 19th writers diverge again in the symbolic use they make of the Prometheus myth
Byron's Manfred
P.B.Shelley's Prometheus Unbound
show Prometheus as the rebelling,
suffering champion of mankind
/
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
shows Prometheus/Frankenstein as creator and
rebel against nature/God
The myth was linked with certain current scientific theories
P.B.Shelley talks of electricity as a vitalizing force in the last act of Prometheus Unbound
Mary Shelley hints that the divine spark of life which creates the monster may be electrical
So Mary took from her husband the idea of electricity as an animating force, the scientific equivalent of the life force which the mythical Prometheus stole from the sun. These ideas came from studying the work and writings of Newton, Volta, Erasmus, Darwin and Humphrey Davy.
Lee. “Prometheus Bound.” Frankenstein Unit. 23 Jan. 2009.
http://teachers.sduhsd.net/clee/Eng_12.Frank.Prometheus.htm>.