Frankenstein Promethean Fire Essay

Allusion to Promethean Fire in Frankenstein: Inborn Reformer and Deviant

Introduction

Prometheus has been frequently depicted in literature during Romantic movement as the moral and intellectual exemplar of mankind, the apex of human thought, who dares to assume full responsibility for his decisions and actions(Duerksen 626). One of the reasons may be the idiosyncrasies of Prometheus quite fit into their values. In the wake of the French Revolution, the movement of Romanticism surged. Romanticists upheld such spirit deriving from French Revolution as reason and nature. Especially the second generation of Romanticists, represented by P.B. Shelley, Lord Byron… therefore, there is no doubt that the impious and agonized qualities of the tragic

However, the fire is so strong that it damages Frankenstein’s health and overwhelms Frankenstein. “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an animated body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart, unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room”(34). Finally, this ardour transforms into horror when the Promethean fire as “a spark of being” was infused into the monster by Frankenstein. He only focuses on “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter”(30), but overlooked or as a creator, failed to impart the external decency and beauty to his creature. “I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm” in physiology(30). “As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature”, ”about eight feet in height”, which lead to the deformity of the

As observed by Frankenstein, “On a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak, which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbands of wood. I never beheld any thing so utterly destroyed ”(23). It is also this experience that gave him inspiration to pursue modern science and hitherto created the