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Frankenstein The Modern Prometheus Essay

648 Words3 Pages

Modern Prometheus
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly, a gothic horror, mimicked the myth "Prometheus". Prometheus brings power and knowledge to mankind while Victor searches for power through enlightment. They suffered disastrous problems for their actions. They both go beyond and ignore their limits. Victor was fascinated by the power of electricity, but was flabbergasted by his creation when he brought it to life. Some of the most significant and obvious similarities between the two stories take form in the creation scene of the chapter five. Frankenstein became consumed in creating his monster. Upon completing his creation, he really noticed it for the first time, not just the beauty he was trying to create but the ugliness of death that …show more content…

had let loose upon the world... my monument of thought and rash." (Shelley 65) In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein is the modern Prometheus because he played with fire to create life.
Prometheus is the important person who was credited with creating human life. The very old stories say that he molded them from clay, and then gave them fire which made human life change (and get better). The fire ended up going forward life and gave them advantages that they would've never had before the gift of fire. He was then punished by Zeus because the gods were not supposed to interfere with the people' lives. He was sentenced to spend his incapable of dying life tied to a rock with an eagle eating his liver every day and every day the liver would grow again.
Victor was like Prometheus in many ways. In fact, Shelley makes a reference to this on the title page of the book. Shelley suggests Paradise Lost by John Milton quoting the line: "Did I request you, Maker, from my clay to mold me man..." Victor searched grave houses for the tools to create his monster. The creature was strange-looking probably because of the random body parts used to make him, but he was meant to be beautiful. "His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! -- Great God!" (47) When the monster had not come out as Victor hoped, he ran from him and avoided him. Like Prometheus, Victor is punished for his creation

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