The second title: The modern Prometheus
who is Prometheus? how does he relate to frankenstein?
While Frankenstein has become a recognizable Gothic figure, the second title, The Modern Prometheus, is far less popular. In fact, it is hardly known at all. For myself, though the name of Prometheus was somewhat familiar to me (thanks to a Classical Mythology class at SFU), I could not recall his story at all. After research, analysis, and critical thinking, I found the second title nearly more relevant than the first. Prometheus is a fascinating Greek mythology figure, and sheds quite a fascinating light on Mary Shelley’s tale. I will mainly use Carol Dougherty’s text, Prometheus, as reference to this widely interpreted tale. In case you are interested in Prometheus in more detail, do check Dougherty’s book, it is full of information and easy to comprehend. This section will divide into two parts: one, will strive to briefly introduce the myth of Prometheus, and two, will apply the myth to Frankenstein.
Fig 1. The eternally punished Prometheus
Who is Prometheus?
I will allow scholar Carol Dougherty to be the voice of the majority of this section, as she narrates Prometheus’s myth perfectly. In Greek mythology particularly, a good start is to always look up the origins of a figure’s name. With that in mind, “Prometheus’s name is a compound proper noun, the first half of which is easily derived from pro- meaning ‘before’. The second part, however, like the god himself, is tricky. One possibility is to derive it from metis, cognate with the verb medomai, meaning ‘clever’ ‘intelligence’; to explain Prometheus’s name as ‘the one who thinks in advance’” (Dougherty 4). His familial origins are
ambiguous, and vary according to who tells the tale, “some traditions name Asia, instead of Klymene, as Prometheus’s mother; others claim Asia was his wife” (Dougherty 5). His tale, however, is somewhat coherent throughout most tellings and variations:
Prometheus molded men from water and earth and gave them also fire, hiding it from Zeus in a fennel stalk. But when Zeus learned of it, he ordered Hephaestus to nail his body to Mount Caucasus (this is a Scythian mountain). On it, Prometheus was nailed and bound for many years. Each day an eagle swooped on him and ate the lobes of his liver, which grew back each night. And Prometheus paid this penalty for the theft of fire until Hercules released him later" (Dougherty 5)
Yikes… Prometheus became a symbolic figure of hope in Greek mythology, of heroism and rebellion. Among those, he was also considered a Creator.
Fig 2. A very short and productive telling of Prometheus's myth
How does Prometheus relate to Frankenstein?
Prometheus’s punishment for his defiance is eternally bound, the painful removal of his liver every night as it regrows by morning. He is punished, not necessarily for being the Creator of Man, but rather, for stealing fire from the great God Zeus. Indeed, he shares Victor Frankenstein’s misfortunes; Frankenstein who, in many ways, is punished more severely for the abandonment of his Creation. Shelley takes care to punish Frankenstein for his misdeeds, his arrogance in cheating Death, and balancing the scales of life and death which he attempted to tamper with. Somewhat accordingly, “the German Romantic poet Goethe offers a variation of Prometheus as creator of mankind”, placing him next to Frankenstein as a Creator, and a variation of the tale “omits the bulk of Prometheus’s story- no sacrifice, theft, or creation; and instead zooms in on the god in his state of perpetual punishment, imagining the moment of confronting the consequences of one’s actions extended for thirty thousand years” (Dougherty 7). If we do regard Prometheus as the ultimate personification of eternal punishment, then Frankenstein mirrors his suffering with guilt. No, Frankenstein is not an immortal character, he is, however, sent on a journey of ultimate suffering, of ultimate punishment for his actions. Both characters possess positive intentions for their ‘crimes’; Prometheus, to help mankind with the stolen gift of fire, Frankenstein, to help mankind against sickness and death. It seems evident “Mary Shelley herself attached the subtitle The Modern Prometheus to her novel which, notwithstanding the possible ironic undertone, seems to highlight, on one level at least, the status of the protagonist” (355). More than the simplicity of naming the novel as her protagonist’s name (causing confusion to later crowd who commonly mistake Frankenstein for the Creation rather than the Creator), The Modern Prometheus reintroduces religious themes of punishment, defiance of God, and the price of being a Creator.
Note, Prometheus according to most variations of the tale is eventually liberated by Hercules. Mary Shelley is far less merciful; Frankenstein and his Creature are never truly forgiven, not even in death.
