Frankenstein As Prometheus

Frankenstein Or, The Modern Prometheus, is the full title of Shelley's novel, in reference to the Greek myth. This is an apt name, as the following demonstrates.

According to Bulfinch's Mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods to benefit mankind. Victor Frankenstein's ability to create a living being out of the deceased is the ability to give fire, the proverbial 'spark of life.' He took a god's right and b rought it to his laboratory, 'stealing' it, trying to benefit mankind.

Jupiter punished Prometheus for stealing fire, acc. to some versions of the myth, by chaining him to "Mount Caucasus, where a vulture preyed on his liver, which was renewed as fast as devoured. This . . . state of torment might have been brought to an e nd at any time by Prometheus . . . But that he disdained to do. He has therefore become the symbol of unmerited suffering, and strength of will resisting oppression." The monster preyed on Frankenstein. Each wound/victim, Victor thought would be the last and he could be hurt no more. However, the wound 'healed' and the monster struck again to prolong the agony. Frankenstein was Prometheus, and the monster was the punisher, the vulture. As in the myth, Frankenstein could have ended his torment, simply by creating a mate for the monster, but he chose not to, and thus suffered greatly, as Prometheus did. As the sailor remarks of him, "I never saw a man in so wretched a condition." In suffering and theft, Prometheus and Frankenstein are like one.


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