How is Victor Frankenstein a modern Prometheus?
Maybe think about:
What causes Victor Frankenstein to embark on his isolated, unnatural pursuit?
What does it mean to be a creator and what are the responsibilities that are inherent in creating?
How does Victor Frankenstein ultimately differ from Prometheus?
What is the significance of each man’s punishment?
Please use specific details from the text and build off of each other's responses!
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12 comments:
Ok, so I forgot the story of Prometheus and googled it. I guess the first thing Prometheus did was trick Zeus into accepting the bones of animals as a sacrifice (he did this by wrapping the meat in a stomach, covering the bones with appetizing fat, and letting Zeus choose). As punishment Zeus took fire from the humans, but Prometheus stole it back. As punishment, Prometheus was chained to a rock to have his liver eaten by a vulture every day. Eventually he was rescued by Hercules though.
Reading Frakenstein, I didn't really find an equivalent to Prometheus action of tricking Zeus into taking bones as a sacrifice. I suppose Victor's early years of studiing wierd "voodoo science" could be considered tricking God, but that's a stretch. However, I do think that Victor is Prometheus like when he creates the creature. This can be considered stealing the power to create life from God, just like Prometheus stole fire from God. In fact, just as God had originally taken back fire from Prometheus, he originally took back life from Victor when Victro's mom died. I remember when I was reading that there was a subtle hint that Victor hoped that learning to create life would allow Victor to bring lives (like his mom's) back, so there definetly is a connection there.
-Drew
At first, the story of Prometheus and the story of Frankenstein seemed entirely unrelated to me. owever I thought that comparing the two was an extreme reach. Upon thinking about it in more detail, however, I began to realize that my initial assumption was completely false. You see, in the story of Prometheus, the humans were never meant to have fire, but he had the ingenious idea that their lives were going to be improved by his inventive idea. However, with the introduction of fire, people ended creating mostly chaos with it. Likewise, from my previous knowledge of the story of Frankenstein and from what I have read, the same thing happened with his monster. The monster should never have been created, it defied all logic and physics. Frankenstien thought that this would improve mankind, giving them a way to cheat death, but the monster that he created brought nothing but fear and chaos to the public.
~Alyssa
I definetly agree with Alyssa. Like Prometheus, in that man should not have fire, Frankenstein should never have created the monster. I do see how Frankenstein is like Prometheus though. I found the connection really strong when he talks about collecting his materials and getting bones and hanging out in graveyards!!! With Prometheus man had to learn how to deal with the fire and not create the chaos that it had originally started to do. And as we see in the story, Frankenstein's monster, from what we can assume now did already kill and Frankenstein is unable to control or even think of a way to control him.
I really want to know what Frankenstein was doing in that dungeon place with the rotting corpses and what that "light" he saw was.
Katie
Of course, the first parallel between Prometheus and Frankenstein is the fact that both created something. In fact both created a human, though Frankenstein's creation only resembled a human. Both become consumed with the quest that will ultimately become their downfall - Prometheus schemes a way to steal fire from the Gods, doing so even though he knows he will be severely punished. Frankenstein spends months and months without food or sleep creating life. Though both men are consumed with their quests, they do not initially face the same risks. Also, Frankenstein works for himself and what he can achieve, while Prometheus works for man and what he can achieve for his creation.
After their creations and quests are complete, both men are punished. However, Prometheus is punished in a physical way, while Frankenstein is punished mentally. Also, Prometheus endures his punishment with the knowledge that what he did was right and he is loved for it. Frankenstein is neither proud of his creation nor admired for the work he has done, and suffers without consolation.
The very basics of these two stories are similar, but the details of their quests and creations, as well as the purpose and extent of their punishments are very different.
-Victoria
I dont really see the connection between Prometheus and Frankenstein. Frankenstein is being very selfish and reckless with his work trying to create life. Prometheus was doing it out of love and Frankenstein does not really know why he is creating the monster. He wants it to work so there is the small hope that he can bring his mother back to life and end death for all mankind. In a way they were both trying to do something for mankind in their own way. The stories are still very different.
-Kori
Koria, how can you say that frankenstein is being very selfish, in my eyes he's doing it for love as well. yes there is a selfish aspect of it, but if he didn't love his mother, there would be no reason for his overwhealming want to bring her back.
In all respects, i think at least one parallel betweent eh two stories is that neither prometheus nor frankenstein reap the benefits they desire. Prometheus tircks the gods in order to steal the fire, yet gets punished. Frankenstein tries to bring back his mother, and in turn sees this hideous creature that horrifies him on sight. niether got the anticipated response that they had hoped for,like mayeb some type of gratitude or reassurance. they had originally gone into the deed with a different mindset, and coming out with some some form of torture (frankensteins torture was that his mother was a monster, and his lack to speak up elsewhere hurts others close to him) either way, the story didn't have the fairy tale endings or the so called "silver lining" and both characters are further tormented
oh one more thing, i like to think of prometheus and frankenstein in another heroic sense, in tahtthey both wanted to give life. prometheus wanted to give fire to mankind, which in translation helps civilization giving life in many aspects, whether figuratively or literally speaking (life to their culture, life as in survival etc.) whereas as frankenstein gave literal life to his mother, andin turn expected it to bring out more life within himself (more happiness, livelienss).
i further agree with the previous comments stating the prometheus' punishment was physical, as frankensteins was deffinitely mental. however, i think mental pain has mroe wear and tear on teh body than the physical pain prometheus suffers. all in all, i think frankenstein is truly suffering more that prometheus is
Some great ideas so far! Think about all of the references to sparks and light...
"...until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me..."(56)
"Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world"(58).
Think about pushing boundaries...
"Learn from me...how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than hi snature will allow"(57)
Creating, "fathering" a new species (58)
Suffering...
"Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish"(85)
"Solitude was my only consolation--deep, dark, deathlike solitude"(86).
=Ms. Coppens
A note: Victor Frankenstein, while perhaps driven further into his studies and desires to create and perhaps re-create life by his mother's death, did not attempt to bring his mother back to life. He seemed to hint at that as a possibility if his cretion of a new species of human worked as he hoped, but clearly, it did not.
It is interesting that much of Frankenstein's self-imposed mental torture does affect him physically and it also drives him to the cold mountains of isolation...now he goes there, to nature, in each case to find comfort, but each times he seems about to find peace the reality of his creation (and his abandonment of his creation) comes back to haunt him even more.
=Ms. Coppens
I agree with most of the entries above- Frankenstein and Prometheus are similar in many ways. They tried to take a power reserved for the gods- so they are to be punished for it eternally.
In response to the original questions- guilt and revenge causes Victor Frankenstein to embark on his “isolated, unnatural pursuit.” He knows whatever harm the monster does is due to its creation. Victor also knows the monster killed his brother, something only he knows so only he can avenge his brother.
To be a creator is someone who develops something completely new. The responsibilities are that you do not hurt anyone or get too ambitious with what you are creating. You cant control nature, as we have seen in many of the romantic works we’ve read- and trying to do so will lead to your demise. Prometheus tried to control the power of fire and well, that didn’t turn out too well for him and his liver. Frankenstein tries to control the power of life but it turns on him.
Although I definitely see connections between the two characters- I do see kori’s point. I feel Frankenstein and Prometheus’s motives were very different. Prometheus just wanted to provide for mankind. The myth also said he taught them writing, math, agriculture, medicine, and science. Frankenstein’s goal: “a new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.” (58) He may have been trying to create a “better” species of humans- but he was kind of selfish in that he wanted their gratitude.
I definitely see the connection between Prometheus and Frankenstein; like everyone else said, they are each trying to create something which is out of their reach. In other words, I guess they're both trying to mess with nature when they know they shouldn't be. I think this is a great example of human nature and how it almost always causes characters to push the limits on things.
Another part of Prometheus' story that I found interesting was when he neglects to tell Zeus of the prophecy of one of his sons eventually overthrowing him (the reason he ends up chained in the Caucasus). I couldn't find a parallel or connection in Frankenstien right away, but I definitely think it would be interesting to explore that.
Finally, going back to the beginning of each story, when Prometheus is tricked into accepting the bones of animals, I can clearly see a connection to Frankenstein. I think Frankenstein as a young boy was sadly led into the weird, inaccurate science that eventually led him to create such a monster. He even says himself that if his father had explained to him the insignificance of the books he found in the library, he probably would have put them down and never endangered himself with this mess.
The first connection I immediately noticed between Victor Frankenstein being a modern Prometheus is the motivation for his pursuit. Prometheus sought fire to improve the lives of humans (through warmth and warmed heaths). Frankenstein, too, says that he had, "benevolent intentions, and thirsted for the moment when I should put them in practice."
Also, like everyone has mentioned, the responsibility of creating is that after you create something, it remains forever. To be a creator, it means to bring something into the world out of nothing-- something entirely of your own imagination and hewe. Actually, in this defenition of a creator, it shows one of the way in which Victor and Prometheus ultimately differ, since Prometheus stole the fire from the gods rather than create it himself. However, clearly, both Frankenstein and Prometheus neglect the responsibility of creation because once the create, they do not accept that they must deal with the consequences (i.e., Frankenstein essentially pretends that the monster is not like his son).
This dispute over creation responsibility actually calls into question a debate that I feel is really relevant in today's world of abortion crisis-- if you create something without the intention of taking responsibility for it, are you truly responsible for it? Are you repsonsible for it to the same extent as someone who did intend to create their creation? But I won't get into that...
The significance of each man's punishment is essentially the same-- they cannot escape the punishment. Prometheus is chained helplessly forever to a rock, to be pecked at (he has no control over it). Victor likewise, cannot escape the encounters and haunting of his monster.
-Sarah
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