Prometheus, a famous entity
in mythology, has been an influence on countless authors and their works. The
story of the fallen Titan who challenged Zeus, giving fire to the human race,
is a prime example of what happens when you go against the will of the gods. In
times where religion, and religion-induced fear of science was the social norm,
it is no surprise that such an idea would be suggested and in a way, rewritten
by the literary creators of the era.
Accordingly, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was dubbed “The Modern
Prometheus.” It is, in fact, sound to state that both works, despite the
various versions of the myth of Prometheus, follow the same story arch.
Prometheus could practically be a more metaphorical, or symbolic copy of
Frankenstein. This article will attempt to show and prove how that is.
Prometheus was the titan
responsible for the creation of man. Later on, when Zeus took fire away from
us, he stole it back from the sacred hearth of Mount Olympus, which of course, engendered
the wrath of the gods. He was punished by Zeus, by being bound to a rock,
forced to suffer as an eagle pecked his liver every day, retiring at night
fall, leaving the organ to regenerate so it could come back the next day and
renew its efforts. Such was his life of until he was liberated by Hercules.
Prometheus, who was naturally viewed as a god by men, was considered a clever trickster who, on
multiple occasions, attempted to outsmart Zeus. He did not respect the holiness
of the hearth and what lied in it, he over-reached and he was, as some believe,
rightly punished for it. Many scholars can clearly see the relation between the
mythical Titan and Victor Frankenstein, such as Professor David Punter of the
University of Bristol.
The novel begins in the frozen
seas of Russia, as an ambitious young man, Robert Walton, leading the men on
his ship towards, what he hopes will be, heroic discoveries, finds and saves a
man on a sled. The man introduces himself as Victor Frankenstein and is given a
warm bed and medical attention and quickly becomes Robert’s friend. As Robert
shares his hopes with him, Victor recognizes the excessive ambition that had once
blinded him and tells him the cautionary tale that is his life. The story
begins at childhood, portraying young Victor as an exceptionally intelligent
child with a curious interest in the natural sciences. Years later, he goes to
University to study science and is irrevocably gripped with the idea of
bringing a creation to life. After years of hard work he succeeds. Here we see
the first parallel to the myth. Prometheus too created life. He wasn’t supposed
to, but he did. He became a god or a father to the humans he created just like
Frankenstein is something of a creator or a parental figure to the thing he
made.
By giving life to an otherwise
inanimate body, Victor has attained knowledge forbidden to humans, a knowledge
that belongs only to god. Which is exactly what Prometheus did. The Titan stole
fire. Fire brings light. Light is
knowledge. And Prometheus stole it from the gods and gave it to humanity. He
gave to human beings what belongs only to the creators, thus violating the order
of nature. Victor Frankenstein, took for himself, a human, what belongs only to
god, thus also disrupting the natural code. Both wanted to discover the secrets
of life and death, secrets that weren’t theirs to know, and both committed
great sins to attain that knowledge. Prometheus stole, Frankenstein unleashed a
monster upon humanity.
Later on, Victor’s wretch causes
more harm than good. It kills his brother, an innocent servant, his dearest
friend, and later his bride. Our Protagonist’s life is then dedicated to
eradicating the monster, and dies in the midst of the chase, a cold icy death.
Prometheus is also forsaken by his abuse of nature, he is forced to be the
feast of a beast until the end of times. Both characters are then relieved of
their punishment, Victor by death, and Prometheus thanks to Hercules.
The similarities between these too
tales can drive a person to think that they are different retellings of the
same story: A man who is not a god, wanted, for whatever reason, to discover
the mysteries of the gods, in the process of his discovery took from the gods
what belongs only to the gods, and was then forsaken for it. In this way, both
stories follow the same story arch. Another example of a work that resembles the classical myth of
Prometheus is the play entitled “Doctor Faustus” in which, yet another man,
seeking fame and glory and wisdom, desires to discover the secrets of
mortality, cultivates knowledge that should be the sole property of the realm
of heaven, and is then forsaken for over-stepping his boundaries.
Victor describes
the beginning of his attachment to the science that doomed him in the second
chapter of this work, saying: “Natural philosophy, is the genius that has
regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts
which led to my predilection for that science. When I was thirteen years of age
we all went on a party of pleasure to the baths near Thonon; the inclemency of
the weather obliged us to remain a day confined to the inn. In this house I chanced to find a
volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa.” In the same chapter we see his interest in nature and his
greediness for further knowledge: “I have described myself as always having
been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature. In spite
of the intense labour and wonderful discoveries of modern philosophers, I
always came from my studies discontented and unsatisfied.”
In chapter 4, the question of life
presents itself to him again, he blames fear and lack of motivation for our
ignorance of an answer to this question: “One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention
was the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life.
Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? It was a bold
question, and one which has ever been considered as a mystery; yet with how
many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness
did not restrain our enquiries.” After this, he seems determined to find the
answers himself: “ I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined
thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of natural
philosophy which relate to physiology.” He realizes, almost immediately the
gore he will have to face to complete his deed, but he does it anyway. “To
examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.”
Upon learning the secret of life,
his better judgment is reluctant to actually use that power, but he ignored it,
driven by his passions in a manner that would make any Romantic proud, and
decided that he would breathe life into a creation to whom he will be a god: “I
doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself,
or one of simpler organization, but my imagination was too much exalted by my
first success to permit me to doubt of
my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man.”
In chapter 5, two years’ worth of work is
completed, and the creature is alive. Frankenstein is awakened from his madness
as the wretch awakens to life and he finally realizes the sin he has committed:
“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.” After this creation, Victor grew sick, but the
beginning of his true punishment was the death of his brother William. He has
committed a sin and this sin, just like Prometheus’, will forsake him.
Victor’s sin is materialized in his creature,
and in chapter 16, this creature, to whom he bestowed life without any regard
to the consequences, admits to William’s murder: “ ‘Frankenstein! You belong
then to my enemy- to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall
be my first victim.’ The child still struggled and loaded me with epithets
which carried despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to silence him, and in
a moment he lay dead at my feet.”
His punishment continues with the prosecution
and then execution of Justine, a servant accused of the crime and then the
murder of Clerval, his childhood friend, also at the hands of his monster.
Victor laments his victims in chapter 21: “Have my murderous machinations
deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life? Two I have already destroyed;
other victims await their destiny; but you, Clerval, my friend, my benefactor-“
In chapter 23, the monster commits
his final murder, at least as far as the reader knows, and Victor discovers the
body of his dead bride: “A grin was on the face of the monster; he seemed to
jeer, as with his fiendish finger he pointed towards the corpse of my wife.”
The pair then launch into a chase, Victor is not yet freed of his
atonement. He is however, relieved of his earthly pains, when he dies of
illness on board of Walton’s boat, a death which saddens Robert and one that he
relates to his sister: “About half an hour afterwards he attempted again to
speak but was unable; he pressed my hand feebly, and his eyes closed forever,
while the irritation of a gentle smile passed away from his lips.” Victor
smiles because he knows his suffering has come to an end. He is liberated by
death just as Prometheus was liberated by Hercules.
In the words of Mary Shelley:
“Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any
human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.” This summarizes the moral of the cautionary
tales that are Frankenstein and the myth of Prometheus. Both characters defied
the gods, and both suffered for their greed and insolence. However, one is left
to wonder how the story would’ve turned out if the creature was loved. Would he
be evil had he been accepted? If so, was the goal to expose the consequences of
messing with the balance of beings, or the consequences of human prejudice and
intolerance?
- Mada El-Horr
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