FRANKENSTEIN

Mythology has been around since the Egyptian Period. Back then, it was told through words and storytelling. Nowadays, mythology is compared and contrasted through novels. In mythology, Prometheus is the wisest Titan, whose name means “forethought”. He has a special ability to foretell the future. Prometheus was delegated by Zeus to create man, and over time “he loved man more than the Olympians” (“The Creation”). Like Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein is the character in Frankenstein who had extra time to play with science. He went to a university and learned a technique, which deeply transformed his whole life into misery and pain. In a classic novel called Frankenstein, Mary Shelley draws parallels between Victor Frankenstein and Prometheus, in which she subtitled her novel “Or, the Modern Prometheus.”

Victor Frankenstein gives life of an inanimate object after he “attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the man of science at the University of Ingolstadt” (Shelley 49). In mythology, Prometheus is the god of “forethought”, who is also known as “the protector and benefactor of man” (“The Titans”). He shapes man from clay after Zeus asks him to give life of mankind. Prometheus makes man stand upright as the gods do and gives them the greatest gift of all, fire. Although he is ambitious to create the demon, Frankenstein fears it after it comes to life with a jolt of electricity. The monster turns out to have “watery eyes that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets” (Shelly 56).

Victor keeps the creation of the monster a secret because he does not want it to fill people’s heart with “breathless horror and disgust” (Shelley 56). After Zeus takes fire from mankind, Prometheus “lit a torch from the sun and brought it back again to man” (“The Creation”). Victor Frankenstein never thinks of the consequences that will be brought forth by the monster he creates. Instead, he lets his ambition take over and ruin his life. Prometheus never puts the time into thinking of the punishment for giving fire to man, and soon faces the consequences from Zeus.

Victor Frankenstein’s life is full of retaliation after he ambitiously creates the demon. In mythology, Zeus had his servants, Force and Violence, seize Prometheus, take him to the Caucasus Mountains, and chain him to a rock with unbreakable chains. The monster kills Victor’s brother William, which leads to the accusation and death of Justine Moritz. It than goes for Victor Frankenstein’s friend, Clerval. Elizabeth is the lady in Victor’s life, but the demon also gashes her throat and sends her away from reality. “The gigantic Kaukasian Eagle” (Prometheus), eats Prometheus’s ever regenerating liver. Luckily for this mythical god, “Chiron the centaur died for him and Heracles killed the eagle and unbounded him” (“The Creation”).

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the mythical idea of the creation of man to create the monster. Prometheus creates man from clay and gives man fire, which is strictly prohibited by Zeus. Victor Frankenstein reaches his destination when he loses his life, Chiron sacrifices his life for Prometheus. They both face the consequences for creating a human being; however, they face different punishments. Prometheus was chained to a rock and Victor lost all his possessions. Because she uses the mythology of Prometheus, Mary Shelley thus subtitles her novel “Or The Modern Prometheus. Return to HOmepage