Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Satanic-Promethean Ideals
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a novel in conscious dialogue with canonical classics and contemporary works. It contains references to Coleridge, Wordsworth, and P. B. Shelley, but also to Cervantes and Milton. It is the latter's Paradise Lost which informs the themes and structure of the novel more than any other source. Like many of her contemporaries, Mary Shelley draws parallels between Milton's Satan and the Titan Prometheus of Greek myth. However, the two are not simply equated (as in Byron's poem, "Prometheus"), but appear in various facets through both Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Furthermore, God, Zeus, and Adam are also evoked through these characters. Though its treatment of these mythical figures identifies it with Romantic Satanism,1[1] Frankenstein reaches a moral conclusion at odds with the ideals of Shelley's contemporaries, and far closer to those of Milton.
The novel's alternative title is "The Modern Prometheus." It can be asked who in the story is supposed to be Promethean. Since this title is the alternative to "Frankenstein," it seems obvious that the doctor is meant, although it will be shown later that the monster also bears significant similarities to the Titan.
According to the Greek myth, Prometheus (whose name means "forethought"), against the will of Zeus, stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. With fire came the beginning of a crafts and civilisation itself. In this respect, Victor Frankenstein's quest for knowledge is Promethean, as is his belief that his researches will benefit humanity.
The other consequence of the theft of fire is that it in...
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... knowledge, causing their fall from a happy innocent existence.
4[4] It must be made clear that this is a Christian myth. In Judaism, Satan is as much a servant of God as any other angel, it being his peculiar role to test humans and record their failures. Without understanding this, the story of Job loses its meaning-God sends Satan to test Job. The Jewish Satan has no relation to the serpent of the Eden story. The equivocation is Christian. Christianity's devil and its stark good vs. evil cosmic war derive from Zoroastrianism, not Judaism, just as its doctrine of the immortal soul derives from Platonism. There is no good vs. evil in Judaism, there is just God, and immortality is the privilege of God and the angels, not humans.
5[5] This phrase is borrowed from Friedrich Nietzsche, vide Genealogy of Morals, Beyond Good and Evil, and The Antichrist.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: A Perspective on the Evils of Slavery
addressing Frankenstein as a monster. Victor does not desire anything to do with this “wretch”. After seeing the creature he has created, he “[passes] the night wretchedly. Sometimes [his] pulse beat so quickly and hardly that [he] feels palpitation of every artery; at others, [he] nearly [sinks] to the ground through languor and extreme weakness.” (59) Victor acts a coward; he does not face his mistakes and try to fix them. Instead he feels weakened by the disappointment of himself. On the other hand, Prometheus reacts differently to his challenges. Prometheus acts strong minded, he thinks before he acts and trusts nobody. After Prometheus grants the villagers with fire, he “[…] [warns] his brother to beware of any gift that Jupiter might send, for he knew that the mighty tyrant [can] not be trusted.”(4) Prometheus expects consequences for his actions, just as an army general expects an attack from the enemy. Prometheus acts brave in questioning authority and waits ready for battle, if Zeus retaliates for disobeying
Written in 1817 by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein is a novel about the "modern Prometheus", the Roman Titian who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. The story takes place in several European countries during the late 1700's. It is the recollection of Victor Frankenstein to a ship captain about his life. Victor is a student of science and medicine who discovers a way to reanimate dead flesh. In a desire to create the perfect race he constructs a man more powerful than any normal human, but the creation is so deformed and hideous that Victor shuns it. The creation then spends a year wandering searching for companionship, but everywhere he goes he is shunned and feared. Hating life the creature turns its misery on its creator, killing off Victors family.
Prometheus' creation of man parallels Frankenstein's own creation. Prometheus, whose name means forethought, was very wise, wiser even than the gods...Epimetheus[Prometheus' brother] gave all the best gifts to the animals-until no good was left for man. Prometheus, then, took over the task of creation and thought out a way to make mankind superior. He fashioned them in a nobler shape than the animals, upright like the gods; and then he went to heaven, to the sun, where he lit a torch and brought down fire. (Hamilton 71)
In Marry Shelly’s book Frankenstein, she tells the story of a man named Victor Frankenstein. The character of Frankenstein contains traits that parallel Prometheus from Greek mythology. Through his actions and emotions Victor Frankenstein becomes the modern Prometheus by producing ill-fated actions that carry tragic consequences just as Prometheus’ did.
The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass gives a first person perspective on the life of a slave in the rural south and the city. Frederick Douglass was able to read and think about the evils of slavery and the reasons for its abolishment. Throughout his autobiography Frederick Douglass talks of the many ways a slave and master would be corrupted by the labor system. The master justified his actions through a self-serving religion and a conscience belief that slaves were meant to be in their place. Frederick Douglass noticed that in order to maintain the slaves belief in this system the master had to resort to trickery of a slaves body and mind.
There are a number of key arguments in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. A few of which include inequality, education, and Christianity as the keys to freedom in terms of its true values within the institution of slavery. While Frederick Douglass made some key arguments, he also made common ground to make his appeal for the abolition of slavery.
Mythologies are traditionally stories that concern the early history of religion and people or the explanation of a natural or social phenomenon. Myths are often referenced by authors, as allusions, in their novels. The myth of Prometheus, the creator of man, is the story of a god who is sentenced to suffer for eternity for disobeying god. Victor Frankenstein is portrayed as a modern Prometheus in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through, the methods used for the creation of man, his desire to create man, and the punishment he receives from his creation and himself. As the novel progresses, so does the similarities between Frankenstein and Prometheus. Due to the various similarities between them, a conclusion that Frankenstein portrays Prometheus
Let us begin with what is, perhaps, the most famous Douglass quotation: "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man" (64). This sentence serves as the turning point, the climax, of both Douglass' narrative and his life. Up until that point, throughout his entire life, the world had been busy making him a slave. From the moment he was born to a slave mother (even though his father was white), the forces of slavery had been suffocating his humanity. When he was forcibly separated from his mother, he lost the human closeness of family. When he helplessly witnessed his aunt being brutally beaten and was subjected to repeated beatings himself, he lost the human sense of pride. And, when he was denied education and literacy, he lost the human ability to obtain knowledge. In all of these ways, society turned Frederick Douglass, a man, int...
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein explores the downfall of certain human characteristics, set to the backdrop of creation, destruction, and preservation. The subtitle denoted by Shelly herself supports this idea, by relating the fact that the title can be viewed as either Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. One scholar, Marilyn Butler, also maintains this by noting, "It can be a late version of the Faust Myth"(302). Shelly uses the story of the main character, Victor Frankenstein, to produce the concept of a dooming human characteristic of which Frankenstein states, "I have . . . been blasted in these hopes"(Shelley, 152). The reader finds, as a result of his thirst for knowledge and infatuation with science, Victor creates a living being by whom he has "suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes"(Shelley, 17). Eventually, Victor realizes this self-destructive trait, but he is not able to save himself stating, "I have lost everything, and cannot begin life anew"(Shelley, 16). Although everything in his life that is dear has been lost, Victor is able to convince one in his same position--Robert Walton--to not "lead [his crew] unwillingly to danger"(Shelley, 151). While addressing the concept of characteristic and self-discovery, it is possible to realize that the monster also possesses the characteristics held by both Victor and Walton; except in his learning, the monster is driven to continue to cause destruction. Most important about the thirst for knowledge is that, as a form of human characteristic or downfall, it leads to large, critical pieces of self-discovery. In obtaining these critical pieces, Frankenstein finds satisfaction in j...
...understanding of freedom. By exposing the wrongs done to slaves, Douglass greatly contributed to the abolitionist movement. He also took back some of the power and control from the slaveholders, putting it in the hands of the enslaved.
The characters in Frankenstein are a collection of those in Paradise Lost. Frankenstein parallels Eve in the Garden of Eden in that they would do whatever it takes to gain the knowledge of all things. While, the Creature corresponds to Satan because they both wanted to break free from their creators and receive a chance at their own decisions. In Chapter 15 of Frankenstein, Shelley alludes to Paradise Lost in order to establish a connection between the Creature and Adam, when the Creature tries to 'sympathize with [his] feelings and cheer [his] gloom.' However, he then realizes that it was all a 'dream, no Eve soothed [his] sorrows, nor shared [his] thoughts, [he] was alone.' The creature meets with the fact that Frankenstein abandoned him, and ?in the bitterness of [his] heart [he] cursed him.' Yet, earlier in Chapter 10, Shelley suggests an affiliation between the Creature and Satan. He feels like a 'fallen angel, whom thou drivest from misjoy.' Both Satan and the Creature make a vow to destroy something good. In Book I, Satan vows to 'seek to bring forth evil' out of good. Similarly, the Creature declares that 'if [he] cannot inspire love, [he] will cause fear. This network of characters aids the reader in identifying the intertextuality of the two pieces.
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