Male Egoism in Prometheus and Frankenstein

Male Egoism in Prometheus and Frankenstein

According to the Greek poet Hesiod, the Titan demi-god Prometheus was responsible for the creation of men. He manufactured them from clay, from the natural earth. When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, she left little doubt that the creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein, by making a living creature from inaminate parts was a new Prometheus. But her metaphor extends beyond the immediately obvious. In Hesiod’s myth, Prometheus had an inflated sense of self importance and was determined to be adored by men. Because men had no control over fire they were destined to remain mere animals. The forbidden knowledge of fire, the most basic and natural form of energy was the domain of the god, Zeus. The ego-centric Prometheus became obsessed with devising a means by which he could procure fire and with no other motive in mind than glory, he cunningly stole fire from Zeus and gave it to a grateful mankind. Prometheus’ trickery was bound to invite catastrophe. Zeus’ retribution was swift and twofold. Firstly, with the help of Hephaestus, Hermes and Aphrodite, he fashioned out of clay the first woman, Pandora. Thereafter, men would no longer be born directly from the earth; now through women, they would undergo birth by procreation, and consequently old age, suffering and death. She was given a box which contained all manner of misery and evils and was responsible for letting them escape, to torment humankind forever. Secondly, Zeus caught Prometheus, chained him to a rock, and each day an eagle would visit him and feed on his liver. Prometheus’ liver, however, replenished itself overnight, so he was condemned not so much to a single act of punishment but to perpetua...

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...Epimetheus. She seduced him, and persuaded him to open her box. When he did, a great chill came over him, he had released all of the evil things in Pandora’s box, only one thing remained in the box, and that was hope. (Graves, 259) Prometheus isn’t responsible for naming, or creating anything, it all depends on how you look at it. If you look at it one way, he is just some guy who stole fire from the gods; he didn’t create it, or name it. If you look at it form the perspective of mankind, then he did create fire. Think about it, mankind had nothing back then. When Prometheus brought them fire from the gods down to earth, they must have believed that he did indeed create the fire. Prometheus was a great god, and he was one of the few gods that helped humanity. The Greeks were wonderful at creating these myths and gods, and Prometheus has to be one of the better ones.