Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheu"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses that Mary Shelley's reading of Prometheus in "Frankenstein" is most accurate to the true meaning of the legend and constitutes a critique of the excessive individualism championed by the Romantic Movement.The author points out that the subtitle of "The Modern Prometheus" refers to the character, Victor Frankenstein. The author believes that, in the character of Victor Frankenstein and in the very act of his creation, Mary Shelley joins together two seemingly opposite aspects of human study and science and poetry, reason and imagination.

From the Paper:

"At the end of the novel, Walton halfheartedly heeds Victor's reluctant message to "seek happiness in tranquility, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries"(1031). When the creature escapes, Walton does not chase him, but instead continues on his return to England, and more importantly, his family. If there is the slightest semblance of a happy ending, Walton's return to England is probably it, although the fact that he returns a failure cannot escape our final interpretation of the novel's denouement. The story of "Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus", layered with multiple philosophical questions regarding the nature of Man, is a romantic irony of social failure, brought on by a rampant egocentricity in a male-dominated drive for knowledge and discovery."

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