Re: The Modern Prometheus Full Movie Online Free
Marnie Monteverde
If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me thatthe principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern systemof science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than theancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of theformer were real and practical, under such circumstances I should certainlyhave thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was,by returning with greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible thatthe train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led tomy ruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no meansassured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to readwith the greatest avidity.
I returned home not disappointed, for I have said that I had long consideredthose authors useless whom the professor reprobated; but I returned not at allthe more inclined to recur to these studies in any shape. M. Krempe was alittle squat man with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance; the teacher,therefore, did not prepossess me in favour of his pursuits. In rather a toophilosophical and connected a strain, perhaps, I have given an account of theconclusions I had come to concerning them in my early years. As a child I hadnot been content with the results promised by the modern professors of naturalscience. With a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my extreme youthand my want of a guide on such matters, I had retrod the steps of knowledgealong the paths of time and exchanged the discoveries of recent inquirers forthe dreams of forgotten alchemists. Besides, I had a contempt for the uses ofmodern natural philosophy. It was very different when the masters of thescience sought immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand;but now the scene was changed. The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limititself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science waschiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur forrealities of little worth.
Partly from curiosity and partly from idleness, I went into the lecturing room,which M. Waldman entered shortly after. This professor was very unlike hiscolleague. He appeared about fifty years of age, but with an aspect expressiveof the greatest benevolence; a few grey hairs covered his temples, but those atthe back of his head were nearly black. His person was short but remarkablyerect and his voice the sweetest I had ever heard. He began his lecture by arecapitulation of the history of chemistry and the various improvements made bydifferent men of learning, pronouncing with fervour the names of the mostdistinguished discoverers. He then took a cursory view of the present state ofthe science and explained many of its elementary terms. After having made a fewpreparatory experiments, he concluded with a panegyric upon modern chemistry,the terms of which I shall never forget:
From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the mostcomprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read withardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, which moderninquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the lectures andcultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university, and Ifound even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense and real information,combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on thataccount the less valuable. In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentlenesswas never tinged by dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air offrankness and good nature that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousandways he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruseinquiries clear and facile to my apprehension. My application was at firstfluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and soon became soardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the light of morningwhilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory.
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Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, first published in London in 1818, is a novel infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the "over-reaching" of modern man and the Industrial Revolution. The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. Many distinguished authors, such as Brian Aldiss, claim that it is the very first science fiction novel.
This document was downloaded from Lit2Go, a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format published by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology. For more information, including classroom activities, readability data, and original sources, please visit -or-the-modern-prometheus/2295/chapter-5/.
The full title of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. This subtitle is very important when it comes to properly understanding the characters, their relationships to one another, and the novel's themes. The title of the book directly compares the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, to the ''modern Prometheus,'' meaning that Shelley most likely intended readers to draw parallels between Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein. While this is the clearest and most commonly accepted meaning of the subtitle, there are also some parallels between the idea of the ''modern Prometheus'' and Frankenstein's monster.
When analyzing the novel, it is important to consider what elements of Prometheus' story Mary Shelley was likely drawing on. After all, no character in Frankenstein has his liver torn out or gets chained to a mountain. To bring the story of Prometheus into the modern era, Shelley had to boil it down to its most important elements. Prometheus is a character who is associated with the creation of people. He has a clear association with fire, and specifically with giving the gift of fire to human beings. He is also a figure who is thoroughly and horribly punished for his actions. Finally, Prometheus is a character with a great knack for insight, looking forward and thinking ahead to see the consequences of his choices. Most of these traits apply more clearly to Victor Frankenstein, but his monster's place in the story of Prometheus cannot be discounted.
Why is Frankenstein called the modern Prometheus in the subtitle of the book? Victor fits the myth of Prometheus quite well. He has extraordinary foresight in the realm of science and is able to make a massive intellectual leap that nobody else has yet managed to understand. In Chapter 4 (of the 1831 edition), Frankenstein describes how he first realized how to create life:
Victor is also, perhaps most obviously, associated with the creation of a new being, just like Prometheus. He builds a creature from corpses and brings it to life through his understanding of science. He does so using lightning as his source of electricity, which is a kind of modernization of Prometheus' association with fire. Like Prometheus, Victor also suffers severe punishments for his actions. He creates a new being, but then abandons him out of fear of what he has done. He is creating life in a way that has never been attempted before, essentially meaning that he is taking the power of life away from God and giving it to humans, just like Prometheus did with fire.
Although Victor is the obvious connection to the modern Prometheus, his creature also has some connections to the mythical figure. The monster represents a new race of people in the world, just like the humans in the myth of Prometheus. He also has a strong desire to see his race continue: he asks Victor to build him a female companion, but Victor refuses. The monster also has an important scene that connects him to fire, perhaps even more clearly than Victor. On his first night alone after Victor's abandonment, he has the following experience that he later relates to Victor:
Prometheus is an important figure from Greek mythology who plays a symbolic role in Frankenstein. The full title of the book is Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, though it is not always clear who the modern Prometheus is. The title fits best onto the character of Victor Frankenstein. He gives humanity something that used to belong only to the gods: the ability to create life. Victor also suffers in much the same way as Prometheus: he can see his suffering coming, it involves him being torn away from parts of himself (in Victor's case, his loved ones), and it is a long, drawn-out torture.
Victor Frankenstein certainly seems like a modern Prometheus. Prometheus dares to give to humans what had before belonged only to the gods: the sacred fire. In this, he was also giving technology to mankind. The sacred fire provides warmth and sustenance, but it also allows mankind to forge tools and weapons. It frees us from our dependence on the good pleasure of the gods for our survival.
Don't rule out Victor's monster entirely for the title of 'modern Prometheus.' Prometheus' fire provides humans with free will, making them more than the playthings of the gods. Prometheus' theft essentially founds the human race. The monster, too, is a new creation. In his first hours on Earth, Victor rejects him, and he is driven into the forest by terrified townspeople. He learns to survive on his own, wholly independent of the man who made him. His incredible strength and endurance prove him far superior to any human.
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