Impact of Prometheus Myth in Modern Society
In the ancient culture, Prometheus was seen as a titan, a hero, and a creature who has been credited by the Greek mythology with creating man from clay and stealing fire for human use. The theft of fire is an act that is seen as the spearhead of modern Civilization. Prometheus is famous for his overwhelming intelligence, and being a champion for the human race. What makes this mythological character so striking is that after he steals the fire, he sacrifices himself and undergoes tremendous Punishment as a consequence for his actions. He is sentenced to eternal torment by Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods. He was bound to a rock where each day, the emblem of Zeus, which was the eagle, was to eat his liver, which grew the next day again only to be eaten. Some stories put it that Prometheus is freed by Hercules, others by Zeus Himself. However, Prometheus was revered as a divinity by the Ancient Greeks. This paper concentrates on the character of Prometheus, which made him such a symbol of hope, an icon, and his traits that separated him from the other lesser humans.
In the modern civilizations, particularly the western Classical tradition, Prometheus is a character that is associated with human strife, especially in the quest for scientific knowledge, and the risk associated with overreaching the search for the Knowledge, the unintended consequences as a result. In the Romantic era, Prometheus was viewed as an embodiment of the lone genius whose immense effort and sacrifice in improving human existence could also be the recipe for the tragedy of the human race.
Prometheus, (Gr, ‘forethought’) in the mythology of the Greeks, is the son of Lapetus and Themis, and he is responsible for stealing fire from heaven. Being a champion of man against the gods, he tricks Zeus into choosing bone and fat and their portion of the sacrifices and then gave flesh to men. This infuriated Zeus, who decided to withhold fire from men, but Prometheus stole the fire in a fennel stock and brought it to them. Zeus decided to punish Prometheus by tying him to a mountain rock, where an eagle would come feed on his liver, which grew all over again by the next day. He was finally rescued, either by Hercules, or Zeus as ancient stories put it. His ability to trick the gods and even Zeus was part of the superhuman intelligence that Prometheus is so much hailed for. He is one of the characters that separated him from other lesser humans. ‘Lesser’ in the fact that the humans would not have possessed even half of the intelligence that Prometheus used to trick the gods with.
To begin with, Ancient Greek mythology has it that Prometheus is the Creator of humankind. He is credited with the origin of life, similar to the God of the Bible In Genesis. Him being the almighty, and to the fact that without him, man would not be existent in the first place, makes him an icon. He creates man from clay, also similar to the God of the bible creating man on the sixth day. Mary Shelley put it that the monster, also known as Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is a being traversity of death; made of pieces from the recently buried dead (Gualtieri, 2019). He has extremely sophisticated reading and communication skills. As she sees in her dream, the being can create life using electrical stimulus. Both Hesiod and Shelley envision an extremely intelligent being who is the giver of life. This earns Prometheus the respect and the reverence he is accorded up to date, with the ancient Greeks seeing him as a divinity.
During the creation of man, Prometheus’ brother asks him to allow him to help in creating man. His brother gives man hair and nails and limits his power to an extreme length, making man powerless and unable to challenge the gods. Prometheus calls it a grave mistake and swears to protect humankind with his strength. It is unknown whether he decides to protect man because he felt he had the responsibility since he created them, or he was inclined to help them because of the inability to protect themselves. But in general, the fact that Prometheus decides to protect man makes him a champion for humankind.
Prometheus is given his name, which meant ‘forethought’ signifying the immense intelligence that gave him the ability to think ahead. However, this is not the character that made Prometheus strikingly different from the gods and even other humans. Him being a god, or rather a demi-god was enough reason to have him amass such intelligence power he had (Fujita, 2018). He uses his intelligence as a selfless act to help humans who needed it made him special. The selfishness of the gods, desiring all the finer things like flesh and reserving the bones and fat for humans, and the refusal of Prometheus to allow the gods to have it their way is reason enough for him to be a champion for humanity. He uses his immense abilities to trick the gods and gave the flesh- flesh symbolized products of higher quality, and by the fact that he gives this to man makes him a human icon.
Prometheus sees humankind as a character who has been endowed with the ability to feel and sense but not express their feelings. This meant that humans could feel the injustices the were subjected to through the tyrannical rule of Zeus and the Olympian gods but were unable to express or challenge the gods. In return, Prometheus works on this injustice by stealing fire from the gods and giving man-flesh, which was only preserved to the gods. “…. hear rather of the ills of humankind, of how I found them ignorant and weak before but rendered them intelligent, possessed of sense.” Keats puts it that Prometheus took pity on humankind, and was able to save them from the jealous enmity of Zeus by giving them fire and bestowing the intelligence of how to use it, giving making the ability and sense of self-improvement. He fights for humankind because he was the only one able to do so, risking his reputation and being viewed as one who betrayed his king for humans. He does all this so that man could have a chance to enjoy the privileges that the gods did. He is seen as an Icon of human rights.
One of the traits that makes him extremely sophisticated and different from the other lesser humans is that he was the son of Zeus- the king of the Olympian gods. This made him a demi-god, a superhuman who has innumerable gifts incomparable to the conscript abilities of man. Secondly, Prometheus Undergoes tremendous suffering for the sake of humankind. He was tied to a mountain rock between 30 to 30,000 years, where his liver was eaten by an eagle daily (Cucu et al., 2019). Another factor that separates Prometheus from other characters is that his liver grew overnight, after being eaten by the eagle. Humans did not possess such a regenerative ability. He also was able to withstand torture for merely 30,000 years made him a superhuman prospect who was incomparable to an average human. Similarly, 30,000 was a very long lifespan, crediting Prometheus with Immortality, which mere humans did not have. He undergoes the extreme sacrifice for taking fault and helping human beings with fire and giving them flesh. This selfless character is one of the most striking traits that Prometheus has, which makes him a champion for humans.
In comparison to Shelley’s poem, Lord Bryon deliberates more about Prometheus and his impact in relation to modern Civilization. In the First Stanza, Bryon Introduces Prometheus as an Immortal being who, by paradox, has been subjected to suffering and condemnation, a characteristic to human beings. (“The sufferings of Mortality,” line 2). Bryon Cleverly correlates Prometheus’ suffering to the daily strife of human beings. Here, the author brings out the element of sacrifice for a good cause; for the benefit of humanity. Bryon Continues and asks another question (“What was thy pity recompense?” line 5), which is immediately responded with an answer that emphasized the injustice of his Punishment. His recompense is a strong and extreme imposed suffering, which has been heroically bared by Prometheus (“The silent suffering,” line 6) (Runkell, 2018).
Bryon, in the second stanza of his poem, speaks extensively about power and to whom it really belongs to. Bryon begins his poem by introducing Prometheus as a character who is oppressed and is extremely defenseless to Zeus, who incarnates the powerful oppressor. At the end of the stanza, Bryon depicts that the power, his strong sense of desire and inner will as an individual goes a long way to surpass the supernatural and the extremely superior power of Zeus. Prometheus is seen as a character who is driven by desire and inner self will, to accomplish the impossible. Because Lord Bryon’s Poem correlates Prometheus’ life very closely with that of humans, the author is successful in creating a character who is a role model to the weak, or rather a strong will and desire to do things play an important part in the quest for greatness. The passage symbolizes the victory of an individual’s strong spirit against the oppressor’s desire to silence him.
In the Last Stanza of his poem, Bryon depicts the paradoxical relationship between the Punishment Prometheus undergoes and the overall cause of the Punishment. He sparks the irony by stating that (“The Godlike crime was to be kind, line 35”) and at the same time, Bryon explains that Prometheus’ labor and greatness (“thine Impenetrable spirit,” line 42) (Sy, 2018) is highly appreciated and recompensed, due to the fact that it was for a good cause, for the benefit of humankind. Bryon uses this stanza to stress the inherent pain and the fatal destiny of Prometheus from start to finish, in an absolute pessimistic version. Words like “His own funeral destiny, his wretchedness and resistance, And his sad unallied existence.” Bryon uses the character of Prometheus to create a role model for humankind to embrace problems, bear the pain and suffering from an extreme firm will and deep sense. Man is supposed to embrace the shortcoming of mortality with a very strong will or spirit characteristic of immortality.
However, Bryon still shows the difference in power between man and Prometheus, and what makes him so much different and powerful than the “lesser” humans. Despite the correlation between Prometheus’ works and existence with that of the humans, the parallelism between the two characters fails at one point. Man is mortal, and Prometheus is immortal. Therefore, because man is mortal, and is not entitled to live forever, man must strive to spend his days for a good cause and finally die as a hero, and a Bryon puts it, “Making death a victory.”
After undergoing all the torture for so many years, Prometheus is finally rescued by Hercules. He is a symbol of hope to humans in that even after numerous problems and challenges; there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
Another factor that separates Prometheus from Mankind and makes him such a revered figure was that he was the father of Superintelligence. Shelley and Keats use the Hesiod approach and depict Prometheus as the father of Knowledge in skillsets of Architecture, Meteorology, and astronomy, numbers and writing, Mining, and metallurgy, among others. He gives man this intelligence so that he can use it for his own benefit. This makes him an icon amongst the human race.
In Conclusion, Bryon Shelley and Keats have all succeeded in creating a mystical character in Prometheus through their works, a character that suffers greatly for the benefit of man. Despite his inability to possess the immense power that Zeus has, he uses his inner self-will and desire and is able to conquer the gods. The story creates a huge moral lesson to modern society in general that inner strength and will to achieve greatness is the key to success.
References
Cucu, M., & LENŢ, O. (2019). Human Existential Regression and the Myth of Prometheus. Postmodern Openings/Deschideri Postmoderne, 10(4).
Fujita, M. (2018). AI and the future of the brainpower society: When the descendants of Athena and Prometheus work together. Review of International Economics, 26(3), 508-523.
Gualtieri, C. (2019). Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus in the Postcolony.
Runkel, D. (2018). Misotheism and Rebellion in Lord Byron’s Ode” Prometheus” and Goethe’s same-titled Hymn: “Now tell me how you feel about religion!”. GRIN Verlag.
Sy, B. (2018). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Prometheus Liberated.