Shelley uses 'The Modern Prometheus' as a subtitle to the novel. Explore the ways in which the idea of the 'Modern Prometheus' is important to the novel as a whole.

Some readers could consider that the novel is a criticism of Romanticism showing how a self-centred Romantic figure who is obsessed by his own pursuit for improvement can prove dangerous for society generally.

There is no doubt that in Frankenstein we see a character who believes himself to be suffering in order to create a new species. He cuts himself off from his family and from any sort of social life in order to devote himself to his obsessional occupation of creating a creature. The obsessional part of Frankenstein's character is repeatedly shown:

I was capable of a more intense application, and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge. (p38)

... chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose. (p49)

... it gained strength as I proceeded, and soon became so ardent and eager, that the stars often disappeared in the light of the morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory. (p51)

Of course all of the above quotes could be interpreted to show that Frankenstein was determined to succeed and was willing to put all of his effort into his self appointed task rather than the actions of an obsessed man. Although his own comments to Walton where he questions whether Walton shares his own 'madness' would imply that they are more likely to demonstrate his obsession.

In one of the myths Prometheus is punished for his actions by having his liver constantly eaten and regenerated. This leads the Promethean view that those who exceed society's boundaries will be punished for their actions. This is a strong theme in the novel and we see this demonstrated at the beginning of the novel, when Shelley using the epistolary form of narration, has Walton reporting a conversation to his sister:

I would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the furtherance of my enterprise.

Frankenstein immediately responds with an emotional warning:

Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me - let me reveal my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips. (p29)

In the journal recording the first person narrative that follows the initial letters, we see Frankenstein punished for his actions by the deaths of all of his family and his need to pursue the creature until the death of either himself or the creature

Frankenstein could also have been a 'modern' Prometheus because his creation was not made from clay images but rather produced by what Shelley saw as more modern scientific means. She was aware of Galvani's experiments and believed in the possibility of bestowing life through the 'galvanizing' use of electricity.

In 1815 Shelley had also read Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' where Prometheus is seen as a plasticator - a figure who creates and manipulates men into life, rather than saves them and this may well have been how she viewed her modern Prometheus - someone who is doing it for their own power and glory rather than a champion of humanity. This would be supported by Frankenstein's own comments that he is not interested in money but more in the glory of doing something that no-one has done before.

Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! (p42)

Prometheus believed himself to be making mankind superior to other animals by providing him with fire and Frankenstein believed he was making a superior creature by carefully selecting the body parts for his superior creature. He also saw himself as a father who deserved the gratitude of his child.

No father could claim the gratitude of his child, so completely as I should deserve theirs.

Some readers could argue that Frankenstein was not a Prometheus - Prometheus means forethought and yet it is obvious that Frankenstein often acted without forethought.

By looking at Frankenstein as a Prometheus we can see some of the Gothic forms of opposites creating unsettling feelings for the reader. Are Frankenstein's intentions in creating a creature good or does he see himself as better than the original creator and therefore is he evil? When he is being punished for making the creature is he the pursuer or the pursued? He takes natural parts of a human being to produce an unnatural creature and in so doing also takes dead parts to produce an undead creature. Consequently the Gothic imagery leaves one with ambiguous views which different readers will interpret in different ways.

Whether or not one sees a Modern Prometheus as a creator, a being who believes himself to be superior to the gods and therefore able to take things into his own hands or as a suffering champion of mankind, one can see that there are many elements in the book that could be seen to support the view that the idea of the Modern Prometheus is an important aspect of the book.

Shelley has drawn widely on her reading and knowledge and that whilst it could be argued that she is not using any of the myths or contempory poems exclusively, she does seem to have taken elements from all of them and used them when it has enhanced her own novel. However, it is important to recognise that many other myths, legends and poems such as Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and Milton's 'Paradise Lost' are referred to either directly or indirectly. In addition to this much had been happening on a political level such as the French Revolution and new scientific theories were being advanced. Shelley was obviously a well read person and therefore it is almost inevitable that all of this would have influenced her thoughts and consequently contributed to the novel and the important morals that Shelley intended the reader to draw.