Title: 03 - The Story of Prometheus
Course: English 4A SU15 > Section: Unit: It's Greek to Me

Soon you'll be reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The purpose of telling you this now is not so you can start figuring out ways in which you can avoid reading the book. It is to prepare you for many of the allusions you will encounter throughout the novel and in the rest of the course. The full title of Frankenstein is Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Before you begin reading the book it would be worth knowing a little bit about who Prometheus is and why Frankenstein is a modern version of him. So, who is he? (Besides a Titan who gets to be chained to a mountain having his liver pecked at by an eagle for years.) You're going to answer that for yourself with a little direction from me.

I will say that Prometheus was a Titan from Greek Mythology who played an important role in the development of the Human Race. I'll give you a few sites to search (feel free to find others) and you're going to answer the questions below:

theoi.com

Summary of Greek Creation Myth

About.com

Wikipedia

1. What role did Prometheus play in the creation of humans?

2. What did he do that angered Zeus enough to punish him?

3. What other characters can you think of that Prometheus might be compared to?

4. Do you think that human beings would've been okay on their own if he had not interfered? Support your conclusion.

Image source: Luca Giordano [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons