" (Rossetti, 1886)
Mary Shelley is noted as having stated that it would require "…a mind as subtle as his own to understand the mystic meanings scattered throughout the poem." (Rossetti, 1886) Mary writes that rough the whole poem there "There reigns a sort of calm and holy spirit of love, it soothes the tortured, and is hope to the expectant, till the prophecy is fulfilled, and love, untainted by any evil, becomes the law of the world…" (as cited in: Rossetti, 1886) it is agreed upon by all Shelley critics, according to Ristic that the imagery of the "…lyric built drama is bold and original and that its lyrical splendor is one of the wonders of English poetry. Thirty-six different verse forms have been counted, "all perfectly handled," and the drama has been compared to symphonic music." (Ristic, 2000)
Shelley writes in the Preface to Prometheus Unbound that the "only imaginary being resembling in any degree Prometheus…is Satan; and Prometheus is, in my judgment, a more poetical character than Satan, because, in addition to courage, and majesty, and firm and patient opposition to omnipotent force, he is susceptible of being described as exempt from the taints of ambition, envy, revenge, and a desire for personal aggrandizement, which in the hero of Paradise Lost, interfere with the interest… highest perfection of moral and intellectual nature, impelled by the purest and the truest motives to the best and noblest ends." (Shelley as cited in Ristic, 2000) While Shelley does not make any reference to his admiration for Christ and this in spite of Shelley's "hatred of institutional Christianity" there is a great deal of evidence in the Shelley's portrayal of Prometheus of this. (Ristic, 2000)
Asia questions Demogorgon on the nature of God and Demogorgon "refuses to utter his name..." stating only "he reigns" and later adding that "All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil: / Thou knowest if Jupiter be such or no…/for Jove is the supreme of living things." (Ristic, ) When Asia asks who the master of the slave is, Demogorgon replies by stating:
If the abysm
Could vomit forth its secret… but a voice
Is wanting, the deep truth is imageless;
For what would it avail to bid thee gaze
The last seven lines are stated by Ristic to indicate that "chance and death and mutability, being limitations entirely human, do not allow man to reach the impossible" however, Ristic notes that J.R. Watson stated that these seven lines "illustrate very well the power of Prometheus Unbound to combine the human and earthly with the superhuman and the infinite." (2000)
Summary and Conclusion
Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound' goes beyond the concept of any particular age of man and is relevant in any age that is troubled and clearly shows the need for a heart to be purged if the very difficult path of regeneration in which the mind and heart of man is to begin.
Bibliography
Bromwich, David (2002) Love Against Revenge in Shelley's Prometheus. Philosophy and Literature. Vol. 26, No. 2, October 2002. pp. 239-259.
Reading Justice: From Derrida to Shelley and Back. (2007) Studies in Romanticism. 1 Jan 2007 Available online at: http://www.infoplease.com/t/lit/shelley/1/10/8.html
Ristic, Ratomir (2000) Shelley's First Major Lyrics and Prometheus Unbound. Facta Universitatis. Linguistics and Literature Vol. 2, No. 7, 2000.
Rossetti, William M. (1886) Shelley's Prometheus Unbound. Lecture Delivered to the Shelley Society December 1886. Online available at: http://www.archive.org/stream/shelleyspromethe00rossrich/shelleyspromethe00rossrich_djvu.txt
Shelley, Percy Bysshe (2008) Notes on Prometheus Unbound by Mrs. Shelley. Online available at: http://www.infoplease.com/t/lit/shelley/1/10/8.html
Greek legend of Prometheus, the god that defied Zeus and brought fire to humans, is one that figures largely in the imagery of the later Romantic poets. There's Byron's Prometheus, Percy Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. For Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, Prometheus embodied the revolutionary, creative, and daringly original spirit, and a "courage and majesty and firm and patient opposition to omnipotent
Promethean myth holds a very strong hold upon the literature of the romantic era, a collected era of the rekindling of the ideas and ideals of classical antiquity. Though within each evolving age there is the incorporation of propriety and modernity into the stories and ideal of the old. Though not alone, in their fascination with creation and even the promethean myth, as the forbearers of the Romantics had a
What Victor is saying is that in order to create a living being from the dead, he must haunt the graveyards like a human ghoul and experiment on live animals to "animate" "lifeless clay," being the deceased remains of human beings. From this admission, it is abundantly obvious that Victor, like Prometheus, sees "clay" as the foundation for creation, a substance which is part of the earth itself and
Sherman Alexie There is no denying the fact that Sherman Alexie is a writer of considerable fame. A number of his literary publications have been transferred into film, which is generally a more lucrative market than books. When a writer's work of fiction is made into a movie, it generally signifies that he or she has created something of significant cultural value -- the most valuable aspect of which is its
However, unlike Prometheus, Loki has been almost universally seen as evil. His eventual freedom is said to presage the death of all the Gods. This link between Loki and Prometheus, which has only (relatively) recently been understood by a culture versed in both Greek and Norse myths, is evidenced in this work by the fact that Prometheus' theft is being counter-pointed by the image of the Watcher deity posed
The evolution from the Industrial Age to the Information Age marks a profound shift in the way societies function, impacting everything from the economy and labor to daily life and international relations. This essay outlines the defining features of these two distinct periods and examines the transition between them. Industrial Age: The Industrial Age, also referred to as the Industrial Revolution, began in the late 18th century and continued into
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now