![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.katecooch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Fotolia_19671824_S-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Prometheus")
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I love the Aliens<\/em> movies and was excited to go to see the prequel, Prometheus<\/em>.\u00a0 Watching it sparked my curiosity about the enduring use of the ancient Greek immortal Prometheus as a morality tale in film and literature. \u00a0I decided to refresh my memory of Prometheus and how and why he is repeatedly used as a cautionary reference.<\/p>\n In Greek mythology Zeus is the ruler of all the gods.\u00a0 The Greek creation story has Zeus assigning the task of making mortal beings to two Titan brothers, Epimetheus and Prometheus.\u00a0 Epimetheus means \u2018afterthought\u2019 and Prometheus means \u2018forethought\u2019.\u00a0 True to their names, Epimetheus was not considered to be very bright and gave all the good gifts to the animals as they were created; swiftness, courage, strength, claws, wings, and shells.\u00a0 When it came time to give gifts to man nothing was left.\u00a0 Prometheus, who was considered to be the wisest of the Titans, realized that humans needed some gifts of their own so he gave them a unique form and allowed them to walk upright.<\/p>\n When he was done giving gifts to humans, Prometheus felt they needed one more thing to protect themselves, the gift of fire.\u00a0 Fire belonged to the gods and was kept at the top of Mount Olympus.\u00a0 Prometheus decided to steal some of that fire and took a stalk of fennel (a kind of hollowed out reed), concealed one of the embers from the sacred fire in the reed and gave it to man.<\/p>\n When Zeus discovered this he punished Prometheus by impaling him on a mountain.\u00a0 When Prometheus defied Zeus further by refusing to give him information about the future, an eagle was added to the punishment that would come and eat Prometheus\u2019 liver every day.\u00a0 Since Prometheus was immortal, the liver would grow back at night and the horrific process would repeat itself daily.\u00a0\u00a0 In some tellings, like \u201cPrometheus Bound\u201d by Aeschylus, Prometheus is eventually rescued by Hercules.\u00a0 However, the crux of the story is the stealing of fire, giving it to man and the punishment received for doing so.<\/p>\n How does this tale apply to Western culture after Prometheus?\u00a0 The story is generally used as a way of showing the joys and sorrows of self-awareness.\u00a0 The fire that Prometheus steals is not just fire to cook things and keep warm. \u00a0It is fire from the sacred fire of knowledge so it imparts wisdom on its recipients.\u00a0 The story is a kind of Adam and Eve tale (in the Bible Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden tree of knowledge, gain self-awareness and are thrown out of the Garden of Eden).\u00a0 In references to Prometheus in literature and movies there is usually suffering and punishment for exploring forbidden enlightenment or taking on God-like power.\u00a0 Much like the story of Adam and Eve this kind of morality lesson is an enduring one and explains why the legend of Prometheus lives on in Western culture to this day.<\/p>\n In Prometheus<\/em> the movie (spoiler alert!) the creators of humans are a superior race called the Engineers.\u00a0 Clues about who they are have been found at archeological sites of different ancient societies.\u00a0 A group of scientists interprets these findings as an invitation to find the Engineers.\u00a0 They seek enlightenment and take a voyage of discovery on the aptly named ship Prometheus.\u00a0 In the end they receive the pleasure of wisdom but also the pain.\u00a0 Most of the crew dies by the conclusion of the movie.<\/p>\n In literature the most commonly known reference to Prometheus is Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein<\/em> whose full title is Frankenstein:\u00a0 or, The Modern Prometheus<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0As we all remember, in the novel Victor Frankenstein seeks God-like powers in making his Creature.\u00a0 He produces life but is eventually destroyed by his creation.<\/p>\n More obscurely (and for far more of a stretch), there are also references to Prometheus in Moby Dick<\/em>.\u00a0 Ahab can be seen as Promethean because he makes a God-like decision that the white whale must die.\u00a0 There are disastrous consequences to his choice.\u00a0 In Dostoyevsky\u2019s Crime and Punishment <\/em>the main character Raskolnikov can be viewed as Promethean in his choice to plan and kill the old pawn broker to test his belief that murder is legitimate in pursuit of greater purpose.\u00a0 Once again, a protagonist electing to \u2018play God\u2019 has bad results.<\/p>\n Incidentally, while Zeus\u2019 punishment of Prometheus was very severe, he also decided that the mortals who had accepted Prometheus\u2019 gift had to be penalized.\u00a0 With the help of the other gods, Zeus formed a creature of great charm and beauty but also with cunning and guile.\u00a0 According to the Greek writer Hesiod this creature was \u201can evil to mortal men with a nature to do evil.\u201d\u00a0 He called her Pandora meaning \u2018all gifts\u2019 and sent her to the mortals as the first woman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love the Aliens movies and was excited to go to see the prequel, Prometheus.\u00a0 Watching it sparked my curiosity about the enduring use of the ancient Greek immortal Prometheus as a morality tale in film and literature. \u00a0I decided … Continue reading