"PROMETHEUS BOUND" (AESCHYLUS), "FRANKENSTEIN" (MARY SHELLEY) & "ROBINSON CRUSOE" (DANIEL DEFOE).   Term Paper ID:24992 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Examines works on necessity of limits on human intelligence & power. Paper Introduction: In three works that contemplate the question of the necessity of limits on human intelligence, the issue revolves around the notion of humanity exceeding its limits and, thereby, offending or challenging the gods. The question asked by Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound, by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein, and by Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe is whether there is some inherent limit on human ability--a point beyond which humanity should not go. Does human technology, the various products of human intelligence, reach a point at which it is beyond the ability of mere mortals to control it? Though the question was phrased in very different ways, all three authors agreed that there was a limit to human intelligence and that such a limit was a necessity. Why it is a necessity was, however, answered quite differently by the three writers. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1981.Shelley, Mary. The terrors of his isolation stemmed from his uniqueness and anyhuman being who, like Frankenstein and his creature, places himself orfinds himself outside the human community is incapable of full humanity.In different ways, therefore, the result of Frankenstein's experiment wasto place both himself and his creation outside normal human intercourse.He raised himself above the race that was happy with the gifts Prometheushad brought, and sank his creature below that race by failing to integratehim into a social setting. Robinson Crusoe, who is probably the greatest incarnation ofpractical scientific humanity in all of literature, dug in the earth likethe savages Prometheus rescued. Crusoe's chagrin at his failure--which is a failure of hishabitual observational powers--is also his chagrin at having challenged thelimits god has set. New York: New York: Modern Library, 1993. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1952.Defoe, Daniel. He seesthese patterns in his own deductive approach to survival. And, in this, Crusoe clearly refersnot just to the god-given right he possesses over his island but the god-sanctioned order that prevails in civilized nations. Such an idea does not make sense in this context. And his longprocess of developing the art of firing pots also seems to follow the trialand error procedures that must have characterized the efforts of theworld's first potters. Creating such a race of small gods might even resultin a race that was opposed to Zeus, the most powerful of the gods. The encroachment on his power means that the worldhas become unpredictable. It followed logically that "a new species would bless [him] asits creator and source [for] many happy and excellent natures would owetheir being to me" (61-62). Yet Prometheus' decision to endow the human race with all its giftsis clearly one of which Aeschylus approved. Thus Prometheus hasconstituted himself a threat to Zeus' power for a second time: once with'fire' for humanity, and a second time with a secret about Zeus'vulnerability. But humanity may go toofar in its rebelliousness and should not be allowed to disturb the order ofthings, as Prometheus did. He believed that his domination of nature, becauseit was enabled by the intelligence given him by god, was sanctioned by god. Fire is, of course,emblematic of the whole range of human intelligence and its products whichhave been the means by which, as Prometheus notes, human beings have,literally, pulled themselves out of the mud. In giving humanity all these things Prometheus trulybecame the founder of human technology. The episode ofgrowing the grain, for example, filled him with wonder at the benignworking of Providence in aiding him to make his discoveries. It is because Prometheus has refused to tell Zeuswhat this possible fate is that he is being tortured. The question asked by Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound, by Mary Shelleyin Frankenstein, and by Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe is whether there issome inherent limit on human ability--a point beyond which humanity shouldnot go. god in re technology does fit. This time the usual patterns he had observed, as godaided him to ensure his own survival, have not occurred. And it is in this statement that thecentral problem of Frankenstein's failure is contained. Thus he gradually allowed hisrationalizations and his feeling of excitement to carry him toward a statewhere, when he began to conceive of himself as assuming god-like qualities,this merely seemed like a logical step in the process in which he wasengaged. But his cave was filled with a great dealof the technology humanity had created in the interval. Ed. This help implies,however, that some things are reserved to god. But Crusoe does undertake projects that run counter to the acceptanceof this providential help. Frankenstein, or, The New Prometheus. Aeschylus does notimagine human technology truly going beyond a point that Prometheus mightsanction. Crusoe failsbecause he has stepped outside the realm of the possible--the limits thatare placed on humanity by god. And, in hisvery active contemplation of god's involvement in the natural surroundings,he also saw the possibility that such ordering and naming might provide aclue to what was, otherwise, a mystery to human beings. and tr. Accordingly this placed a sort of limit on humanity's exploitationof its new powers. Thus whenhe came to the correct study of science he saw no limits. But the idea of man vs. Crusoe recognized the inherent limits in human activity. Aeschylus. But, in general, Crusoe observes thelimits god places on humanity--while confessing to his curiosity about whatlies beyond human capabilities. But Crusoe regardedhimself as "King and Lord of all this Country indefeasibly [with] a Rightof Possession" (1 ). In the course of thenumerous interrogations that Prometheus undergoes he is asked who managesthe progress of the universe and he replies that this is the job of theFates and the Furies and that even Zeus "cannot escape what has beenprovided for" (518). But the otherwise untrammeled progress of the humanrace, the fullest possible development of all the gifts given byPrometheus, was seen as a good of the highest order. Though he surely must help himself ineverything, his construction of the large boat is an instance where heseems to be engaged in a mere pointless exercise of his ingenuity. The horrors thatderive from this situation are the direct result of the incompleteness ofhuman knowledge. But this does not mean that Aeschylus does not see any limits onthe exercise of intelligence. Butthey only went to the practical limit and were not meant to go beyond--totake on, that is, Prometheus' rebellious nature. This right, he says, was one which he could pass on, if he had heirs, justlike any lord of a manor in England. At this point inhumanity's history the gifts of Prometheus had been developed to a fairlyhigh level. Why it is a necessity was, however, answered quitedifferently by the three writers. But for Frankenstein this simply was not enough. In addition to making and growing everything heneeds, however, Crusoe also establishes an increasingly complex system ofordering what is around him. In his struggle to survive Crusoe, with the benefit of some tools andhis lifetime habit of careful observation, reenacts many of the eventsPrometheus brought about as benefactor of humanity. ThusZeus is primarily concerned with the change that Prometheus made in theorder of the universe. In opposing this, however, Zeus did not offer arguments about man'sinability to handle these gifts but about the appropriateness ofPrometheus' behavior. Though the question was phrased in very different ways, all threeauthors agreed that there was a limit to human intelligence and that such alimit was a necessity. What hademerged from the powers that Prometheus granted to humanity was the desireto push this progress even farther. The previous progress of humanity hadinvolved dimensions that were left out of the experience of Frankenstein'screature. His audacity, like that of Prometheus,blinded him to the possibility that he was transgressing in some way.Building on this rationalization, which implies that human beings weremeant to go as far as their capabilities allowed, Frankenstein argued thatthese pursuits were simply part of the "improvement which every day takesplace in science and mechanics" (61). With these gifts they becamecapable of achieving so much that, as Prometheus argues, they have achievedthe fulfillment of their existence as human beings. Does human technology, the various products of human intelligence,reach a point at which it is beyond the ability of mere mortals to controlit? They were merelybrute animals prior to this; animals who had eyes but could not seeclearly, and for whom life was "in the shape of a dream" so that they sawit all in a sort of confused blur, much, perhaps, as Aeschylus imaginedanimals perceived the world (449). In this Crusoe sounds like those creators of human technology whohad not progressed, according to Frankenstein, beyond the stage of beingable to "dissect, anatomise, and give names" (41). Conflict, such as that betweenPrometheus and Zeus, may be a necessary condition for the creation of humantechnology--which flourishes when faced with need. Interestingly, of course, Crusoe is not seen as surpassing suchlimits when, Frankenstein-like, he attempts the reshaping of another humanbeing's culture to his own ends. (The actual point in question in this play, whichwas one of a trilogy about Prometheus' dilemma, was Zeus' demand thatPrometheus reveal a secret he possessed about a limit on Zeus' power.)While Prometheus is judged to have acted rightly in giving humanity itsgifts, the manner in which he acted, his rebelliousness, is seen asexcessive. In Shelley's novel, which is subtitled "The Modern Prometheus,"the story revolves around fantastic circumstances in which a human beingventures into territory that is reserved to the gods. The "enticementsof science" were such that they drove him on toward seeking an answer tothe "bold question" of the fundamental principle of life (57-58). Thethings that Prometheus gave to humanity freed people because they allowedthem to overcome the limitations they had previously faced in nature. They lived as animals as well sincethey "could not brick / their houses to oppose the sun, nor work in wood, /but like a boiling swarm of ants beneath the ground / they holed as deep insunless caves as they could dig" (45 -53). Thiswork was guided by god's help in providing humanity with the intelligenceto develop the necessary technology for survival. Though the drama takes placein a time before humanity began to develop these gifts, Prometheusdescribes their effect. Aeschylus' Prometheuswould have been able to envision the fate of Robinson Crusoe, butFrankenstein had usurped the roles of both Prometheus and Zeus and he mighthave been surprised to learn that human beings would even contemplate thepossibility that their technology could be the equivalent of Zeus' or thatthey could steal from the gods for themselves. The results of going too far with these gifts, in a fashion thatAeschylus does not imagine, are shown in Frankenstein. But it is precisely this threat to Zeus' powerthat constitutes the problem in Prometheus Bound. As Frankenstein says, "the untaughtpeasant beheld the elements around him, and was acquainted with theirpractical uses [but] the most learned philosopher knew little more" (41).The secrets of nature had only been partially unveiled and, while humanityhad made great progress, this was only made at the lowest levels and thecauses were still unknown to them. Robinson Crusoe. In Aeschylus' play the conflict is over whether Prometheus was rightto give humanity the ability to act in ways that Zeus believed should bereserved to the gods. Herationalized his pursuit of this question, arguing that there were manythings that humanity could know "if cowardice or carelessness did notrestrain our inquiries" (58). He continually reflects on the pleasure thatsuch ordering gives him. He found them, he says, "without minds / and madethem conscious, and able to use their sense" (443-44). Prometheus transformed thissuffering mass by giving them everything they needed to achieve the freedomof fully functioning human beings: numbers, writing, sail boats, thedomestication of animals, medicines, and access to the gold and silverlocked in the earth. From this conflict the principal point that emerges is that Zeus'exercise of power has become arbitrary. His failure consisted of succeeding only inpart and his punishment was to experience the same isolation as hiscreature when the monster, warped by his isolation, destroyed thoseFrankenstein loved. Prometheus Bound. The balance of the universe had to bemaintained by keeping both the rebellious and the authoritarian strains incheck. Frankenstein simply passes beyond theselimits by assuming that his human cleverness and benign intentions are anadequate substitute for the true power of creation. Frankenstein describes the state ofhuman progress by picking up, perhaps deliberately, from the point wherePrometheus' speech about his gifts to humanity leaves off. In three works that contemplate the question of the necessity oflimits on human intelligence, the issue revolves around the notion ofhumanity exceeding its limits and, thereby, offending or challenging thegods. The sail boatsand mining technology were not enough. Thus whatPrometheus provided was the gift of freedom and what Zeus feared was thatanyone might be free of him. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe,of course, experienced isolation, but it was not of the same order as thatof Frankenstein's monster. Frankenstein could never succeed in creating human life--as it was meant to be--because he had discovered only a small part of thetrue secret of creating life. But he was driven in his work by necessity--like the peoplerescued by Prometheus and unlike Frankenstein who went so far beyondnecessity. The rebelliousness of Prometheus in defyingZeus must, as the resolution of the play shows, be tempered just as Zeus'tyranny needs to be more moderate. Frankenstein was initially misled by the pseudoscience of Paracelsusand others and, once he realized his mistake and rectified it, he remainedinfected by the over-ambitious aims of the pseudophilosophers. In Prometheus Bound the conflict between Zeus and the TitanPrometheus has arisen from Prometheus' theft of fire from Zeus and hisdonation of this technology to the human race. He learns fromexperience, for example, the correct time to plant seeds--after havingplanted them accidentally and replanted out of season. machine" escapes me. Frankenstein's transgression lay in following only the dictates ofcuriosity, and following them to a point beyond that of necessity. He separates, for example, his magazine of drygoods from his "living Magazine of Flesh, Milk, Butter and Cheese" and evenkeeps careful track of the division of his own time among various functions(153). technology" or "man vs. Havingfound himself on the island, and been preserved and allowed to prosperthrough god's help, the rather pointless attempt to challenge his limits(i.e., his isolation in the midst of the vast sea) seems to be a case ofhubris. Works CitedAeschylus. But for Defoe's Crusoe, stuck in a situationthat placed him somewhere between the emergent human beings favored byPrometheus and the modern education of Frankenstein, the job of a humanbeing was to achieve dominion over nature--but only to go so far. His treatment of Io shows howcruel he can be and this further strengthens the case for Prometheus'audacious theft. Herbert Weir Smyth. From this, of course, the reader is to inferthat Frankenstein himself is neglecting the source of his own existence,the one to which he owes his being. He understandsthat there is an "invisible Power which alone directs such Things" and hebegan to look for the patterns that guided his own survival and were, ofcourse, the patterns of god's hand in bringing this about (9 ). For humanity, subject to this tyrannical will, had beenprovided with no means of achieving freedom on its own. It is ironic that he conceives of the "happy and excellent natures"of the beings he would create because this is precisely where hisexperiment goes awry. There remains something that he is incapable ofgiving to the thing that he creates. By the end of his search Frankenstein clearly sawhimself as engaged in "a task enjoined by heaven," acknowledging, too late,the "power of which [he] was unconscious" now drove him to make amends(278). NOTE TO CLIENT: The precise meaning of the request for something on "humanity vs. And he experienced the power and joy inherentin invention and in straining his inventiveness to gain dominion overnature. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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