Self Evaluation:
Originality: 12
Elaboration/Development: 8
Craft: 7
Self Evaluation: 4
Total: 31/32
For my essay, I chose to write about how the two stories of Icarus and Prometheus are related
to themes, discussions, and stories that we have read or studied in class.
To start, we should go over what the Greek myths about Icarus and Prometheus is about. The
story of Icarus is about a man, Daedalus, and his son, Icarus, who were imprisoned in a place called
Crete by King Minos. Daedalus and his son were planning to escape, so his father had made wings out of
wax and feathers so they could fly away. Before the flight, Daedalus had warned his son not to fly to
close to the sun, or else the wings would melt. As Icarus and his father flew through the sky, Icarus flew
closer to the sun out of excitement. His wings began to melt, and Icarus fell to his death into the sea.
The story of Icarus is very much related to Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Victor had a want for
knowledge. He wanted to discover and create something beyond his limits through Science, like Icarus
who wanted to fly further than he could. Victor then regretted the choices he made, which was the
creation of the monster, thus causing the murders of his loved ones. Icarus made a choice, in which he
ended up killing himself. In a metaphorical state, the story of Icarus is a lot like the choices that modern
inventors and scientists make when thinking about an upbringing of a particular product, be it a
medication or a cure, a computer or a rocket. Some choices created more negative effects than positive
ones, which is what took place in the story of Icarus and Frankenstein.
Not only is Icarus related to Frankenstein, but it is also very similar to Jurassic park. Like Icarus,
the scientists in Jurassic Park “focused on what they could do, more than what they should do”. Icarus
focused on what he could accomplish with his ability of flight, rather than listening to his father on what
he should have done, which was stay safer and not fly towards the sun.
The story of Prometheus is also very interesting and is one of the most popular Greek myths.
Prometheus was very sneaky, and he decided to play a trick on Zeus. He sacrificed a bull, and separated
the meat into two sections: the tender bull meat inside of the bull stomach (a not-so-pleasing cover with
a good treat hidden inside), and the bones of the animal wrapped in a layer of fat (a pleasing exterior,
but the useless, inedible parts of the bull inside). Zeus did what most probably would do, and chose the
bones wrapped in fat. This set a course for future sacrifices by mortals to the Gods; the mortals would
keep the good meat of the bull for themselves, and give the gods the bones and fat. Of course, Zeus was
not very pleased with Prometheus. As an act of revenge, Zeus took away the fire from mortals.
Prometheus, still being a very sneaky God, decided to steal the fire from Zeus, and then gave it back to
man. Zeus was not very happy with Prometheus, yet again. As punishment, Zeus sent Prometheus to be
chained to a rock, where a vulture would eat out his liver, only to have it regenerate itself by night, thus
creating everlasting pain.
Prometheus is related to Jurassic Park and Frankenstein as well, and it is quite interesting how.
In Jurassic Park, the people definitely paid for what they did. Like Prometheus, they took a few gambles
and ended up with the worst case scenario. Prometheus messed with Zeus, someone with a lot of power
and ended up getting punished by experiencing everlasting pain. The characters and scientists in
Jurassic Park took a gamble with history and genetics, and they ended up paying for it in the end as well.
The same situation happened in Frankenstein as well. Victor had created a monster. He knew
that this monster was killing, but did nothing about it and left it alone. He ended up suffering in the end
by having his loved ones killed. That represents the pain felt by Prometheus that was everlasting. Both
causes of the suffering of all characters was caused by a gamble that each took, be it scientific or just for
fun. Either way, the dice was rolled by each character, and they ultimately brought the suffering on
themselves.
These stories were all related to the perils and promises of science, technology, and life. They all
happened because of the own character’s fault, caused by ignorance, foolishness, or just being unaware
of the consequences. The stories of Icarus and Prometheus may not be directly related to the science
and technology of Frankenstein and Jurassic Park, but they definitely express the metaphors and main
messages of each story in a way that describes science and technology throughout the years.