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