Of Gods and Men: Monsters in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ridley Scott's Prometheus

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20420/Phil.Can.2021.378

Keywords:

monsters, others, hubris, Frankenstein, Prometheus

Abstract

This article is a comparison between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the 2012 Ridley Scott movie Prometheus focusing on the destructive consequences of the conflict between the creators and the created each deeming the other as monstrous. Both the novel and the movie are about finding answers to fundamental questions as to one’s nature of existence motivated by a human curiosity and desire for immortality leading to a conflict with one’s creator. The main concern here is to lay bare the blurriness of the lines allegedly separating the monsters from their creators, elucidating the monstrosity of the creators themselves as a product of hubris which eventually leads to a transgression of the boundaries between God/man, man/monster, good/evil and so forth.

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Author Biography

Seda Pekşen, Ankara Üniversitesi

Seda Pekşen is Associate Professor of English Language and Literature at Ankara Üniversitesi, Faculty of Languages, History and Geography. She received her B. A. in 2000 from Ankara Üniversitesi, Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, Department of English Language and Literature; her M. A. in 2003 and her Phd in 2008 from Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Department of Foreing Language Education, English Literature Programme. Her primary fields of study are British and American Fiction, Contemporary Literary Theory, Posthumanism, Humour, Children’s Literature, Science-Fiction and Fantasy. Currently she is working on sound and rhythm in fiction exploring narratives that could be considered prose-poetry.

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Published

2021-05-23

How to Cite

Pekşen, S. (2021). Of Gods and Men: Monsters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Philologica Canariensia, 27, 115–129. https://doi.org/10.20420/Phil.Can.2021.378

Issue

Vol. 27 (2021)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2021 Seda Pekşen

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