I'll try to break down this myth, by offering various readings of the myth, and apply it to the romantic movement and the French revolution. Its easy to see why the revolutionists in France worshipped Prometheus they to wanted to take the fire (or power) away from the Gods (the bourgeoisie) and give it to man (the workers). Prometheus is the embodiment of the revolutionary spirit of liberty, equality and fraternity. We can also pick out certain elements of the myth that reoccur throughout romantic inspired works. Nature with in the myth seems to be a powerful force, the mountains that become Prometheus's asylum, and the vulture that pecks at his liver. This establishes nature as the fierce, powerful yet beautiful force that it is; a co notation that appears in romantic works, such as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. In Frankenstein the mountains of the Swiss alps and the great lake, rejuvenate Frankenstein's spirits and soul after tragic news strikes the family.
I think we can also apply the myth to what is happening in the world today. Prometheus could be embodied in things like citizen journalism and social media. The Gods from the myth, are the Rupert Murdoch's and News International corporation's and governments; and the fire is knowledge. The fire is also the people communicating and sharing information freely and more efficiently. Take the Egyptian revolution for example, people used Facebook and Twitter to organise protests, to tell their stories across the world, to inform the world about what was going on in the country. The government tried to restrict the Internet, but through apps on smart phones and loop holes in the Internet, the Egyptian people prevailed and continued to pass information on. Citizen journalism and social media played a massive part in the Arab uprising; it stole the fire (the knowledge, the information) and gave it to mankind. However in this new reading of the myth, a vulture is on the horizon, that is waiting to peck the liver of citizen journalism and social media. The vulture is rearing its ugly head through Rupert Murdoch's urge to monopolise online news; which is damaging the flow of free information; and restricting the power of the people.
Speaking of Rupert Murdoch, I will now turn to Percy Shelly's 'Ozymandias'. 'Ozymandias' is a sonnet, but not in the traditional sense. It is about a great empire belonging to the proclaimed King of King's, Ramses II, being ravished by the test of time. Even though his empire was vast and mighty, his great bust was buried in the sand. His empire was built on sand, but the sands of time is what dissolved it. The bust was sculpted by a sculpture, a.k.a. a working man; this reinforces the point that empires can not be built without workers. If you suppress the workers for to long, they will rise up, as seen in the Arab revolution. I think comparisons could be made to the empire Rupert Murdoch has built. He has built a vast empire, in multiple strands of delivering information, but as people begin to exchange information freely and without administrating, is his empire beginning to crumble.
