ABSTRACT
In this concluding chapter, we turn to Prometheus in the twentieth century. It should come as no great surprise that in an age dominated by digital technology, extraordinary life-extending medical and scientific breakthroughs, and incessant technological innovation that Prometheus continues to loom large in the collective psyche. What are the themes and issues that emerge from a twentieth-century Prometheus? Does Prometheus tell an Aeschylean tale of progress or a Hesiodic story of decline? Do the political issues that were so important to the Romantic notion of Prometheus still have purchase in the late twentieth century? Does Prometheus still symbolize the creative impulse? A close look at the British poet and playwright Tony Harrison’s movie Prometheus (1998) will show that the answer to all of these questions is a resounding yes. Harrison’s movie is set in northern England amidst a coal miners’ strike and isolates technology, work, and artistic creation as three key themes of the twentieth-century Prometheus. In addition, Harrison works back through Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound to offer a Hesiodic twist on Aeschylus’ more optimistic treatment of the Titan’s myth. Hence his movie will give us an opportunity to reflect on the themes we have highlighted in previous chapters of this book.
