Mary Shelley had originally planned to title her novel “The Modern Prometheus”. She ended up changing it to Frankenstein in the second publication. “The Modern Prometheus” was kept as an additional title, but Shelley separated it with “or”. From the beginning of the novel, the additional title foreshadows the connection between Frankenstein and Shelley's myth of Prometheus. The many parallels between Mary Shelly's novel Frankenstein and the Greek creation myth of Prometheus become evident through both the plot and the paternal relationships of the book's characters. The myth of Prometheus involved challenging Zeus to create humanity. This leads to extreme and prolonged punishment. Prometheus went behind Zeus's back and created a human race from clay. He tricked Zeus into getting the wrong side of the deal. This deal consisted of giving the best parts of the sacrificed animals to Prometheus' humans and giving the paltry parts to the gods. Prometheus also stole a piece of the sun from Zeus, thus giving his human race fire. Zeus became enraged by these events and chained Prometheus to a rock on top of a mountain. Zeus condemned Prometheus by dictating that an eagle would come every day for eternity and eat his liver, only to have it regrow overnight. Both Victor Frankenstein and Prometheus rebelled against the pure process of God's birth by nature to create their own life forms. Victor believed that “a new species would bless him as creator and source” (Shelley 58). Prometheus fashioned his human race with his bare hands. Victor “found such astonishing power placed in his hands” (Shelley 47). This connection in the emphasis of their hands accentuates their similar subversive acts of defiance. In addition to their similar process... middle of paper ... Hercules had a similar impact on Prometheus. Prometheus was sentenced to a life sentence, but eventually Hercules freed him from imprisonment. Although Prometheus and Victor lived in endless and constant pain, they were freed mentally and physically from their chains. Victor Frankenstein and the Greek myth of Prometheus are revealed as counterparts of each other through the events of the novel and the relationships between the characters. Through their creations, Victor Frankenstein and Prometheus both experienced eternal pain as punishment for their acts of rebellion against nature. Victor's monster turned on him and killed everyone he loved, causing him eternal pain. Likewise, Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him to a rock so that a bird would eat his liver for eternity. Both characters experienced endless pain connecting them to the very root of their existence..