Shelley uses 'The Modern Prometheus' as a subtitle to the novel. Explore the ways in which the idea of the 'Modern Prometheus' is important to the novel as a whole.

... Shelley uses 'The Modern Prometheus' as a subtitle to the novel. Explore the ways in which the idea of the 'Modern Prometheus' is important to the novel as a whole. An allusion to a myth enables the writer to make a point more clearly using fewer words, but in order for this to be successful it is necessary for the reader to have some knowledge about the myth or be interested enough to investigate the background to the reference. Shelley does not just mention Prometheus in passing but uses the 'Modern Prometheus' as a subtitle to her book and therefore it must be of some considerable importance to the themes she is trying to communicate to the reader. However, in order to discover the importance of these ideas it is necessary to explore what Shelley meant by the 'Modern Prometheus'. Historically two different versions of the Prometheus myth were in existence -

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