Liberalism, Modernism, and the Limits of Progress

Introduction: Liberalism's Broken Promise

Liberalism introduced a very appealing, idealistic perspective of the world, wishing for universal freedom and equality. Historical events such as the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution seemed to change the world in exactly this direction, but the truth is that liberalism failed to keep its promise regarding progress.

Society did undergo fundamental changes. Absolutist regimes were brought down. Industrial advancements allowed for the creation of a new social order, with the middle class acquiring a better living standard and easier access to knowledge. However, all these positive changes came with a heavy price.

Modernism had the purpose of renewing all the important aspects of society — social, political, cultural, and otherwise — under circumstances in which an entirely industrialized world seemed to prove that power was in man's hands, and that it is our actions, not the will of an omnipotent god, which create the future.

Nevertheless, instead of constructing a future resembling the ideal society people had been imagining since the days of the Enlightenment, mankind created a world characterized by political tensions, continuous class struggle, inequality, and global war. This tragic development is reflected in the literary and scientific work of various authors. Among the works most worth considering are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday, and Perry Rogers' Aspects of Western Civilization.

Frankenstein as a Metaphor for Modern Ambition

Mary Shelley published her work during a period of sweeping changes at the political, social, and scientific levels. Her novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, was inspired by these changes, and it may be argued that the book mirrors the anxieties the newly born modern society was facing.

The plot concerns a young man named Victor Frankenstein. He struggles to accept the death of his mother from a contagious disease, and his ambitions become focused on bringing the dead back to life. He studies and experiments until he finally succeeds. Using pieces of dead corpses, he creates a new being of overwhelming physical power.

However, this creature inspires terror in its creator. Frankenstein abandons the nameless monster, who then begins killing everyone dear to him. The creature eventually asks Victor to create a companion, and Victor attempts to do so but destroys the second creation before giving it life. The monster pursues him, and the book ends with Victor dead and the creature acknowledging that what he did was wrong.

In a certain sense, the plot of the book is a metaphor for the changes that society and mankind were undergoing. The significance of the novel's subtitle becomes clearer in this light. According to Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to men, enabling them to develop their own civilization and to conquer nature. Zeus, however, condemned him to have an eagle devour his liver each day — with the liver regenerating each time so that the agony could continue indefinitely.

Victor is clearly a modern Prometheus. He is modern because he uses scientific advancements as his tool, and he is Promethean because he wishes to perform an act that defies god and nature. In this sense, Prometheus functions as a symbol of absolute ambition.

Prometheus, Pandora, and the Price of Progress

The Industrial Revolution increased the extent to which man dominated nature, bringing advantages such as greater employment, higher earnings, improved living standards, and easier access to knowledge. This may have given people the illusion that they could do whatever they chose. The desire for power and its acquisition could have positive consequences, but only to a limited degree.

Prometheus ended up having one of his organs devoured by an eagle — a metaphor for the victory of nature over man, even when man believes he holds supreme power. Victor Frankenstein possessed a kind of supreme power: he managed to give life to a being assembled from dead matter. His apparent victory over god and nature seemed absolute. Similarly, the fall of the absolutist regime in France and the expansion of the Industrial Revolution gave people the illusion that their own victory was complete.

Yet Victor proves unable to control his own creation. The creature commits murder because it is rejected by its creator, and the cause of that rejection is the creature's ugliness, which turns Victor's anxiety into outright terror when he realizes the being's enormous strength. Just as mortals used fire to hunt and consume animals, the creature in Shelley's novel devours children and animals to feed his tremendous appetite. In exactly the same way, Shelley's contemporaries tried to expand their dominion absolutely, literally devouring the newly available resources of the industrialized world.

A legend related to that of Prometheus is the myth of Pandora's Box. Zeus sends Pandora to the wedding of Prometheus' brother with a box he promises contains wonderful gifts. When it is opened, hellish things escape — disease, despair, pain, and death. The only thing that remains inside is hope. The Industrial Revolution may have had tremendous benefits for society, but there were costs to be paid as well. From child labour and entrenched class conflict, through two world wars and massive destruction, to inequalities that persist to this day, it is reasonable to conclude that the liberal ideal failed in its purpose of building a better world. Just as the creature remained nameless, so do people become increasingly anonymous in a society that aims to make them consume without thinking.

The reason for this tragic succession of events lies in the possession of too much power — power that ultimately turns against its possessor. Victor Frankenstein can be seen as a scientist whose primary tool was reason. Yet everything was ruined by passion: the fear and hatred he felt toward the creature, and his inability to accept his mother's death. In a similar way, one can see how the liberal ideal also relied on reason as its primary tool, while the destructive forces of passion quietly undermined it.

Conclusion: Man as a Modern Prometheus

Rogers tries to understand how Western values — beginning with the religious and moral ones — influenced the course of Western history. Despite the spiritual basis that all the political reforms had, events showed that people were killed in the name of peace and universal love, which is an absurdity. The things that escaped from Pandora's Box seem to be a constant throughout history, and mankind remains a kind of Prometheus despite all the power and knowledge accumulated over time.

The liberal ideal used reason as its primary tool, just as Victor Frankenstein did. In both cases, passion, fear, desire, and the appetite for absolute power undermined everything that reason had promised to build. The myths of Prometheus and Pandora, and the literary and historical works examined here, all point to the same conclusion: the possession of too much power, without the wisdom to restrain it, turns against the possessor. The creature remains nameless, hope remains locked in the box, and man — modern Prometheus that he is — remains bound to his rock.

Bibliography

Rogers, Perry M. Aspects of Western Civilization: Problems and Sources in History, Volume One. Prentice Hall, 6th edition, 2007.

Rogers, Perry M. Aspects of Western Civilization: Problems and Sources in History, Volume Two. Prentice Hall, 6th edition, 2007.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Simon and Schuster, 2004.

Wright, Patrick. "Enemy Alien." The Guardian, February 2, 2008. Retrieved March 20 from http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2250759,00.html#article_continue

Zweig, Stefan. The World of Yesterday. Hesperides Press, 2008.