Faust and Victor Frankenstein: Unconcerned With Reality Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein build on the Promethean myth that was so central to the Romantic Movement. Her work describes a character perhaps properly called übermensch: a man of exceptional learning and ability, veritable superman. Yet at the same time, Frankenstein is portrayed as a grand failure, heroic but fated, doomed by the very superiority that ennobles him. Victor Frankenstein struggles for control over the processes of life and death, but is horribly punished when his experiment goes askew. The exploits of Victor’s characters echo the myth of Prometheus: those who a