Prometheus Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Prometheus Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Death to Life

The opening sequence shows an advanced being drinking a poison that breaks his body down on a cellular level, causing it to break down into a black matter. His dna then creates new life on the cellular level. Thus symbolizing life is born out of death and destruction.

Storm

After their first expedition on the planet the Prometheus crew has a storm baring down on them. The outrun it to get back to the ship, but it is a symbol foreshadowing the storm of death coming for the crew as they continue to find answers in this mysterious place.

Mortality

Shaw is able to recover the head of one of the advanced beings on the expedition. After an injection the neurological system in the brain stem allows the head to come back to life. That is before the head, which contains a virus explodes. The head exploding is a symbol that these seemingly immortal beings are in fact mortal.

The Price of Fire

Vickers torches Holloway when he willingly walks back onto the ship infected with some sort of virus. He dies and we see the flame from his body in the reflection of Vickers' helmet. The symbol is that there is a price for doing anything to get what you want. She has crossed the line and become a killer thus the fire symbolizes the price she has paid and must now carry.

Shaw's Cross

We see David remove a Shaw's necklace with a cross before attempting to do surgery on her. Shaw's cross is a symbol of her hope that there is more to life than what she's experienced. That we are connected to a superior being.

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