Prometheus was a Titan, predating the Olympians, and is credited with the creation of man from clay. He defies the gods and gives fire to humanity, which symbolizes human progress and civilization. Prometheus is known for his intelligence and as a champion of mankind.
The punishment of Prometheus as a consequence of the theft is as an immortal, to be bound to a rock, where each day the eagle of Zeus was sent to feed on his liver, only to grow back to be eaten again the next day. To the Greeks, the liver was the seat of emotion.
Prometheus then became a figure who represented human striving for scientific knowledge, at the risk of overreaching or unforeseen and tragic consequences, and which is a basis of the tale of Frankenstein's Monster.
Here we clearly see how the instincts can be used for destructive or constructive purposes, which can play out often as BOTH. The dividing line between the two is the use of a mature personal boundary, not the presence or absence of the instinct, itself.
Prometheus can then be likened to the masculine way of "inventing one's self" or "reinventing one's self." It is the passion and pride of a man, such as in Rudyard Kipling's poem, If, who can be brought down and out, but picks himself up again to reinvent, anew. This is the passionate exhilaration of the "underdog man" who takes his hard lessons and grows both character and masculinity out of them, a brand new man at the end of each challenge, yet who must, as a man, bear the hard memories and emotions of his struggles and mistakes along the way to his "life's mission."