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Summary and Analysis of Lines 1-127
Summary: Enter Might and Violence, restraining Prometheus. Enter also Hephaestus, the god of fire and the forge. Might describes the land, the barren region of Scythia, known now as the Caucasus. For the Greeks, this inhospitable region was seen as the very edge of the world. Might tells Hephaestus to carry out his duty and nail Prometheus to the rocks. Prometheus is being punished for stealing fire and giving it to mortal men. Hephaestus does not enjoy his duty, but he must obey Zeus, king of the gods, at whose orders Prometheus is to be punished. He tells Prometheus that he is fastening him to the rocks, but that he would not if it were his choice to make. Prometheus will be alone, and he will be tortured every day by exposure to the elements. This punishment is the price for trying to help mankind, and Zeus will not be swayed. Might urges Hephaestus to hurry, criticizing him for hesitating. Hephaestus is compassionate, and Might ruthless. They talk as Hephaestus reluctantly fulfills his duty. Might continues to push the smith god to tighten the restraints, and bind Prometheus ever more surely to the rocks. The smith god does not like this duty, but he gives in to Might's demands. As they leave, Might mocks Prometheus some more, telling him that he was wrongly named. "Prometheus" means Forethought or Forethinker, but his forethought was apparently not enough to prevent this situation. All exit except Prometheus. Prometheus calls on nature to witness his torture. He cries out against the harshness of the punishment. And yet he knows all that will happen. He has always known his destiny. He "hunted out the secret spring of fire / that filled the narthex stem" (ll. 109-110), and gave this great gift to man. His love of man has been his undoing. He hears the approach of someone or something, and he is afraid: now, in his current helpless state, "everything that comes toward me is occasion for fear" (l. 127). AnalysisFor some of the mythological background of the Prometheus myth, see the Short Summary section of this study guide. Anyone without knowledge of the body of myths surrounding Prometheus cannot hope to understand the play. Our first view of Prometheus emphasizes his helplessness. He is restrained by two monstrous deities with allegorical names, Might and Violence. Prometheus is not only physically restrained, but he is silent as well. He chooses not to speak, as anything he says will give Might and Violence reason to mock or hurt him. So the opening is dominated, both physically and verbally, by Might and Hephaestus. (Violence is played mute.) One of the great themes of Prometheus Bound is the frustration and helplessness of reason and rightness in the face of sheer power. Aeschylus hammers the theme home by having Prometheus chained not by the more nuanced and multifaceted Olympian gods, but by two demonic forces with allegorical names. Violence, appropriately, is played mute. He is there to roughhouse Prometheus, but he does not speak; such a creature has no need for words, and in many productions Violence is played as a kind of beast. Might, on the other hand, does speak. But he uses language only to give orders in the name of Zeus, or to mock those under his jurisdiction. He is a ruthless, pitiless deity, without any will of his own. He is the fist of Zeus: cold, cruel, the institution of tyranny personified. As in the Oresteia, Aeschylus gives us a magnificent net of symbols and metaphor, all working on multiple levels at once. Prometheus is reason and wisdom personified; he is also the individual of conscience in a totalitarian state. Viewing Prometheus as reason, we see the play as the story of reason's limits, its helplessness in the face of brutal, unthinking force. Prometheus is chained by Might and Violence; because of the primal nature of the story, the theme of reason vs. power is boiled down to its basics. But on another level, the story resonates as a political commentary. Prometheus is the individual of conscience in the state of a dictator. Tyranny was a key theme for the Greeks. For Athenians, who considered themselves freer than their neighbors, fear of losing that freedom was an obsession. Stories of tyrants, and the injustices they had committed against their subjects, ignoring law and custom, were fresh in the minds of Athenians. Athens had had its own tyrant, Peisistratus, and the Athenian democracy was often unstable during times of war, as Athenians had to resort to more centralized leadership. Liberties became fragile, and sinking into dictatorship was a real fear. Aeschylus emphasizes these parallels between the Prometheus story and a political situation recognizable in the real world of states and people. Zeus, like the tyrants of the real world, crosses the lines of custom and unwritten law. Prometheus is kin, as Hephaestus reminds us, and a god to boot, and yet he is going to be punished in the most brutal way imaginable. In real life, many of the tyrants' worst offenses were not in the face of any written law or concretely defined institution, but rather in disagreement with custom, taste, or mercy. Hephaestus offers a very human explanation for Zeus's severity: "Every ruler is harsh whose rule is new" (l. 34). This phenomenon appears in other Greek tragedies as well: think of Creon in the Antigone of Sophocles, and his incredibly harsh methods for restoring order to Thebes. This story is about Prometheus, the rebel with a conscience whose crime, his love of man, brings on him both the rage of the gods and the immediate sympathy of the human audience. Prometheus becomes a representative for those human champions of justice and principle who defy tyranny and pay the ultimate price. But the play is not only political. Prometheus Bound uses parallels to political situations to give the play more resonance, but it is not merely a political critique. Aeschylus' skillful use of a recognizable political situation only enriches what is also a struggle between two principals. On the emotional level, sympathy for Prometheus is strong because all of us can recognize his situation. He is helpless before an enemy who is clearly in the wrong. He is an ethical, brilliant, and beautiful creature in a universe where his very virtues cause him to be called criminal. Might speaks pitilessly of the necessity of obeying Zeus: "There is nothing without discomfort except the overlordship of the Gods. For only Zeus is free" (ll. 49-50.) Although almost all Greek tragedies feature characters constrained by fate, and in fact a sense of inevitability is one of the most powerful and painful aspects of Greek tragedy, Prometheus Bound shows us the protagonist in the throes of suffering itself. Prometheus constraint by destiny is literal: he is chained down to the rocks. The whole play is his Scene of Suffering, an element of tragedy, usually short and at the end of the play, pointed out by Aristotle in his Poetics. And so we watch him rail against fate, held down by creatures less compassionate and wise than he. Emotionally, this spectacle is extremely powerful. Euripides, in Medea gives us a heroine, superior to her foes, who nonetheless is under the constraint of their hypocritical laws and whims. Part of Medea's appeal is that the protagonist manages a bloody, horrible revenge, one that hurts herself as much as her enemies. But in Prometheus Bound, we are denied this thrill. Aeschylus' play is more somber, less frenzied in tone. His punishment is not the melting flesh and pyrotechnics of Euripides, but a long, slow, agonizing torture that cannot end because he is immortal. The horror is diminished for Prometheus, but the scene of suffering is graver, more elevated in tone. It is said of Aeschylus that his plays often border on religious ritual, and we see elements of this style here. Rather than watch a powerful woman fulfill the bloody, amoral fantasy that we have all had, we are watching the helpless suffering of a noble god who has been mankind's champion. Prometheus Bound is in some ways similar to watching enactments of Christ's suffering on Easter. Aeschylus is aiming for a powerful dignity, cosmic in scale, related directly to man but also above and beyond him.
Summary and Analysis of Lines 128-284
Summary: The Chorus, the winged daughters of Oceanos, enters. These minor goddesses heard a disturbance above, and they have come to comfort Prometheus. They sing out against the harshness of Zeus. Zeus madly destroys old customs, old constraints on divine rule, and runs the universe by force. Prometheus wishes that he at least could be chained in Hades or Tartarus (the pit below Hades) so that at least he would not be out in the open, exposed to the cruelty of his enemies. The Chorus muses that Zeus will rule with this kind of severity until he is overthrown. Prometheus, who can predict the future, prophesies that one day Zeus will need him. And when does, Prometheus will not help until he has been freed and paid just recompense for his sufferings. The Chorus asks Prometheus to tell them how he came to be chained. He reveals to them his story (see Short Summary for fuller details): Prometheus initially tried to aid the Titans in the civil war between the gods, but they would not listen to his counsel. He took his mother, Themis, Earth, who was the source of many of his prophecies, and went to join with Zeus and the Olympians. Thanks in part to Prometheus' wisdom, Zeus and the Olympians defeated the Titans and cast them down into the pit of Tartarus. But after winning the war, Zeus planned to destroy the already-created race of man and replace them with a more perfect species. Prometheus intervened, and because of his defiance he has been chained to the rocks. The Chorus questions him on how he saved man, and Prometheus answers that he gave them two gifts. The first was blind hope, so that man would never give up. The second gift was fire, and from fire man will learn many crafts. Prometheus knew what he was doing, but he still did not think that he would be punished so harshly. Prometheus asks them to stay, and hear more, and the Chorus says that they are eager to hear all. AnalysisPrometheus, whose name means "Forethought," has been given the remarkable gift of prophecy. Zeus in part owes his rule to him. But the gift of prophecy is a two-edged sword. Fate is one of the themes of the play, and, as elsewhere in Greek literature, the ramifications of fate and prophecy are depicted in ways that often seem contradictory. We can say at least that Prometheus' gift is cause for sorrow as often as it is cause for joy. Prometheus, knowing the future, also knows that fate cannot be escaped, or tricked. He has no choice but to submit and suffer. Not surprisingly, a glum fatalism creeps into much of what he says, and not only when he is discussing fate. Even in responding to simple requests, Prometheus speaks of the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't character of his life. "To speak of this is bitterness. To keep silent / bitter no less; and every way is misery" (ll. 199-200). We should not overstate Prometheus knowing his own fate. Apparently, he does not foresee everything: "In helping man I brought my troubles on me; / but yet I did not think that with such tortures / I should be wasted on these airy cliffs . . ." (ll. 269-271). So his foresight is not perfect. Yet he understood that there would be consequences for his actions, and proceeded anyway. He also knows that one day Zeus will need him again. This plays into the theme of wisdom in the face of force; although he can, with his superior insight, predict the future, for now it does him no good. Prometheus must take what little comfort he can in the fact that one day his wisdom will be needed again. In the meantime, he has countless years of torture to endure. Again, this pain is the pain of the intelligent man, who knows he is right and perhaps knows that his time will come, but who must endure the ridicule and torture of less enlightened beings. Prometheus as visionary and creator is one of the themes of the play. Prometheus is a powerful metaphor for countless visionaries, scientists, statesmen, and artists whose work was not appreciated or understood in their own time. Many of these men and women tried to comfort themselves, as Prometheus does, by assuring themselves that one day recognition will come. But when the world is not ready for a certain kind of knowledge, being the bearer of that knowledge is painful and lonely. The Prometheus story reflects this pain and isolation in the punishment inflicted on its protagonist: part of his suffering will be the long, terrible years of loneliness he will spend, wasting away, not knowing if the sound of approaching footsteps signals a friend bringing comfort or an enemy planning to torture or ridicule him. Some versions of the myth credit him with creating man. This story reinforces Prometheus as a symbol for the supreme artist, suffering for his creation. One of the gifts he gives man is blind hope, so that they would continue to fight on no matter what. Prometheus tells the Chorus that he stopped man from foreseeing doom, as he does, by giving them a great gift: PROMETHEUS: Yes, I stopped mortals from foreseeing doom. CHORUS: What cure did you discover for that sickness? PROMETHEUS: I sowed in them blind hopes. (ll. 249-51) Prometheus' gift to man throws his own plight into sharp relief. To save man from extinction, it was necessary for man to be spared the power of foresight that Prometheus himself possesses. Blind hope, in the face of fate, is the answer. But a similar opiate is denied Prometheus, who is dragged toward his fate with both eyes wide open. Sparing them his own special kind of foreknowledge, Prometheus bestows on them another great gift: fire. Fire here is clearly very loaded. Fire is not just literal flame, but a symbol for craft and ingenuity itself. The flame was sacred to Hephaestus (ll. 37-8), who is god of the forge and all of the crafts that come from it. This second gift fits well with Prometheus' role as a great creator. By giving man fire, he is adding on to man, giving man the ability to live up to his maker's image. As Prometheus is a creator, so will man be.
Summary and Analysis of Lines 285-560
Summary: Oceanos, one of the marine gods, arrives. He is a good friend of Prometheus, and he pities the titan in his suffering. Oceanos also has criticism to offer: Prometheus is too proud, and stirs up trouble with his tongue. Even now, he is crying out against Zeus, who might hear him and make the punishment still harsher. Oceanos announces his intent to go speak to Zeus on Prometheus' behalf. Prometheus tells him not to go; he does not wish to involve others in his troubles. He thinks with pain about his divine brothers, who have also had to endure Zeus's wrath: Atlas stands at the western limit of the world, holding up the sky on his shoulders. Fire-breathing Typho was scorched by Zeus's lightning, and his poor, battered body is imprisoned under Mount Etna. Prometheus warns Oceanos that if he asks Zeus to show mercy on Prometheus, he will only succeed in bringing the god's anger down on him. The Chorus sings with pity for Prometheus' suffering. They sing of all the beings of the old order, mourning for him. They sing of the wondrous peoples of far away lands, to which Prometheus has been exiled. They sing of Atlas, once unconquerable, now stooped beneath the weight of the heavens. He speaks of how he helped the new gods to reach the full completion of their powers. He speaks also of man, his beloved protégés, whom he has helped so much. At first, their eyes and ears could not see or hear. They perceived their world as shapes in a dream. They did not know the skills of building or agriculture. He taught man astronomy, to know the seasons, and animal domestication, so that man would not have to do his own work. He gave them language. He also taught them how to build carriages and ships. He taught them the power of medicines, soothsaying, and extracting metals from the earth. He then admits that none of these skills can help him escape, for "Craft is far weaker than necessity" (l. 514). The Fates are the most powerful deities of all, and even Zeus cannot defy them. The Chorus, intrigued, asks what Zeus's destiny will be. Prometheus refuses to answer, for this knowledge provides the key to his being set free. The Chorus sings, praying that Zeus's anger never be against them. They tell Prometheus that he loved man too much; after all, man can do nothing to help him. They nostalgically remember a time when they sang a happier song for him, during his wedding to the titaness Hesione. AnalysisPrometheus as the great sufferer is an important theme of the play. In a way, the titan prefigures Christ: he is a divine being who suffers horrible tortures for the sake of mankind. The other gods seem a bit mystified by his willingness to suffer for man; after all, humans can do nothing for him, and they are inferior beings. Prometheus the artist, Prometheus the visionary; his willing sacrifice is the ultimate gesture he can make for mankind, as well as an example for mankind to follow. Symbolically, he is every great man whose greatness made him into a target. We have more development on the theme of fate. We learn that even Zeus is subject to the power of the Three Fates; this knowledge is no surprise for the audience, nor is this vision unique to Aeschylus. In Greek myth and literature, the gods too were subject to destiny. Even Zeus cannot change certain things. Prometheus looks into the future and knows that eventually he will be vindicated, but in a way that makes his current sufferings all the more senseless. His speech on the skills he has given to man is striking. In all of the Greek tragedies that have survived (a very small relative number, it must be remembered) Aeschylus seems to have the most compelling vision of the start of civilization. Both The Oresteia and Prometheus Bound evoke primal beginnings with great power. One of the themes of the play is Prometheus as great creator. Prometheus is describing man's transformation from a senseless animal to a creature capable of manipulating its environment. Both Prometheus and fire are symbols of the creative and ingenious spark in man: "In one short sentence understand it all: / every art of mankind comes from Prometheus" (ll. 506-7). The dawn of civilization is beautifully evoked, as man's creator teaches him the skills he will need to survive. But Prometheus qualifies the power of his gifts. He has many skills, stemming from his ingenuity and from his gift of foresight. And he must concede that craft is weaker than necessity. Put in another way: mankind, for all of his genius, is still subject to fate. Put in yet another way: a brilliant individual, no matter how gifted or good, is still subject to fate, can still be made to suffer.
Summary and Analysis of Lines 561-785
Summary: Io enters, wearing horns or some other costume piece to signify that she has been transformed into a heifer. Although she describes some of her sufferings to the audience, the Athenians were already familiar with this myth. Here is an overview of Io's situation, some of which is covered in the play. Io was a priestess of Hera at Argos. Zeus fell in love with her, but to protect her from Hera's jealousy he transformed her into a cow. Hera, seeing through the ruse, asked for the cow as a gift, and Zeus had no choice but to accept. The cow Io was first watched by the many-eyed beast Argos, but, after the beast was slain by Hermes, she was pursued by a gadfly. Io, lamenting her fate, finds Prometheus, apparently by chance. He addresses her by name, and they speak. She is surprised to learn that he is Prometheus. She asks him to tell her how much more she will have to suffer. He hesitates, fearful of breaking her spirit, but eventually she persuades him. The Chorus asks to hear Io's story in full. She says that she was haunted by dreams telling her that Zeus desired her for a lover. When she told her father, he sent inquiries to the Oracle of Apollo. At first, the Oracle's pronouncements were vague, but eventually they commanded him to turn her out of the house. Io, newly homeless, found herself transformed into a cow. She wandered, first driven by cruel Argos, now driven by the gadfly. She flees from land to land. The Chorus is deeply moved by her story. Prometheus tells her that many more sufferings are to come. He describes her long future wanderings, from land to land at the very eastern edge of Europe. Eventually, she will wander down to the Black Sea and cross over into Asia. The place will always be remembered for her crossing, and be called "Cow's Crossing," or Bosporus. Prometheus addresses the Chorus, telling them to behold the extent of Zeus's cruelty. He loved the girl, and yet he is responsible for her suffering. Io cries out in pain, but Prometheus tells her that he has only recounted part of her sufferings. He also tells her that he himself cannot die, and so will only be freed if Zeus falls from power. Io asks eagerly if that day will ever come. Prometheus predicts that Zeus will make a marriage that undoes him. He will take a wife who will bear a son stronger than he. And his only hope for saving himself will be freeing Prometheus. Prometheus will be freed, in fact, by one of Io's descendents. Prometheus offers her the choice of two stories: either her own troubles or the story of Prometheus' rescuer. The Chorus asks Prometheus to tell Io the first story, and tell the Chorus the second. AnalysisIo's entrance may seem bizarre to readers. By the standards of the Poetics of Aristotle, the play's structure is episodic and weak; Io's entrance seemingly has little to do with any kind of central action. Beyond the parallel of her sufferings to Prometheus' own punishment at Zeus' command, her role may not be clear. But the reader has to remember that Prometheus Bound is only one part of an entire trilogy devoted to the titan. The two companion pieces have been lost, but we can guess that the trilogy concludes with Prometheus' destined freeing by Hercules. We have nothing except the title for one of the two other plays: Prometheus the Fire-bearer. Even then, scholars do not know whether Prometheus the Fire-bearer is the first or last play of the trilogy. Prometheus Bound is either first or second in the series. Unlike Sophocles and Euripides, Aeschylus wrote only trilogies. His Oresteia is the only cycle where all three plays have come down to us intact, but if it serves as any indicator, we can infer that the complete cycles were works of incredible power, structured and planned magnificently. We are also sure to be handicapped in reading the plays whose companion pieces have been lost. Agamemnon, while a masterpiece in its own right, is not adequate for understanding the scope and depth of Aeschylus' vision in The Oresteia. Likewise, Prometheus Bound, though among the most powerful and moving of the Greek plays, is only one part of a larger work. In this context, Io's entrance makes sense. In a trilogy where fate and the design of destiny would undoubtedly be key themes, Io foreshadows Prometheus' later freedom. Her seemingly chance encounter with him shows the bond these two sufferers share. That bond goes beyond merely suffering at the hands of the same deities; these two unfortunate people are linked by fate. Prometheus alleviates Io's suffering through his gift of prophecy. Unlike his gift of blind hope to men, Prometheus' gift to Io helps her by arming her with knowledge. As the Chorus says, "Speak, tell us the end. For the sick it is sweet to know / what pain is still to come and to know it clearly" (ll. 698-9). She can face her future, however bleak, and accept it. Prometheus is also able to give her advice about which peoples to fear, which regions to avoid. Io will help Prometheus merely by surviving, for her descendent will be Hercules, and Hercules will set Prometheus free. Io's speech describing what has happened to her is evocative, and frightening. Aeschylus has taken a well-known myth and breathed powerful life into it by having the girl describe the experience in highly subjective terms. The well-known courtship story of Io and Zeus is retold from the perspective of a frightened young girl, whose nightmares gave her commands she could not interpret. The mystery of the oracle, followed by its cruel command, continues this sense of dread at the unknown. The power comes not from a grasp of human psychology (that gift was the genius of Euripides, not of Aeschylus) but from a sense of dread and a kind of sensual directness. The pain of the gadfly, the distortion of form both "form and mind were changed," emphasizing human separation of animals as being mental, as well as physical all contribute to tremendous audience sympathy for Io, as well as fear and pity for her plight. Most scholars think that Prometheus' trump card, his knowledge of a future disastrous marriage, was Aeschlyus' addition to the story. Aeschylus gives the titan prophetic knowledge about a marriage that will undo the king of the gods. Although he does not give names, the Greek audience would have known that the titan was referring to Thetis (not to be confused with Themis). Zeus's match with Thetis, according to myth, would produce either a powerful goddess, destined to be her father's favorite child, or a son capable of overthrowing Zeus himself. Through this addition to the story, Aeschylus emphasizes Prometheus' role as the caretaker of privileged knowledge. He knows what will happen, and when, and that through these events he will be free. But he also knows that in the meantime he will suffer. His plight recalls great visionaries like Galileo or Joan of Arc or Euripides, condemned in their own lives but revered afterward, who were forced to suffer the judgments of people incapable of understanding them. But we also see by now the power of Prometheus' charisma. He is an intensely appealing character, and part of this power is his ability as a storyteller. The Chorus is enraptured by his stories. When he gives a choice between hearing of Io's fate or his own, the Chorus implores him not to deny the pleasure of knowing both. Prometheus' appeal for the human audience is automatic. He is man's champion, creator, and a prototypical Christ figure. He is a symbol for man against the gods. But by the Chorus' reactions, their deep sympathy for his pain, and the choice they make later in the play, Aeschylus establishes that Prometheus' charisma affects more than just mortal creatures.
Summary and Analysis of Lines 786-1092
Summary: Prometheus tells Io she will wonder across dangerous lands, including those of the Gorgons. She will eventually cross into Ethiopia, and from there follow the Nile from its source into the land of Egypt. There she will find a place to make a colony for her and her descendents. Prometheus also speaks about her past wanderings, showing that his prophetic powers include an ability to see the past. He foretells more of Io's future. In Egypt, she will be healed by the hand of Zeus, and bear a son. Fifty women, descended from that son, will be brought to Argos against their will and forced to take Argive husbands. Forty-nine of the sisters will murder their husbands, but the fiftieth will not. From her will come a line of Argive kings. From her line will also come a great archer. Prometheus does not give his name, but the audience would have recognized that he was referring to Hercules. Io feels the madness coming upon her again, and she leaves, pursued by the sting of the gadfly. The Chorus delivers an ode and the dangers of unequal marriage. The mortal maidens chosen by Zeus suffer terribly because of Hera's jealousy. Prometheus shouts out with a kind of maddened glee that Zeus will not be so mighty for long. A new power will come, and Zeus will suffer worse pains than those Prometheus is suffering now. His only hope of avoiding this fate is with Prometheus' aid. Hermes, messenger of the gods and Zeus's son, arrives as Zeus's spokesman. Though he threatens Prometheus with further tortures, the titan will not say which marriage will bring doom on Zeus. Prometheus is becoming more and more frenzied, determined to face the tortures: he will burned by lightning and fire, locked beneath ground and buried alive. At other times, beasts will tear out his innards. But he will not die. He refuses to give in, and Hermes accuses him of insanity. The Chorus refuses to abandon Prometheus; they will suffer along with him. Prometheus cries, telling us that the tortures are taking place. He cries out to his mother, the Earth goddess Themis, source of all his prophecies: "O Holy mother mine, / O Sky that circling brings the light to all, / you see me, how I suffer, how unjustly" (ll. 1090-2). AnalysisPrometheus finishes his description of fate's grand design for Io and her descendents. Fate and the gods working in grand circles is part of Aeschylus' vision. The Oresteia, as the only full trilogy we have, most aptly demonstrates the scope and beauty of this vision. Although fate working towards an end is a key part of The Oresteia and Prometheus Bound, there are differences between how Aeschylus treats fate and design in these two different cycles. Greek tragedians were not constrained to a meticulous or consistent theology/ideology throughout their careers; they were artists, not Catholic scholastics. What's clear is that Aeschylus was fascinated by questions of design, from both a philosophical and religious point of view. Comparison of The Oresteia and Prometheus Bound throws his treatment of fate in the Prometheus story into sharp relief. CHORUS: And is Zeus, then, weaker than these? PROMETHEUS: Yes, For he cannot escape what is fated. (ll. 517-8). The locus of fate remains consistent throughout the play. The grand design here is a power above the gods. In The Oresteia, the gods interceded to turn the trials of the House of Atreus into a step forward in the civilizing of gods and men. Perhaps because the central characters of the Prometheus myth are themselves gods, Aeschylus felt the need to remove fate's locus one place higher. Prometheus insists that all prophecies come from his mother, Themis, the earth: she "tells" him what will pass. But because of the specificity of the prophecies, and his apparent ability to pull out appropriate predictions for whomever happens to pass by, Themis seems to be a more abstract than literal source. Themis becomes life-force, earth mother, in an abstract way. She is not as anthropomorphized as the Olympians. Not even Zeus can thwart fate, unless Prometheus helps him. Prometheus is unique because at critical points, he is allowed the freedom to make choices. Apparently, because of his wisdom, he will be the one who chooses the new ruler of the cosmos. Not powerful enough to rule himself, he is nonetheless the possessor of a bit of strategic knowledge that could save or destroy Zeus. Prometheus is more than a lesser god, secondary to the Olympians. This titan is the intermediary between the rest of creation and the most primal forces of the universe. His genius makes him the emissary between Truth and the rest of us; his role is unique, even among the gods. Apollo may be the prophet of the Olympians, Zeus's mouthpiece, but Prometheus' truth comes from an even higher, more primal power. Prometheus gifts of prophetic insight, craftsmanship, storytelling, and creative power come together to make a powerful metaphor for genius. In this last section of the play, we see Prometheus in his many roles. He is the great visionary, the Sufferer, the persistent champion of humankind. Aeschylus manages to hold all of the levels of meaning intact. As he scolds Hermes, he brings back the political symbolism: "You are young / and young your rule and you think that the tower / in which you live is free from sorrow: from it / have I not seen two tyrants thrown?" (ll. 950-7). He is both rebel and visionary; thus he can take comfort in the future he knows is inevitable, when his enemies are laid low: "Worship him, pray; flatter whatever king / is king today; but I care less than nothing / for Zeus" (ll. 937-9). Either Zeus, by necessity, will free him, or Zeus's successor will. But we also see him in a near-maddened state, shrieking out in a way that seems to invite torture. He speaks to Hermes fearlessly: "Be sure of this: when I set my misfortune / against your slavery, I would not change" (ll. 966-7). Later, he shouts out defiantly that "there is no disgrace in suffering / at an enemy's hand, when you hate mutually" (ll. 1040-1). He describes the tortures waiting for him, seemingly proud of what he will suffer. Hermes is appalled: "These are a madman's words, a madman's plan" (l. 1053). Prometheus has become somewhat unhinged. It is the madness of a righteous man facing inevitable injustice; it also comes from Aeschylus' sense of drama, as it brings a kind of climax to this play. But Aeschylus is also showing that the path to madness is not hard to imagine for a misunderstood visionary or genius. The true climax is Prometheus' refusal, in face of torture, to give in to his punisher. Aeschylus further establishes Prometheus as charismatic visionary, revolutionary even, by having the Chorus stay with him. They will be his friends in suffering, loyal to the titan despite the wrath of Zeus. In doing so, they have allied themselves to the rebel against the king of the gods. Aeschylus is emphasizing Prometheus' power as a visionary and leader. In the last lines of the play, Prometheus is calling on powers beyond the anthropomorphized Olympian gods. His cries are the Themis, source of all life, and sky, which sheds its light evenly on all. Such forces seem beyond human need or motivations. And those who know Greek myth might recall that at the beginning of time, all beings came from the union between Earth and Sky. These are ancient, primal forces, as abstract and mysterious as fate. For Prometheus, the titan overpowered by the supreme anthropomorphized deity, invocation of still higher, more abstracted powers seems appropriate. He may be subject to the whims of Zeus, but he is still the being with access to forms of absolute truth, absolute right. Vulnerable as he is, and subjected as he is to the indignities of torture and ridicule by beings less wise and beautiful than he, there remains a part of Prometheus that the other gods cannot touch. In man, this characteristic can come in different forms: genius, vision, moral strength. For Prometheus, this power will sustain him and ultimately win him liberation from his chains. The titan will not compromise, and he is speaking the truth when he tells Hermes that he would not trade his slavery for Hermes' status as Zeus's lackey. And by enduring his tortures while withholding the knowledge crucial to Zeus, the god shows that he is still in control of his own destiny. Even as he is chained and tortured, some part of Prometheus remains free.
ClassicNote on Prometheus Bound
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