Aeschylus Prometheus is a play taking place in Barren Wasteland of Scythia. In the play are three gods; Hephaestus, Power, and Violence leading the fight against Prometheus who is the prisoner. Hephaestus being the main leader among the gods chained the prisoner on the rock. When the three gods left after tying the prisoner on the rock, Prometheus opened up on the reasons that he is being tortured. Prometheus argued that he was being tortured and punished by Zeus because he took fire from the gods gave it to the mortal humans, which was against the rules of the gods ( Spindler, 2015 ). The Chorus who were daughters of Oceanus living in the neighborhood visited the place to understand what was happening after hearing that the poor old Prometheus had been tied. Chorus wanted some explanations from Prometheus on how he found himself in the trouble. Prometheus explained that his friendship with Zeus had some challenges, he decided to steal the fire give it to the humans. In this play, it is like the activities that happened in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve were chased away from the garden. Satan was fighting against God that he decided to cheat on Adam and Eve to disobey God by breaking the instructions offered to them. In this play, Prometheus play the same role, as he stole fire and offered to humans as a punishment to the gods and Zeus after their friendship was not bearing fruits.
After explaining his fate to the Chorus, Prometheus invited them to the foot of his cliff such that he could narrate a prophecy about the near future. Oceanus the father to the Chorus appeared before Prometheus started explaining about the prophecy. Oceanus promised Prometheus that he would help him out of the problem by talking to Zeus. Prometheus was against the leadership of Zeus and he was ready to put his life on the line to ensure that Zeus is dropped as a leader ( Shelley, 2017 ). Prometheus continued explaining more about his relationship with humans that he was responsible for the technical knowledge possessed by the humans through his teachings. Since Prometheus and Chorus were sure that Zeus would be angry when he receives such information, Chorus asked Prometheus to stop bragging but Prometheus was angry that Zeus would not lead them forever. It was difficult for Prometheus to explain the prophecy to the Chorus as knowledge was the only leverage he had at the time. Io a mortal girl appeared in the scene, as she had some secrets about Zeus. Io was not just a girl but he had cow horns and she explained that she had an affair with Zeus when her father sends her out to the wilderness for Zeus ( Gale, 2016 ). Prometheus heard the story of Io and revealed that her troubles had started only for Io to try committing suicide. After a short period, Io changed her mind after realizing that her problems would last for some hundreds of years and not forever. Zeus had punished Io to appear like a cow after revealing their affair.
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Prometheus problems would last for a given period, as Zeus leadership would end. It was prophesied that even before Zeus’s leadership fall, one of the Io’s descendants would release Prometheus. Prometheus acknowledged that Io had no descendants but would deal with Zeus that he would transform her back to human. When he heard about the news, she was stressed and she decided to leave the stage only for another character Hermes to appear as the messenger-god. Hermes insists that Prometheus should continue offering the secret details about the person who would bring Zeus leadership to a stop but Prometheus dismissed him by calling him names (Green, 2015). Still, Chorus feared for the life of Prometheus as they insisted on Prometheus should be sorry about what he had revealed. Prometheus was angry and he would not remain silent being aware of the negative and evils activities Zeus had committed. In the process of Prometheus complaining, lightning flashes opening the earth and Prometheus disappeared into the opening.
Aeschylus Prometheus Bound – Annotated Bibliography
Gale, C. L. (2016). A Study Guide for Aeschylus's" Prometheus Bound" . Gale, Cengage Learning.
The author examined the life of Aeschylus since he was born before entering the dram industry and introducing influencing plays. He was born to the wealthy aristocratic family, which had been ruled by tyrannical dictator together with his sons. He focused on Prometheus Bound as one of the plays that had less physical action but with extensive emotionally charged psychological action and character development, making it dynamic dram of ideas on the stage. Overall, the book is invaluable as it expressed the manner that Prometheus suffered while trying to end the era of dictatorship portrayed by Zeus.
Green, M. (2015). Feminine Io as a Natural and Political Principle In Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. Pseudo-Dionysius , 17 .
Green focused on the stages that Prometheus went through while transforming power from the divine level to the emergence of political civilization. Prometheus being one of the Titans struggles to end the act of parallel developments experienced by offering fire to the humans as a strategy to overcome and innovate them. The books is helpful to this study as it shows how the era of Zeus signify the end of the parallel developments but the move was not informed as his leadership was seen as a tyranny. Lastly, mortal Io is presented as a well-ordered form of human civilization.
Shelley, M. (2017). Aeschylus and Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley. Brill's Companion to the Reception of Aeschylus , 11 , 292.
In this book, the author introduced Prometheus through his novel as the bearer of fire and creator of man in her novel. It should the popularity and the extent that the message delivered by Aeschylus in the novel Prometheus Bound. In the two cases of creation and fire, Prometheus is treated as the benefactor of man. Prometheus as one of the Titans had a strong symbolic meaning in the nineteen century as he represented philanthropy, struggling for social justice, and rebelling against the oppressor. Shelley produced a novel that was talking about the fight against oppression and forcing her to include part Aeschylus play Prometheus Bound.
Spindler, A. J. (2015). The Art of the Stage Machinist: A Dramatic Reconstruction of Aeschylus’ Linear Tragedy, Prometheus Bound.
In this article, the author of the story of Prometheus as the old god who stole fir and offered it to the humans after differing with king Zeus. The race of humanity was doomed to annihilation by Zeus and Prometheus was aware but he continued to reveal many things to humans after the disagreement. Through Prometheus revelations and immortal sacrifice, humans would understand about crafting, home construction knowledge, and hunting, as activities that were not allowed for humans. The relevance of the book can be seen from how Zeus decided to punish Prometheus through other gods to bind him to the farthest end of the planet.
References
Gale, C. L. (2016). A Study Guide for Aeschylus's" Prometheus Bound" . Gale, Cengage Learning.
Green, M. (2015). Feminine Io as a Natural and Political Principle In Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. Pseudo-Dionysius , 17 .
Shelley, M. (2017). Aeschylus and Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley. Brill's Companion to the Reception of Aeschylus , 11 , 292.
Spindler, A. J. (2015). The Art of the Stage Machinist: A Dramatic Reconstruction of Aeschylus’ Linear Tragedy, Prometheus Bound.
