Paper Example on Prometheus Bound

Introduction

It is a tragedy story that is believed to be the work of Aeschylus and revolves around Prometheus who was one of the best Greek mythology and a great trickster. Due to his tricks, he outwits Zeus who was the king of gods several times and would at one time oppose his ideas. Prometheus is considered as a prophet and an interpreter of dreams who possess vast knowledge on complex issues, visionary and lover of humanity, unlike Zeus who hates humanity and disrespects his servants. Prometheus is a Titan who is known as a forethinker and tried to use his knowledge and wisdom to advise Cronos against Zeus among other young gods but unfortunately failed to convince them. He then joined the Olympians where they collaborated with Zeus to defeat the Cronos and the old gods whom they kicked out to Tartarus.

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The personae at the start of the play include Hephaestus who was gods' blacksmith, Kratos, and Bia who depicts power and force. These characters are chaining Prometheus who is now a prisoner at the wilderness of Caucasus as Kratos hurl abuses at him while Hephaestus feels sorry for his fate despite the substantial role he played in Zeus victory (Grene et al. 172). Suddenly a song of ocean nymphs plays that seeks to comfort Prometheus where he discloses he prevented Zeus mind of annihilating humankind. Afterward, Oceanus comes and tells him that he will plead with Zeus to set him free which he denies at warns him that will bring storm on him. Prometheus stays bold since he knows that Zeus always depends on him when faced by difficult situations that need prophecies to protect his position.

In the wilderness, Io a beautiful lady that had once fallen in love with Zeus and transformed into a wandering cow by Hera, Zeus wife, visits him. Even as Prometheus is under detention in the wilderness, he prophesizes that her woes will end after some time in Egypt where she will deliver a baby boy called Epaphus (Grene et al. 181). As the play approaches the end, Zeus demands from Prometheus through a messenger whoever threatens to overthrow him. However, he refuses to reveal such information thus Zeus gets angry and hits him with a thunderbolt and subject him to eternal torture.

Zeus in the Prometheus Bound does not appear in the play but comes out as a major character who designs his own rules in a world where nobody but only him leaves. The absence of Zeus in the stage is as a result of regulations that prohibit the appearance of a supreme god on the scene. However, the imagery of Zeus is depicted by his servants throughout the play (Ruffell). Zeus in the Prometheus Bound does not appear in the game but comes out as a major character who designs his own rules in a world where nobody but only him leaves. He does not bother about others welfares and is unsympathetic and uncaring. He is a character who is foolish but very powerful who do not care about other nor think about them.

Since Zeus is the King of gods, he designs his own rules, and his servants who represent him in the play insists that his laws are supreme in the land. This is a sign of dictatorship and anyone who opposes his reign is intimidated and punished just like they did to Prometheus (Cartwright). He comes out to be arrogant and unjust since he values nobody's rules, but he establishes his laws and does not involve anyone's support and companionship. In this case, Aeschylus displays Zeus as a god since only gods can change their rules and separate right and wrong.

Zeus is inflexible, immovable and inexorable who only sticks to his decisions without consultations of everyone or even change after being advised so. It is for this reason that Prometheus cautions Oceanus against going to plead with Zeus on his behalf since he will be viewed as a rebel and probably face the same fate as him. Nonetheless, Zeus also comes out as romantic and lover of women. Despite being married to Hera, he gets overboard and seduces Io whom he gets in love affairs with behind her wife's knowledge (Grene et al. 192). He stands with her and even release her with his powers when Hera tied her in the Olive trees to contempt and punish her for invading into their marital affairs.

Finally, Zeus is a lonely man and ever suspicious that someone would topple him out of his position. Despite having two servants, a messenger, and other close followers, he lives with none of them. This isolation shows his might as a god who should be on his own and do his things alone (Wilson). He feels that someone wants to oust him and of power and sends Hermes to Prometheus to demand a revelation of that person.

In this play, Aeschylus brings out the difference between the Greek idea of a supreme deity and the Judeo-Christian. The piece is about the Greek mythology that has many gods who are capable of punishing, making his own rules and having supremacy above other gods. The mythology indicates that a man must be punished and accept it whether it is due from his own mistakes or from what other gods did (Ward 29). However, this mythology holds several differences with the Judeo-Christian that is from the book of Genesis in the bible. In Judeo-Christian, God despite punishing the sinners, he loves humankind, unlike Zeus who wanted to destroy human lives through war. The Christian god also punishes people for the ill deeds but always forgive. Zeus does not punish Prometheus for wrongdoing but because he does not support him, unlike the God in Christianity.

The King of gods in this drama can be tricked just like we see Prometheus using his vast intelligence and cheekiness to trick Zeus to accept bone offerings instead of meat as offerings. Besides, he deceives him and steal the fire from him and give it to men. In this case, the gods have human characteristics and make similar mistakes and sins as other people (Hauser). For instance, god Kronos is the greed of power and chops offs the genital parts of his parents to ascend to power and later eats his child to avoid a repeat of such action to him in future. In this Greek deity, there is close contact between man and gods who are jealous, angry, and chaotic, unlike God in the Judeo-Christian.

In the Bible, God is viewed as a human leader who gave people the codes of ethics to follow and justly punish those who despise these laws. However, Zeus hates humankind, and places himself above the human rules hence does not need to be just to them (Ward 32). The God in the bible gives people a good thing, unlike ancient Greek where the gods only made life harder and intimidate other people.

Throughout the play, the representative of Zeus brings him out as unmerciful and unkind to humanity. Prometheus played a substantial role in ensuring that he secures the position of the king of gods, he not only sends him to agonize in the wilderness but also subject him into torture when he refused to reveal to him about the person who will oust him out of power (Coulter, Charles Russell, and Patricia 73). Notwithstanding, he does not value human life and had planned to destroy human lives during the war between the Olympians and the Titans but was prevented by Prometheus. The God of the Judeo-Christian is always merciful and forgives people their sins and wrongdoings just like in the case of Adam and Eve.

However, Zeus was a god who knew nothing about mercy and despite the plea of such people like Oceanus he does not purpose to release Prometheus who had made no mistake. Besides, falling into secret marital affairs and later failing to apologize to his wife Hera is a sign of being merciless. In spite of Hera who was envious and jealous revenging to keep Io away from her husband, he goes ahead and release her without consulting Hera. This is an excellent sign of his mercilessness.

Before Zeus victory, Prometheus had sidelined with the Titans where he was against Zeus until those people kicked him out. As a result, he joined the Olympians where Zeus was and helped him win and push the Titans to the abyss. Zeus distrusted the Titans, and since Prometheus was one of them, he loses the trust of Zeus and faces the punishment of like the other tyrants. The greatest sin he did was to cheat him to accept bones for offering and later steals the fire and surrender to humanity (Grene et al. 212). Due to these resistances and trickery to the king of gods, Zeus orders that Prometheus to be taken into the mountains of the Caucasus that was in the Far East and bounded on a rock forever. Like that was not enough, Zeus sends an eagle out there to consume his heart that grows on a daily basis.

Unlike Prometheus who was punished for fighting for humanity by stealing the fire for them and scorning the ills of Zeus, Hera punishes Io for getting into secret affairs with her husband. While he was chained on a rock forever and an eagle would come daily to feast on his heart, Io was tied on a holy olive tree and a fierce dog was assigned to gourd her (Cartwright) Further, Io was turned into a wandering dog whose torment would end and give birth to a baby boy that would succeed the king unlike Prometheus who was tied on a rock and subjected to torture forever for standing on the right side. From the analysis of this play, I believe that the defiance of Prometheus was morally just since in all the actions the ultimate beneficiaries were the ordinary people. Otherwise, justice cannot appear without humanity and whoever fights for humanity is morally just.

Conclusion

The playwright of the Prometheus Bounds gives us an image of a society that is chained on traditional myths and made to feel inferior by specific individuals who view themselves as a god. However, such kind of inhumanity and discrimination never lasts forever, and at one point one would come to fight for humanity to bring to an end these practices. This action is shown by Prometheus who despises the evil of Zeus and steals the fire and gives to the people This eventually leads to his life imprisonment. In summary, the play shows us to stand up and fight for what is meant to be ours in the society to get out of slavery in our own homes.

Works Cited

Cartwright, Mark. "Prometheus." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 20 Apr 2013. Web. 08 Nov 2018.

Coulter, Charles Russell, and Patricia Turner. Encyclopedia of ancient deities. Routledge, 2013. 67-89

Grene, David, et al., eds. Aeschylus I: The Persians, The Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliant Maidens, Prometheus Bound. University of Chicago Press, 2013. 163-219

Hauser, Elyse. "Greek Mythology And The Judeo-Christian God." Sensible Reason, 2018, http://sensiblereason.com/greek-mythology-judeo-christian-god/. Accessed 9 Nov 2018.

Ruffell, Ian. Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound. A&C Black, 2012.

Ward, Ann. "Part 1: Classical and Judeo-Christian images of federalism Introduction to Part 1." The Ashgate Research Companion to Federalism. Routledge, 2016. 29-32.

Wilson, Nigel. Encyclopedia of ancient Greece. Routledge, 2013.