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| Character | Prometheus | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Adult (36-50), Senior (>50) | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Ancient Greek | |
| Genre | Tragedy | |
| Description | Prometheus tells the Chorus what he has done for humanity | |
Summary
Prometheus Bound's story is about the punishment that Zeus inflicts upon Prometheus for giving the human race the gift of fire. There is no action, just dialogue and speeches as Prometheus is chained throughout the play.
At the beginning of the play Kratos, Bia and Hephaestus, Zeus' servants carry Prometheus to a rocky mountain in the Caucasus and chain him to a rock. After being questioned by a Chorus of Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus, he tells them that he is being punished by Zeus even if he helped him defeat the Titans. He confesses that he gave the gift of fire to the human race and that's why he is being punished.
He is then visited by Oceanus who offers to help him. After he departs, Prometheus, in this monologue, tells the Chorus all that he has done for humanity, not only giving them fire but all the arts and sciences.
At the beginning of the play Kratos, Bia and Hephaestus, Zeus' servants carry Prometheus to a rocky mountain in the Caucasus and chain him to a rock. After being questioned by a Chorus of Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus, he tells them that he is being punished by Zeus even if he helped him defeat the Titans. He confesses that he gave the gift of fire to the human race and that's why he is being punished.
He is then visited by Oceanus who offers to help him. After he departs, Prometheus, in this monologue, tells the Chorus all that he has done for humanity, not only giving them fire but all the arts and sciences.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
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| PROMETHEUS Think not that I for pride and stubbornness Am silent: rather is my heart the prey Of gnawing thoughts, both for the past, and now Seeing myself by vengeance buffeted. For to these younger Gods their precedence Who severally determined if not I? No more of that: I should but weary you With things ye know; but listen to the tale Of human sufferings, and how at first Senseless as beasts I gave men sense, possessed them Of mind. I speak not in contempt of man; I do but tell of good gifts I conferred. In the beginning, seeing they saw amiss, And hearing heard not, but, like phantoms huddled In dreams, the perplexed story of their days Confounded; knowing neither timber-work Nor brick-built dwellings basking in the light, But dug for themselves holes, wherein like ants, That hardly may contend against a breath, They dwelt in burrows of their unsunned caves. Neither of winter's cold had they fixed sign, Nor of the spring when she comes decked with flowers, Nor yet of summer's heat with melting fruits Sure token: but utterly without knowledge Moiled, until I the rising of the stars Showed them, and when they set, though much obscure. Moreover, number, the most excellent Of all inventions, I for them devised, And gave them writing that retaineth all, The serviceable mother of the Muse. I was the first that yoked unmanaged beasts, To serve as slaves with collar and with pack, And take upon themselves, to man's relief, The heaviest labour of his hands: and Tamed to the rein and drove in wheeled cars The horse, of sumptuous pride the ornament. And those sea-wanderers with the wings of cloth, The shipman's waggons, none but I contrived. These manifold inventions for mankind I perfected, who, out upon't, have none- No, not one shift-to rid me of this shame. [CHORUS Thy sufferings have been shameful, and thy mind Strays at a loss: like to a bad physician Fallen sick, thou'rt out of heart: nor cans't prescribe For thine own case the draught to make thee sound.] PROMETHEUS But hear the sequel and the more admire What arts, what aids I cleverly evolved. The chiefest that, if any man fell sick, There was no help for him, comestible, Lotion or potion; but for lack of drugs They dwindled quite away; until I taught them To compound draughts and mixtures sanative, Wherewith they now are armed against disease. I staked the winding path of divination And was the first distinguisher of dreams, The true from false; and voices ominous Of meaning dark interpreted; and tokens Seen when men take the road; and augury By flight of all the greater crook-clawed birds With nice discrimination I defined; These by their nature fair and favourable, Those, flattered with fair name. And of each sort The habits I described; their mutual feuds And friendships and the assemblages they hold. And of the plumpness of the inward parts What colour is acceptable to the Gods, The well-streaked liver-lobe and gall-bladder. Also by roasting limbs well wrapped in fat And the long chine, I led men on the road Of dark and riddling knowledge; and I purged The glancing eye of fire, dim before, And made its meaning plain. These are my works. Then, things beneath the earth, aids hid from man, Brass, iron, silver, gold, who dares to say He was before me in discovering? None, I wot well, unless he loves to babble. And in a single word to sum the whole- All manner of arts men from Prometheus learned. |
