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"I am talking about a play by Aeschylus, a patriotic poet of the early Greek Classical era," said Helen.
She explained that Aeschylus had written a great poetic trilogy, called Prometheus Bound. She leaned back in her chair and patiently told me that ancient story to augment my education. She told me that the image of Prometheus is rooted deeply in Greek mythology where Prometheus comes to light as an immortal being that ranked among the gods, a kindly god who is said to have given mankind the gift of fire.
As a god, Prometheus was defiant against the unwritten rules of the gods of Olympus. Prometheus had committed a crime. The 'crime' was that he had violated the Olympians' edict, which was to keep mankind poverty-bond. That is the same edict that rules in the oligarchic halls of power to the present day. Prometheus violated this edict. He had given mankind the technology of fire, by means of which mankind became able to extricate itself from the torturous destiny in poverty that had been intended for it by the gods of Olympus. As a consequence of his defiance, the gods of Olympus conspired against Prometheus. They had a problem with that, however. They would have loved to simply kill Prometheus for his support of mankind, but they couldn't do this since he was a god, and as a god he was immortal. This doesn't mean that they couldn't gang up on him, and bind him, and subject him to eternal torture. And that's what they did.
Aeschylus played on this background by casting Prometheus as a tragic figure, and Zeus, his Olympian opponent, as a tyrant. However, the setup in the play is more complicated than this. Prometheus claims to know by what power his opponent, Zeus of the gods of Olympus, will be destroyed. Prometheus makes the claim, but refuses to reveal the secret that it is based on. Zeus promises that if he were to reveal the secret, his eternal torture would be stopped. Prometheus, however, cannot allow himself to reveal the secret, because if he were to reveal it, Zeus would remain in power and the Olympians would destroy mankind, the object of his love. Thus, Prometheus remains defiant. Even under the pains of eternal torture, he remains defiant. Indeed, the torture that is inflicted is severe. Prometheus is chained to a rock, while a bird of prey is brought to him that continuously pecks out the liver from his living body, which cannot die.
With this setup in Aeschylus' play, the audience is put into a position of conflict. The audience is made to feel the pain and the agony of Prometheus, so much so that it would be inspired to hope that Prometheus would give up his secret in order to save himself. The audience is assured that Prometheus would thereby be released. Except, this option puts the audience itself into agony. The audience knows that its fondest hopes must never come true, because then it would become destroyed itself. Thus, the audience cannot hope for what it would love to see, because the realization of its hope would end its existence. So it must bear the pain, just as Prometheus must bear it.
The conflict is dramatized in the play. As the play unfolds towards the Sublime, a chorus on stage urges Prometheus to surrender his truth to save himself. Still, Prometheus holds out, he cannot betray mankind. Here, at this moment, the scene changes. The tragic figure suddenly becomes Zeus, not Prometheus. Prometheus answers back to the gods of Olympus from his bed of pain, with the realization that Zeus has no power over him. He answers Zeus that the very worst he can inflict can be endured forever, because it pales in the face of his love for mankind. So, even in his pain, Prometheus 'laughs' at the mighty gods whose existence is filled with such hate that it becomes a torment upon themselves more grievous than his own, with a fate more certain for their destruction that they lack the power to escape. By his proof of the truth, which Prometheus understood, that the Olympians really have no power, their status as gods is destroyed. Thereby, mankind is saved out of love.
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