38 pages • 1 hour read
AeschylusPrometheus Bound
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 456A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
At the beginning of the play, Might states that it is “the brilliance of fire / that enables all the arts” (7-8). How does the play represent the connection between fire and the arts? How do both fire and the arts contribute to human progress?
In what way do the personifications Might and Violence define the way Zeus wields power in Prometheus Bound? Why is Zeus so harsh?
Compare the characters of Might and Hermes. What role do these two figures play as representatives of Zeus’s power? How is their outlook similar? How is it different?
Discuss the role of the Chorus in the play. In what ways is the Chorus sympathetic to Prometheus’s suffering? In what ways are they critical of his actions? How do they evolve over the course of the play?
Early in the play, Prometheus observes that “against necessity, / in all its strength, no one can fight and win” (104-05). What is the larger role of necessity in the play? How are the ideas of necessity and fate connected?
Throughout the play, Prometheus emphasizes again and again that he knew that Zeus would punish him for helping humanity. If Prometheus knew this, why did he choose to defy Zeus anyway? Do Prometheus’s actions show that he is helpless against fate, or does his knowledge give him a certain level of freedom from fate?
Discuss the relationship between Prometheus and Zeus. Why did Prometheus help Zeus rise to power, only to defy him later? Why did Zeus punish Prometheus the way he did? Why is Prometheus so determined to keep the prophecy of Zeus’s downfall a secret?
Why is Prometheus so dismissive of Ocean and his efforts to help him? Does Ocean misunderstand Prometheus, or understand him all too well?
When Io asks Prometheus to tell her when her suffering will end, he responds that it is “[b]etter for [her] not to know this than to know it” (624). Why does Prometheus say this? Why does Io insist on finding out her future anyway? How does this interaction relate to the larger representation of prophecy and oracle in the play?
At the end of the play, Prometheus tells Hermes that “when I measure my misfortune / against your slavery, I would not change” (966-67). What does Prometheus mean by this? What do the concepts of “freedom” and “slavery” mean to Prometheus? In what way is Prometheus freer than Hermes or the other characters of the play?
Related Titles
By Aeschylus
