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A review by steveatwaywords
Prometheus Bound and Other Plays by Aeschylus
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
We don't read Aeschylus today for dramatic depth or nuance. In Prometheus Bound, for instance, there is nothing like subtlety or character growth. Instead, like most of classical drama, the works are exercises in mythology and pedagogical theme. Even so, digging a bit into these remains far more enlightening than any Wikipedia article or contemporary blogger is likely to offer.
Prometheus, for instance, is portrayed as the noble victim (a role Milton will later grant Lucifer) against a cruel tyrant whose justice is absolute and arbitrary. Zeus's loyal subjects are devoted through fear alone; their morality is purely transactional. The idea that one could hold principles above one's own life is--in Aeschylus's time (and ours)--a quaint and impotent virtue of a past era. Thus the Titans have fallen or gone into hiding with only Prometheus publicly displayed as immortal pariah, not spared even the mercy of death for his suffering. Along the way, near kin, sympathetic family, and fellow cursed victims visit him.
Prometheus has much to say, of course, about his devotion to mankind, and we can also see him as proud, defiant, and devoted to a justice which may return generations later after still more have cruelly suffered. His arguments are straightforward and oft-repeated; the strategies offered by his visitors are also simple and poorly-reasoned, but we aren't looking for nuance. In the classical theater, the message feels hammered, the tragedy wrought in extremes.
Even so, reading it today still feels oddly apropos as morality and principle seem harder to come by, as transactional values seem more prevalent. Prometheus gave mankind fire, but with it the entirety of art and craft, of learning and culture. What must be done with it?
Prometheus, for instance, is portrayed as the noble victim (a role Milton will later grant Lucifer) against a cruel tyrant whose justice is absolute and arbitrary. Zeus's loyal subjects are devoted through fear alone; their morality is purely transactional. The idea that one could hold principles above one's own life is--in Aeschylus's time (and ours)--a quaint and impotent virtue of a past era. Thus the Titans have fallen or gone into hiding with only Prometheus publicly displayed as immortal pariah, not spared even the mercy of death for his suffering. Along the way, near kin, sympathetic family, and fellow cursed victims visit him.
Prometheus has much to say, of course, about his devotion to mankind, and we can also see him as proud, defiant, and devoted to a justice which may return generations later after still more have cruelly suffered. His arguments are straightforward and oft-repeated; the strategies offered by his visitors are also simple and poorly-reasoned, but we aren't looking for nuance. In the classical theater, the message feels hammered, the tragedy wrought in extremes.
Even so, reading it today still feels oddly apropos as morality and principle seem harder to come by, as transactional values seem more prevalent. Prometheus gave mankind fire, but with it the entirety of art and craft, of learning and culture. What must be done with it?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Death