Please use the time in the lab this morning to work on Module 1 on eLearning. Any homework or late materials should be turned in. Our marking period ends in two weeks. By this time you should be completely finished with modules 0 & 1.
You may use your time in the lab this morning to begin reading Prometheus Bound. I encourage you to read the background material posted and linked here before you begin. The Prometheus Bound analysis questions are NOT due yet, but will be by the time we finish the play. You may work on them at your own pace.
Background on Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus. From: "The Cummings Study Guide":
Prometheus Bound
is a tragedy centering primarily on the reaction of a proud god to a
terrible punishment imposed on him by Zeus. The date of its writing and
staging is uncertain, but the play probably debuted about 450 B.C., six
years before the death of Aeschylus. It was the first part of a trilogy.
The other two plays–Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus the Fire-Bringer–do not survive except for fragments of the latter play.
[this means you are starting a story in the middle...most of our dislike of the play comes from this fact, as it's sometimes hard to understand why certain actions are happening.]
Setting: The
action takes place on a single day at a time just after human beings
begin to use fire as a tool of advancement. The place is a gorge in the
Caucasus on the shore of the Black Sea, a mountain
range running southeast from
the Black Sea (called the Euxine Sea in ancient times) to the Caspian
Sea. To the north of the Caucasus is present-day Russia; to the south is
present-day Georgia. The highest peak in the system, Mount Elbrus,
rises to a height of more than 18,000 feet. The lands adjacent to the
mountain range are known as Caucasia.
Onstage Characters
Prometheus:
Titan whose name means forethought. After he defied the will of Zeus by
becoming the benefactor of mankind, Zeus turned against him, ordering
him bound to a rock in a desolate gorge of the Causasus Mountains.
There, Prometheus remains proudly defiant, exhibiting no remorse or
regret for his actions. Instead, he taunts Zeus,
predicting his downfall at the hands of a child he shall beget.
Hephaestus:
The master blacksmith of Mount Olympus and one of the major Olympian
gods. Although he sympathizes with Prometheus, he carries out the will
of Zeus by making the unbreakable chains that bind
Prometheus to the rock in the Caucasus gorge. In Roman mythology,
Hephaestus is known as Vulcan.
Kratos and Bia: Henchmen of Zeus who convey Prometheus to the Caucasus. Kratos symbolizes strength and Bia symbolizes force.
Oceanids:
Daughters of the Titan Oceanus. They act as the chorus in the play.
Although they sympathize with Prometheus, they do not sanction his
taunting of Zeus.
Oceanus:
Father of the Oceanids. He is a Titan who remained in Zeus's favor after other Titans had been cast out of heaven.
Io:
Young woman with whom Zeus fell in love but turned into a heifer to
disguise her from his jealous wife, Hera. Her presence in the play helps
to illuminate
ancient attitudes toward fate and the humanlike pettiness and jealousies
of the Olympian gods. In addition, her dialogue with Prometheus helps
to reveal his intellectual gifts, his defiance, and his other character
traits.
Hermes:
Messenger of Zeus and one of the major
Olympian gods. His dialogue with Prometheus helps to reveal the latter's
fierce defiance of Zeus, defiance so passionate that it becomes a kind
of madness. In Roman mythology, Hermes is known as Mercury.
Main Offstage Characters
Zeus:
King of the universe, who rules from Mount Olympus. He exhibits human
traits such as pride, lust, deceit, and
vengefulness. Although he has no speaking part in the play, his presence
as an antagonist of Prometheus is felt throughout the drama. In Roman
mythology, Zeus is known as Jupiter.
Hera:
Queen of the universe and wife of Zeus. Her jealousy of Io causes Zeus
to turn the young
woman into a heifer. But Hera apparently sees through the scheme to hide
Io and sends a gadfly to bedevil her. In Roman mythology, Hera is known
as Juno.
Argus Panoptes: A one-hundred-eyed giant assigned by Hera to observe Io.
Inachus: Father of Io.
Author's Approach: Looking
back from the mid-Fifth Century B.C., the author retells a mythological
tale transmitted over the centuries to him and other ancient Greeks. He
presents the story from the perspective of an enlightened Greek
attempting to underscore the importance of intelligence, creativity, and
resistance to tyranny.
Depicting Zeus as a strongarm bully was daring and controversial.
Introduction: Mythological Background
.......Aeschylus based the plot of Prometheus Bound
on parts of mythological tales well known to Greeks of his time. Modern
readers and theatergoers need to become familiar with these tales to
understand the play.
Following is a summation of the tales:
.......After
the birth of the universe and the first gods, Uranus rules the heavens
and fathers children with Earth, a planet as well as a goddess, called
Gaea. These children include three one-eyed giants, three fifty-headed
monsters, and twelve gods known as Titans. Fearing
that his offspring might try to overthrow him, Uranus thrusts them back
into Gaea, causing her severe pain. After fashioning a sickle, Gaea asks
her sons to castrate Uranus. Only the youngest one, Cronus, is willing
to take up the challenge. After he castrates and overthrows Uranus, he
becomes king of the universe, with most of his brothers and sisters
assuming positions of
power. .......The
Titans then beget another generation of children, one of whom is
Prometheus, the son of Cronus’s brother, Iapetus. Cronus himself fathers
children after taking his sister, Rhea, as his mate and queen. Told
that one of his children will overthrow him, he attempts to thwart fate
by swallowing the children after they are born. His first five children
all meet this fate.
After Rhea bears a sixth child, Zeus, she acts to protect him. Instead
of giving the child to Cronus, she hides him in Crete and gives Cronus a
stone wrapped in swaddling. Believing it is Zeus, he swallows it. .......After
Zeus comes of age, he gives
Cronus an emetic that causes him to spew out his brothers and sisters.
Zeus and his siblings then wage war against Cronus and his Titan allies.
However, two of the Titans, Prometheus and Oceanus, decide to fight on
the side of Zeus. With their assistance, Zeus and his siblings overthrow
Cronus and his forces and cast them into the underworld, known as
Tartarus. Zeus then enthrones himself as king
of the gods, apportioning various powers to his brothers and sisters.
After Zeus takes up residence with them on Mount Olympus, they become
known collectively as the Olympians (as opposed to the defeated Titans).
Zeus marries his sister, Hera, who becomes queen of the gods. .......Meanwhile,
men come into existence on earth. (One ancient writer says Prometheus
created them from clay; another source says they were born out of the
earth). Although Zeus despises these lowly creatures, Prometheus pities
them and acts to sustain them, saving ox meat from sacrifices for men
and serving the bones to Zeus after wrapping it with savory fat.
Upon discovering the deception, Zeus retaliates by withholding fire from
man. Prometheus then steals fire from the heavens and gives it to his
earthling friends as a valuable tool for their advancement. .......The
ancient Greek writer Hesiod presented
two versions of what Zeus did next. In one version, Zeus concocts a
scheme to plague man. First, he orders his brother, Hephaestus, the
forger god, to create a woman. Named Pandora, she is the first of her
kind. Zeus sends her to earth with various gifts from the gods,
including great beauty and winsomeness, as well as curiosity. She
carries with her a jar that she is never to open. In time, her
curiosity gets the better of her and she opens the lid, releasing
disease, sorrow, evil, and hard labor upon the world. In the other
version, Zeus vents his anger on Prometheus, ordering him chained to a
rock in a gorge of the Caucasus Mountains. Each day, an eagle comes to
feed on his liver. But because Prometheus is immortal, his liver
restores itself by the following morning. Then the eagle
returns to feed again. Such is the torture that Prometheus endures.
Aeschylus recounts this version of the story in Prometheus Bound, beginning on the day when Zeus’s henchmen bind Prometheus to the rock.
For information about the history and significance of this play, please read the following article:
Prometheus Bound.
After reading the play, check your understanding by answering this flash card quiz:
Prometheus Bound (characters).
