Prometheus Bound Critical Lens Essay

Suffering is something that everyone will experience at least once in their life; however, some people are constantly suffering and feel that they forever will. This idea is shown in many different texts throughout history. An example of is the tale of Prometheus. This story has many different versions, but the original, written in 430 BCE, is Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus. It tells the story of the titian Prometheus and the punishment that he suffers at the hands of Zeus. This punishment is a result of Prometheus’ decision to give fire to humans, which Zeus was strongly against. His punishment is to be chained to a rock eternally where there are many storms and a bird who eats his liver every day. Another version of this story is Prometheus

One way that this connection is shown in the text A Raisin in the Sun by Hansberry, when Walter is talking to Ruth about money and their lives, he states, “WALTER… I’m thirty-five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room… and all I got to give him his stories about how rich white people live…” (Hansberry 34). Another way that this demonstrated through the text Prometheus Unbound by Shelley, when Prometheus is complaining about how his punishment is unjust, he proclaims, “From thine unenvied throne, O Mighty God!/Almighty, had I deigned to share the shame/Of thine ill tyranny, and hung not here”(Shelley 1). Walter and Prometheus are both victims of other people or groups pushing them down and causing them more suffering than they already have. For Walter, society is suppressing his dreams from becoming a reality and causing him to live a life he doesn’t want. This is exhibited through Hansberry’s use of the phrase “rich white people”. It shows how the predominately white society of the 1950’s did not allow people like Walter, who were of a different race, the opportunity to have the same luxuries and success that they have. This causes Walter to believe that he will forever be stuck in a bad job and a small apartment where his son has to sleep in the living room, which means he will forever

In A Raisin in the Sun, an example of this connection about accepting their punishments is when Walter is talking to Mr. Lindner about whether they are going to sell their house, and he proclaims, “WALTER: And we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick... We don’t want your money”(Hansberry 148). In Prometheus Bound, another example of this connection is shown when Prometheus is talking to the Oceanides about his fate and the reasons he is being punished, he states, “Of my free will, my own free will, I erred”(Aeschylus 9). The two characters both know that they made mistakes, that inevitably cause them the suffering that they are going through. For Walter, the punishment for his decision to give the money to Willy Harris is that he will not be able to follow his dream of buying a liquor store and becoming successful. He soon accepts that there is no way to undo what he did and makes the decision to not drag his family done with him. This revelation causes Walter to not sell the house, which was his original plan when he first heard the news that Willy had stolen the money. Prometheus also has a similar realization about how his decision to give fire to humans was not the best idea and that maybe he