In Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, Zeus is portrayed as a brutal and vengeful tyrant. His tyranny is mostly shown through the punishment of Prometheus. Zeus saw Prometheus giving humans fire as betrayal and as revenge, he punished Prometheus by pinning him to a rocky mountain in the Caucasus. Instead of carrying out the punishment himself, Zeus had Might, Violence, and Hephaestus (who was also Prometheus’ friend) carry it out. Unlike Might and Violence, Hephaestus pitied Prometheus and disagreed with Prometheus’ punishment. As stated in lines 13-18, although Hephaestus was against punishing Prometheus in such a violent, tortuous way, however, he still did it because he feared Zeus. Prometheus was bound in an open area, where other gods could easily …show more content…
This deceit angered Zeus, causing him to take fire away from humans, which Prometheus then stole and gave back. In the Theogony, Zeus is not depicted as a tyrant and his punishment for Prometheus is not portrayed as severe as it is in Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. In the Theogony, Hesiod portrayed Zeus as the victim, by showing that he was tricked multiple times by Prometheus, and Prometheus’ tricks caused his punishment. In contrast, Aeschylus portrayed Prometheus as the victim in Prometheus Bound by portraying Zeus as a tyrant and showing that Prometheus’ cruel punishment was only caused by his stealing fire and giving it to humans, not for his multiple tricks. Aeschylus portrays Zeus as a tyrant in order to show how Zeus was when he first began to rule. In lines 33-34, Hephaestus states that Zeus’ rule is new and “every ruler is harsh whose rule is new.” Coming into power, Zeus was young, angry, and callous. He had just overthrown his father, Cronus, and was afraid and uneasy, due to the possibility that he would experience the same fate as his father. Zeus’ paranoia caused him to be untrusting and as stated by Prometheus in lines 227-229, “ This is a sickness rooted and inherent in the nature of a tyranny: that he who holds it does not trust his friends.” Like many tyrants, Zeus had to make examples out of those who betrayed him, to ensure that …show more content…
Prometheus was so proud of his creation of humans and his arrogance led to his downfall. From lines 442-502, Prometheus states everything he has done for man. Some of the things include, giving mankind minds, medicine, bronze, iron, silver, gold. He states, “First they had eyes but had no eyes to see...They knew not how to build brick houses to face the sun, nor work in wood...until it was I--yes, it was I-- the Muses’ mother skilled in craft, I found for them.” Prometheus’ pride and arrogance for humanity caused him to go against Zeus, which eventually led to his downfall. Prometheus’ gift of foresight and his stubbornness caused him to challenge Zeus. Prometheus knew that Zeus was going to be overthrown by one of his children, and even though Zeus asked who it would be, Prometheus chose to keep the prophecy to himself, since he knew Zeus would apologize later for his cruel punishment. Prometheus’ tragic flaw is also his lack of self-discipline. Prometheus’ wrong decisions caused him to be chained to a rock for