|
|
The authoritative presence in Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound was Fate. Some might argue that it was Zeus, but in fact it was very much Fate that had control, which Prometheus himself knew. Zeus, like his father, Chronos, knew his fate of demise and tried to save himself. It is apparent that despite Fate’s inevitability, many Greek heroes chose to fight it rather than give up. Fate predicted in Oedipus the King that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, but both he and his parents fought to prevent this from happening. Teiresias, the blind prophet, told Oedipus that he would not want to know the truth in the end, and tries to withhold the vital information he knows. Teiresias also warned Pentheus in The Bacchae to heed Dionysus’s new religion and not to anger him for this new god will be great in the future, but his advice falls on deaf ears. Zeus tried to battle Fate by demanding that he gets things his way. His father, Chronos was told that one of his children would bring about his end. He tried to avoid this prophesied defeat by swallowing his children when they were born. However, Rhea, his wife, asked for help from Gaia, her mother, to bear a child in secret. This child was Zeus. After the Titans overthrew Chronos, Zeus overthrew the Titans with the help of the Hundred-Handers. The Titans had overthrown Chronos despite his preventative measures. Zeus’s demanding character helped him get what he wanted in being the divine ruler of all the gods. When he wanted Io, she came to him for fear of displeasing the supreme divinity. When he heard of Prometheus’s knowledge of Zeus’s downfall, he sent Hermes to inquire of Prometheus’s knowledge of how this would happen. Prometheus said, “So shall at last the final consummation be brought about of Father Kronos’ curse which he, driven from his ancient throne, invoked against the son deposing him: no one of all the Gods save I alone can tell a way to escape this mischief: I alone know it and how.” (Prometheus Bound, 911-917) Zeus did not offer to loosen Prometheus from the crag or engage in a trade of favors, but instead, he threatened Prometheus through Hermes in saying that if Prometheus did not say what he knew of Zeus’s destiny that the chains Hermes carried would “prove to [Prometheus] that Zeus is not softhearted” (Prometheus Bound, 951-953).
|
