Prometheus Bound

The Chorus is made up of Oceanids, daughters of the Titan Ocean. These female goddesses, connected with the sea, try to comfort Prometheus throughout the play. Though they are supportive, they are not uncritical of Prometheus’s actions. They repeatedly tell Prometheus that he should be more cautious and that he should put an end to his defiance: It is foolish to betray the powerful gods to support weak mortals. By the end of the play, however, the Chorus comes around to Prometheus’s way of seeing things, realizing that Zeus’s tyranny is unjust and resolving to stand with Prometheus, even if it means they must suffer punishment as a result.

Hephaestus is the Greek god of the forge. At the beginning of the play, Zeus sends him to nail Prometheus to a cliff. Hephaestus executes his task reluctantly, protesting that “[he has] not / the heart to bind a god who’s [his] own kin” (13-14). But Hephaestus, like the other gods who visit Prometheus in the play, is too afraid of Zeus’s power to defy him, and so he ultimately does as he is told. Though he is more sympathetic to Prometheus’s plight than Might, however, Hephaestus does reproach Prometheus for his foolish behavior and faults him for bringing his punishment on himself by “[giving] honor to mortals beyond what was just” (30).

Since Greek tragedies only allowed three actors for all speaking roles, the parts of Ocean, Io, and Hermes would have all been played by the same actor. Ocean, a Titan like Prometheus, visits Prometheus to offer his help in securing his freedom. Prometheus, however, refuses Ocean’s help, insisting that he must suffer his fate and refusing to submit to Zeus’s unjust tyranny. He harshly mocks Ocean’s “useless effort—and silly good nature” (383). Ocean tries to convince Prometheus that his stubbornness is short-sighted and will only worsen his suffering. But when Prometheus refuses to listen, he finally agrees to leave him to his fate.

In many ways, the human Io has more in common with the god Prometheus than any of the play’s divine characters. Io has been transformed into a cow as a direct result of Zeus’s inappropriate desire for her, meaning that Io, like Prometheus, must suffer because of Zeus. Also like Prometheus, Io wants to know that her suffering will eventually end—though knowing the full scope of what she has left to suffer proves shattering to her. Where other characters in the play, including Hermes, Ocean, and the Chorus, are able only to sympathize with Prometheus, Io can fully empathize with him: She too must endure a long and drawn-out punishment because of Zeus’s injustice. Io and Prometheus bond over their shared hatred of the gods, and Prometheus manages to cheer up Io when he tells her about how Zeus is destined to fall someday.