Prometheus

A detailed Summary of Prometheus


Hesiod and Aeschylus both tell the tale of Prometheus, the god that stole fire from Olympus and gave it to man. Each author takes a different position on the matter: Hesiod condemns Prometheus and man, while Aeschylus celebrates them, which is evident in several characteristics of the myth. First, the role of the female in the relationship between man and gods in each myth is different. Hesiod, for example describes woman as "an evil" created by the gods to punish man for accepting fire. Woman was filled with desire for luxurious things and a "treacherous nature" to enable her to torment mankind. They named her Pandora. Pandora was given a gift of a box filled with all the evils in the world and was told not to open it. What does she do? She opens it. And released all the evils into the world, hope alone remained in the box. Aeschylus, on the othe


r hand, uses the figure of Io as a sweet, innocent woman who was tormented by the gods and whose ancestor will free Prometheus one day. He doesn't even mention Pandora and the punishment of mankind. Io refused to sleep with Zeus and, in return she was exiled from home and was constantly hounded by the gadfly, the ghost of Argos. Argos pursued Io so that she constantly roams the Earth with no place to call home. A son descended from Io will free Prometheus from the rock he is eternally chained to. Woman is seen as the solution to the problem, whereas, in Hesiod, she is the cause of it. Secondly, The presentation of Zeus' power is different in each myth. In Hesiod, Zeus is seen as a benevolent, just, and liberating presence, a step above all those who preceded him. Before Prometheus' theft of fire, man could have produced enough grain in 1 day to fe

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 578
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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