Prometheus Bound Fate and Free Will Quotes

Well, but Zeus isn't exactly free himself: he's bound by the knowledge that someone is going to topple him off his throne someday. Everything he does is directed to finding that out and keeping it from happening—so how free is he, really?

Here's the questions: does Prometheus always choose to do the thing that's fated, or does some part of his brain watch another part of himself—the part that can't escape from Necessity—making choices that it thinks are free, but which actually aren't? (Ouch. Our brain hurts.)

Well, duh. Of course the Titans didn't take him up on the offer: how could they, if it's true that Prometheus's mother had repeatedly prophesied that the future would turn out otherwise? (But here's another question: does knowing the future mean that you don't have to act correctly anyway?)

Here, Prometheus muddies the waters even further. On the one hand, he says that he knew what the future would be. But he also says, "I certainly never thought I would have a punishment anything like this." Prometheus seems to be telling us that he (a) knew the future, (b) chose freely (but how could he do so if the future is already written?) and (c) didn't know the future. How do we put these two ideas together? Is seeing the future like looking into the distance—i.e., Prometheus may well have had an idea, in advance, of what was going to happen to him, but was fuzzy on the details? (And if so, maybe there's a telescope to clear things up.)

By Necessity Prometheus means simply, "What has to happen" (which is pretty much the same idea as fate). It's weird that he doesn't seem too bothered about the whole no-free-will thing. Maybe there's something comforting in the idea that what's going to happen is going to happen. At least you can't make the wrong decision about what to major in.

The Chorus thinks that Zeus has got to be more powerful than Necessity. But Prometheus disagrees: Fate is the one in charge. So, is knowledge even power in a world where you can't use your knowledge to make meaningful choices? This looks like yet another Greek-tragedy-related, fate-based mind-bender. Thanks for the memories.

Io says that her father was just following the advice of Apollo. Fair enough. But notice how Io ends this passage: she says that her father was "compelled […] against his will to act thus." In other words, she's saying that the oracles' message meant that her father no longer had free will. Really? He couldn't have stood up and said, "No thanks, I'm not sending my daughter off to be raped"?

So, the chorus is really bummed about what Io's experiencing. Seems like the right reaction. But notice that they blame "Destiny" for what's happened to her, even though they've just heard about Zeus's role in all of it. Does this mean that the Chorus has bought into Prometheus's theory that Zeus isn't more powerful than fate? If so, does this mean that the Chorus clears Zeus of all responsibility?

Here's some info on how Prometheus uses his knowledge of fate and the future to wield power. For one thing, Prometheus's first argument—that he can help Zeus get out of the first of these problems, provided Zeus releases him—is a bit weird. Think about it: Prometheus thinks he can alert Zeus to the problem because it's fated, and Prometheus knows fate. But if it's fated, how can Prometheus do anything to change it? Furthermore, how can Prometheus use this knowledge as a bargaining chip to get Zeus to release him from his chains when his other prophecy says he's fated to be released by a descendent of Io? Ok, so maybe this didn't give us that much insight after all. Anyone have some Advil?

The Chorus's final line in this passage is usually interpreted as meaning that Prometheus should stop being so headstrong and accept his fate. But the irony is that Prometheus insists that he is accepting his fate—namely, his fate to suffer for many centuries, but then see Zeus get overthrown. So who believes most strongly in fate? We're thinking it might not be the Chorus, after all.