How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
POWER. We have reached the land at the furthest bounds of earth, the Scythian marches, a wilderness where no mortals live. Hephaestus, you must attend to the instructions the Father has laid upon you, to bind this criminal to the high rocky cliffs in the unbreakable fetters of adamantine bonds; for it was your glory, the gleam of fire that makes all skills attainable, that he stole and gave to mortals. For such an offence he must assuredly pay his penalty to the gods, to teach him that he must accept the autocracy of Zeus and abandon his human-loving ways. (1-11)
In these words, we hear about the supposedly horrible crimes that Prometheus committed, and how he has to pay the penalty for them. But is there anything suspicious about these words? How about the fact that they are spoken by a personification of "Power"? Maybe we shouldn't be taking lessons in what's right from the personification of might.
Quote #2
PROMETHEUS. He is harsh, I know, and makes justice as he pleases; all the same, I fancy, his mind will one day be softened, when he is shattered in the way I spoke of: one day he will calm his stubborn wrath and come into unity and friendship with me, as eager for it as I will be. (186-192)
Early in the play, Prometheus seems to think that he and Zeus will one day become friends again. But check out how Zeus "makes justice/ as he pleases." Does that really sound like the proper way to do justice? Isn't justice about not doing whatever you feel like, but instead doing what's right? Don't Prometheus's words here simply mean that Zeus is unjust? If so, then it makes sense that he will need to be "shattered" before he and Prometheus can become friends again.
Quote #3
OCEANUS. What I am going to say may seem rather hackneyed, but these, Prometheus, are the wages of an over-arrogant tongue. Are you still not humbled, not yielding to your troubles? Do you want to get more of them, on top of what you have? Well, if you accept me as your adviser, you won't kick out against the goad, being aware that we have a harsh monarch holding irresponsible power. Now I will go and try to see if I can get you released from these sufferings. You keep quiet and don't speak too impetuously; or do you not know very well, exceptionally intelligent as you are, that foolish words lead to punishment being inflicted? (317-329)
Oceanus's overall point here is that Prometheus should simply submit to the authority of Zeus, because Zeus is one crazy dude who just behaves harshly for the Hades of it. (LOL.) In other words, don't worry about the justice or injustice of it: just do what this jerk says. Understandably, Prometheus is not about to take Oceanus's advice.
Quote #4
CHORUS. Zeus, exercising this unlimited control under laws of his own making, is displaying the arrogance of power towards the gods of old.
The Chorus gets right at the problem with Zeus's version of justice: the laws are "of his own making," and maybe not, you know, entirely just. The closing remarks on the "arrogance of power" pretty much convinces us. It starts to sound like Zeus is judge, jury, and executioner, and that he cares more about throwing his weight around than justice.
Quote #5
IO. What crime, son of Cronus, what crime is it you have found me guilty of, that you have yoked me to these sufferings (578-588)
So, Io would really like to know why she's going through all this. Specifically, she asks Zeus what crime she has committed to end up being treated in this way. The fact that Io puts things in this manner suggests that she still sees the world in terms of justice and injustice: if Zeus is punishing her, therefore she must have done something wrong. Is this true? Or is Zeus's "justice" a lot more arbitrary?
Quote #6
IO. Tell me who bound you in this ravine.
PROMETHEUS. The decision of Zeus and the hand of Hephaestus.
IO. And for what wrongdoing are you paying the penalty?
PROMETHEUS. By explaining just so much to you, I have done enough. (617-621)
In other words, Prometheus seems to be denying that he's done anything wrong. All Io needs to know is that Zeus put him here, and that's enough for her to figure out that the punishment is totally arbitrary. Not justice at all.
Quote #7
PROMETHEUS. Now hear about the future, what sufferings this young woman is destined to endure at Hera's hands. […] [To the CHORUS] Do you think that the autocrat of the gods is equally brutal in all his dealings? That god, because he wanted to sleep with this mortal girl, imposed these sufferings on her! [To IO] You found an unpleasant suitor for your hand, young woman; for with all of what you've so far heard, you should consider that you're not yet even at the beginning of things. (694-695, 703-704, 735-741)
From the ground-level perspective of the characters in this drama, Io's fate isn't so clear. In quick succession, we get (1) the Chorus blaming Destiny for Io's sufferings; (2) Prometheus blaming Hera (correctly, from the mythical perspective); (3) Prometheus blaming Zeus, which also seems to make sense. Then things take a turn for the weird, when (4) Prometheus appears to blame Io for her own suffering—blaming the victim, in other words. If destiny is to blame, then her punishment seems neutral (perhaps). If Hera and Zeus are to blame, then her punishment seems unjust. If Io is to blame, her punishment might seem just. So, yeah, basically we're just confused.
Quote #8
HERMES. You seem to be making fun of me as if I were a child.
PROMETHEUS. Well, aren't you a child, or even more senseless than a child, if you expect to get any information from me? (980-988)
If justice means treating each person and thing in the way appropriate to it, then calling people and things by their appropriate names must be one form of justice. We can see this idea at play in the phrase "to do justice to" a topic—where doing it justice means describing it in the right way. If that's so, then does that mean that Prometheus's insults against Hermes might simply be another way of trying to do justice?
Quote #9
HERMES. Well, remember what I have proclaimed, and when disaster hunts you down do not complain about your fate, nor ever say that Zeus cast you into a calamity that you had not foreseen. No, indeed; you will have brought it on yourselves, for knowingly, not by surprise nor by deception, you will have been caught up in the inescapable net of disaster through your own folly. (1071-1079)
Here, Hermes basically gives up all responsibility for what Zeus does to the Chorus, saying that they have brought their fate upon themselves with their behavior. If what Hermes says is true, and Prometheus and the Chorus are knowingly signing on to their fate, does this make what happens to them just?
Quote #10
PROMETHEUS. O my honoured mother, O Sky around whom rolls the light that shines on all, see how unjustly I suffer! (1080-1093)
These are the closing lines of the play. They show us the crowning moment of Prometheus's defeat—or triumph, depending on how you look at it. Sure, it's a defeat from the perspective of the ordinary human who doesn't want to be buried for hundreds of years in the depths of the earth, only to be hauled out so that his or her liver can be pecked out daily by a vulture for more hundreds of years. But, to Prometheus, it's also a triumph, because he's managed to stay true to himself. Hm, someone getting in trouble with the law to show how unjust those laws are? We can think of a few more examples.