In Aeschylus' play Prometheus Bound, Zeus is clearly depicted as the villain. Do you agree with this statement? Support your answer by reference to the play.'
In Prometheus Bound, Zeus is conspicuous by his absence; he does not once appear on the stage. It plays a significant part in the character of Zeus throughout the play as it enables him to be illustrated as a ruthless, callous villain through his servants, followers, and victims (Hephaestus, Strength, Violence, Hermes his supporters represent clues about Zeus through their names, exclusively) and, too, by his critics. He rules by his own laws, creating the type of world where he is the only, indeed, free one.
In the prologue of the play, we are introduced to the nature of Zeus and his extreme tyranny. Prometheus, a victim of Zeus's political reign, is being shackled to a rock face at the top of Caucasus, forced to endure the harsh conditions for the next thousand years. When Hephaestus, the reluctant disciple of Zeus, is stagnating to punish Prometheus after the orders of Strength, Strength summons Hephaestus to hurry before Zeus sees. "Be quick, then; put the fetters on him before the Father sees you idling." Because to not fulfill Zeus's tasks, in Strength's eyes, would be a treacherous thing. Strength commands that the shackles be tightened as extremely as possible by striking them forcefully because 'our work has a stern judge'. The extent of the cruelty of Strength is therefore assigned to Zeus because Strength insinuates that Zeus would be content with nothing less.
Hephaestus, who is a follower of Zeus out of fear, claims he honestly does not want to punish Prometheus, his relative, as he says: "But how can I find the heart to lay hands on a god of my own race?" and, furthermore, "I hate my craft, I hate the skill of my own hands." He may complain, yet, his actions offer little backbone to what he is saying as he makes no real attempt to prevent it, due to fright of Zeus's potential actions. He said, previously, that 'to slight what Zeus has spoken is a fearful thing.' Though he doesn't totally identify with his leader, he obeys him because the thought of emerging on the wrong side of Zeus fills him with dread. Hephaestus establishes pity in the play, which adds to the brutal, villainous picture being painted of Zeus.
It is another victim of the savage king of gods. It is exiled from her home because Zeus hopes to deflower her. She enters wearing cow horns, sleep-inducing music of wax-bound pipes in her ears, being chewed on by gadfly, the ghost of Argos chasing her - she cries out to Zeus, asking why he tortures her like this: "O. What crime, son of Cronus, what crime is it you have found me guilty of, that you have yoked me to these sufferings, ah and torment me out of my mind like this, wretched that I am, ever driven by the fearful gadfly?" Such was the trauma she was facing; she considered suicide ("Why should I go on living? Why not hurl myself at once from t...
