Paper gatherings for #2
At the start of Prometheus Bound, two servants of Zeus, Might and Violence, and Hepheastus the blacksmith enter the Caucasus. Might tells Hepheastus to chain Prometheus to a rock, as ordered by Zeus (line 3-6). Might claims Prometheus stole the power of fire and gave it to human kind and for that he must suffer and accept the power of Zeus (Lines 8-11). With this responsibility, Hepheastus struggles and responds that he can’t bear to do it, but goes through with it because he knows that he must not disrespect Zeus (lines 13-18). He does it, because that’s his penance for loving humans, and he knows he will show his grief and sorrow, but that will do no good.
Hephaestus- It’s hard to soften Zeus with prayer, or any new ruler’s mind for that matter.
(lines 34-35).
After these two introductory monologues, the two characters of Might and Hepheastus go into a sparring section of dialogue.
M: Why are you pitying him?
H: You’re ruthless, he’s family! I can’t believe I used my talents to enchain him. It’s such a burden having this power!
M: Your craft isn’t the cause of his troubles, he did this to himself. And only Zeus is free of burdens.
I really do enjoy how Might conceives of responsibility and culpability in this passage. When Hephaestus pities a criminal, he is actually engaging in somewhat subversive activity - he is implicitly questioning the justice by which Zeus chains Prometheus. Even if Hephaestus cannot express why exactly he finds this activity heinous, that underlying feeling of distaste with his project suggests that he cannot be unquestioning. Might, on the other hand, is simply an extension of Zeus' will here: Might doesn't question how just Zeus' rulings are - he essentially assumes that these verdicts are just to begin with.
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