Hermes and Prometheus

Summary of Hermes’ speech lines 944-951

Hermes comes in and calls Prometheus a sinner, and that he did wrong by the other immortals. He tells him that he honors humans, which may imply that he has a false god, or that in doing so, his devotion to Zeus is discounted. And in calling Prometheus a “thief of fire” also suggests that the power wasn’t Prometheus’ to begin with. Therefore, the power must belong solely to Zeus and was being gifted to him this whole time. Hermes then goes on to tell him that he was sent by Zeus who has demanded to know how he is supposedly going to lose power. No tricky business, give it to me straight. The fact that Hermes says that Zeus thinks Prometheus is bragging about this prophesy suggests an image of acting like a small child throwing a tantrum. Hermes is intense about getting a serious response from Prometheus because he doesn’t want to be sent back to Zeus empty-handed because if so, Zeus will probably react with great rage.

Summary of Prometheus’ speech lines 953-963

Prometheus thinks Hermes sounds stuck up and full of himself, which is fitting for someone who is carrying out the orders of mighty Zeus. Perhaps Hermes thinks quite highly of himself and his position, but really he comes across as pathetic and desperate. Prometheus thinks he’s young, inexperienced, doesn’t know anything, and is blind to what is really going on. Desire of power can make one foolish. Prometheus goes on to remind Hermes how the two gods before Zeus fell out of power, calling them tyrants. This tells me that he thinks the succession- or even the inherent position- of the almighty ruler is doomed to begin with when one lords above all with a holier than thou approach. Prometheus thinks Zeus is the most dishonorable of the rulers thus far, and that there is no way that he will bow down to Zeus because he is actually quite immature and inexperienced, relatively speaking. Prometheus thinks of himself as a standup, respectable guy, and refuses to give Hermes what he’s asked for and tells him to leave.