Meditation on a Thesis

The Quality of Zeus’ Reign

At the top of the play, Might tells Hephaestus right off the bat that it his job to carry out Zeus’ orders, no questions asked. The orders have been placed upon Hephaestus, and Might is acting as the strong man here, the intimidator, starting off by laying down the law. His next tactic seems to be that of riling him up, exclaiming how his precious immortal power of fire was was stolen from him, and also using flattery in saying that it was he who was responsible for all of Art. These tactics make me think there is great fear in power being taken away from the gods, and I wonder if the fear stems from Zeus, or if he is confident and it’s the servants who are in a more tense state because they are under the mighty hand of Zeus and will ultimately face consequences if they mess up themselves. Might sounds like a person stuck in a cult, worshiping and obeying the cult leader and following every order to play out his wishes. Let it not be forgotten that the whole time there is another servant, Violence, present and completely silent. This conjures a severe secret service bodyguard image. Don’t mess with the big man.