(Re)Thinking Prometheus: From Aeschylus to Avatar Stephen Felder, Irvine Valley College (CA)

1. (Re)Thinking Prometheus: From Aeschylus to Avatar Stephen Felder, Irvine Valley College (CA) Laconian Black Figure, ca. 530 BCE, Musei Vaticani

2. Prometheus Bound: • The Culture Hero • Resistance to Tyranny

3. Prometheus Bound: • The Culture Hero • Resistance to Tyranny • A more ambivalent interpretation: • The place of Prometheus in Greek Mythology • The general ambivalence in mythologies regarding culture • The nature of the Io tale as presented in the play.

4. In Hesiod, Prometheus is a Trickster:

5. In Hesiod, Prometheus is a Trickster:

6. In Hesiod, Prometheus is a Trickster:

10. From Works and Days.

13. .

14. Compare this with the Garden of Eden myth, where the Serpent is “more crafty than any other wild animal the Lord God made.” Hans Baldung. Eve, Serpent, and Death. 1512.

15. Genesis 3 3Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ 2The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ 4But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,* knowing good and evil.’ 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

16. 8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ 10He said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ 11He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ 12The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’

17. 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’ 14The Lord God said to the serpent,‘Because you have done this,   cursed are you among all animals   and among all wild creatures;upon your belly you shall go,   and dust you shall eat   all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,   and between your offspring and hers;he will strike your head,   and you will strike his heel.’ 16To the woman he said,‘I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;   in pain you shall bring forth children,yet your desire shall be for your husband,and he shall rule over you.’

18. 17And to the man* he said,‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,   and have eaten of the treeabout which I commanded you,   “You shall not eat of it”,cursed is the ground because of you;in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;   and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your face   you shall eat breaduntil you return to the ground,   for out of it you were taken;you are dust,   and to dust you shall return.’ 20 The man named his wife Eve,* because she was the mother of all who live. 21And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man* and for his wife, and clothed them.

19. 22 Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’— 23therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

20. Prometheus: . . . Listen to the miseries of mortals, how infantile they were before I made them intelligent . . . In the beginning, though they had eyes and ears, they could make nothing of what they saw and heard; like dream-figures they lived a life of utter random confusion all their days. They knew nothing of brick-built, sun-warmed houses, nor of wooden construction; they dwelt underground, like tiny ants, in the sunless recesses of caves. . .I also invented for them the art of number . . . Of combining letters into written words, the tool that enables all things to be remembered and is mother of the Muses. And I was the first to bring beasts under the yoke as slaves to the yoke-strap . . .I brought horses to love the rein . . . invented the linen-winged vehicles in which sailors roam the seas . . .as for the things hidden beneath the earth that benefit humanity—copper, iron, silver and gold . . . To sum up everything in a short sentence: know that all the skills that mortals have come from Prometheus.”

21. In the Epic of Gilgamesh we see the same ambivalence (see also Gordon Kirk, Myth) “One day a hunter came to a watering place and saw Enkidu . . . He opened his mouth and said to his father, “ . . . I saw a hairy-bodied many today at the watering place, powerful as Ninurta the god of war; he feeds upon the grasslands with gazelles; he visits the watering place with the beasts; he has unset my traps and filled my hunting pits; the creatures of the grasslands get away free. The wild man sets them free. Because of him I am no longer a hunter.” “The temple prostitute looked at him, Enkidu, the hairy-bodied wild man of the grasslands, the hair of his head like the grain fields of the goddess, naked as Sumuqan the god of cattle. ‘That is Enkidu, Shamhat, show him your breasts, show him your beauty. Spread out your cloak on the ground. Lie down on it. The wild man will look at you. Show him your body. The hairy-bodied man will come to you and lie down on you; and show him the things a woman knows how to do. The gazelles and with them all the other creatures will flee from him who ranged the hills with them.’

22. “For seven days Enkidu in his wonder lay with her in pleasure, and then at last went to seek out the company of the creatures whose hearts delight in feeding upon the grasslands, and visiting the watering places, and ranging the hills. But seeing him, they fled. The creatures were gone, and everything had changed. His body that loved to range the hills was now unable to follow; but in the mind of the wild man there was beginning a new understanding. Bewildered, he turned, and sought out the company of the temple prostitute. He sat down beside her, and looked into her face, and listened to her: ‘Enkidu, now you are beautiful as a god. Why do you seek the company of beasts? Come with me to the city, to Uruk . . .” Cylinder seal from Ur, 3rd millennium BC, height 1-1/2 inches.

23. “In the early hours of the next morning dawning, Enkidu, sleepless, weeping, cried out to Shamash: ‘As for the hunter who saw me in the grasslands, may the creatures which he hunts . . . get away from him free. May the hunter starve . . . As for the harlot who brought me to the city, this is the curse of Enkidu against her: May the garbage of the city be what you eat, may you drink what flows along the alley gutters. May you importune in the alley shadows. May you have no home. May you sleep on the city doorsteps . . .May all men curse and revile you and turn away. Because of you the creatures fled from me, who dwelt with them and ranged the hills with them.’ “Then Shamash spoke and said to Enkidu: ‘Why do you curse the temple prostitute? Because of her you eat the food and drink the palace affords. Because of her you wear the garments suitable for a prince to wear; you sit in the place of honor nearest the king . . .’ “Enkidu heard what Shamash said to him, and for a time his stormy heart was quiet. He repented the curse and blessed the harlot . . .” (All trans. David Ferry)

25. “Welcome to Pandora”

26. “They want mud.”

27. Io: “In my maiden chamber I was persistently visited by nocturnal visions which coaxed me in smooth words: ‘Most greatly blessed maiden, why do you remain a virgin so long,when you could have the greatest of unions? Zeus has been struck by a dart of desire coming from you, and wishes to partake of Cypris with you. Do not, my child, spurn the bed of Zeus, but go out to the deep meadow of Lerna . . . so that Zeus’ eye may be assuaged of its desire.’ “Every night I was miserably plagued by dreams like that, until I brought myself to tell my father about the dreams that kept coming to me nightly. He sent envoys repeatedly to Delphi and Dodona . . . So that he could learn what he should do or say so as to act in a manner pleasing to the gods . . . Finally, a clear word came . . . Enjoining him to thrust me out of my house and my native place . . . And that if he refused, a fiery thunderbolt would come from Zeus that would annihilate his entire family. [My father] expelled me and shut me out of his house—as reluctant to do it as I was to go; the bridle of Zeus compelled him against his will to act thus.” (All trans. Alan H. Sommerstein.) (Compare with Persephone.)

28. Civilization seems to come by way of alienation from the Gods. Zeus doesn’t want humans to progress in these ways, and by progressing they lose contact with him/the gods. • The play’s attitude is not simply, or even predominantly one of resistance to tyranny, but of ambivalence towards civilization. • Io’s father casts her out; this is the situation of almost all women who have ever lived. • The paradox of civilization: fire is useful, but it must be controlled. • All of Prometheus’ “gifts” have a double edge to them. • Still, the introduction of Io’s tale, in which the King and Queen of Heaven are tyrannical and insensitive, combined with the fact that in the end the chorus, which usually takes a mediating position, sides with Prometheus, suggests that Aeschylus is siding with Prometheus.

29. The trickster is fundamental. All cultures need the Trickster, someone who can break the rules, outwit the gods, and bring gifts to humanity, but civilization will have to chain the Trickster. • The play thus expresses our ambivalence about civilization. • On the one hand, would we really want to be the “miserable” creatures that we were before fire, or in the garden of Eden. • And yet the creatures we are now seem motivated by gold, conquest, etc., and live in a state of alienation. • We recognize the power of civilization to change our lives, but also its danger (hence “fire” as the key metaphor).(cf. “playing god”)