Classical Reception in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound: Politically, and Stylistically.

This is an essay which I wrote for a UWA unit on Classical reception if you wish to use any of the information from it please refer to the bibliography for sources.

Introduction

This essay will focus on the reception of Aeschylus’ Prometheus seen in Shelley’s lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound which was “composed between 1818 and 1820" with a focus on the relationship between Jupiter/Zeus and Prometheus and how this speaks to the political insights Shelley was attempting to portray, and the stylistic elements which suggest classical influence.¹ Comprising four acts, this piece is one of Shelley’s responses to the Political turmoil in his time. It’s political and stylistic elements pull on many classical influences, but there is a dialogue between Shelley and Aeschylus which overshadows all. It’s a piece through which, Shelley expressed his disdain for how despite the liberal beliefs, which had inspired the French revolution, it resulted in the rise of just another tyrannical system headed by Napoleon, as well as the overpowering aristocracy which sat at the top of Britain's classist system. This is reminiscent of Aeschylus’ own questioning of the gods which is portrayed in his version of the myth, and although Aeschylus seems to be more forgiving, its reflective of the changing political times that he experienced in the early classical period. The reception of classical literature is seen in the stylistic choices made by Shelley as Prometheus unbound not only reflects Aeschylus’ version of the myth, “but enfolds many genres from classical literature including epic as seen in act 2 and others”.² This essay will first explore Shelley’s own thought on retelling classical myths and what his thoughts may have been on classical reception regarding the preface of Prometheus Unbound, before briefly discussing the stylistic elements which suggest the influence of Homer. finally, this essay will explore how Shelley’s reception of Aeschylus’ Prometheus is linked to their life experiences, which influenced the political undertones of their iterations of the myth, as well as influencing Shelley’s overall reception of Aeschylus’ version.

– Shelley on the retelling of classical myths

Wordsworth, Keats, Byron were all inspired by and responded to the classics, but no one more so than Percy Bysshe Shelley. Like most Romantics Shelley was an outsider, a revolutionary, he didn’t fit in, everything about him was ahead of his time. He was an extreme atheist who despised the institutions upon which they built the 19th century society. Politically he was an avid feminist and a classical liberalist inspired by the events of the French revolution, plus he was a vegetarian. Overall, the world rather disillusioned him around him. And so, like many of his fellow poets, Shelley delved deep into the classics in search of answers, and in doing so he found a new way of thinking, a way of viewing the world which allowed him to express his own opinions. When Shelley read Aeschylus’ Prometheus, he didn’t just see another version of a well-known myth. He saw political and religious commentary, which could be transposed into the world around him. Despite being barely old enough to remember it, he still felt the effects of the French Revolution. Shelley along with the other poets of the second generation of the Romantics combined their rather dangerous support of the French revolution and liberalism introduced by Wordsworth and Coleridge, with the liberating themes of the classics. Shelley relentlessly “participated in a contemporary, Europe wide movement, which aimed at finding in Greek literature and history the seeds of a new intellectual order that might liberate Europe from its oppressive superstructure of monarchy, aristocracy, and religious dogma”.³

Harold Bloom states that “romanticism was the first period in which poets were obsessively trying to negate an inherited text”.⁴ Shelley himself argues that his retelling of Prometheus was not done by copying it, but by disagreeing with much of it. For instance, although it is predominately based on Aeschylus’ version, it also possesses elements of other versions: “in Shelley’s Asia is Prometheus’ wife as Herodotus presents her, but Aeschylus presents her as his mother”.⁵ The most obvious diversion from Aeschylus telling however, is Shelley’s ending, which is discussed later in this essay in more detail.

Shelley explains in the preface of Prometheus Unbound, that although he viewed it as a retelling of the myth re-envisioned in his own image in order to comment on the political and social issues of his time, he doesn’t view it as copying. He then explains that by retelling he was actually continuing a tradition which the Greek writers practiced and was not being disrespectful or lazy by doing so, stating that “in selecting as their subject any portion of their national history or mythology, employed in their treatment of it a certain arbitrary discretion, and by no means conceived themselves bound to adhere to the common interpretation or to imitate in story as in title their rivals and predecessors,”.⁶

Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound was a reception of not only specifically Aeschylus’ Prometheus, but of other classical scholars such as Homer, Euripides, Socrates, and Plato. The myth of Prometheus has evolved in response to different events which the many writers who have tackled it have experienced. Thus, while Shelley’s was predominantly written in response to Aeschylus’ version, it is a reception of many. In the preface, Shelley also points out that Aeschylus’ own version was an example of reception, as the myth had existed for centuries by his time, with the first known iteration coming from Hesiod’s Theogony. George Robert Dietz explains one reason Shelley pulled on Aeschylus so much was because “Aeschylus’s insight into human character astounds modern readers; his figures are intense, real, and alive. Prometheus is more man than God. It might be said also that he, like Shelley’s Prometheus, is the fulfilment of what man ought to be”.⁷ Prometheus was such an appealing character to them both because he was relatable, not only because of his daring defiance of Jupiter, which both authors would have related to as both vehemently fought for a change in systems they believed were flawed, but because of Prometheus’s human qualities which made the Titan able to sympathise with the humans and therefore a more malleable character to work with. Because of all this, both Aeschylus and Shelley molded Prometheus into who they wished humans were.

- Stylistic elements

Prometheus unbound by Percy Shelley consists of numerous stylistic traits which speak to Shelley's’ dedication to understanding and acting on the techniques found in Classical literature. O’Neil argues that “Prometheus Unbound is one of the most creative responses in any literary epoch, to the classical tradition, and explains that evidence for this can be found in the presence of elements which suggest reception of: epic poetry especially in act two similar to that of homer, Pastoral, tragic agon and choral lyric”.⁸ To explain how each element is presented in this poem and why it is an example of reception is beyond the scope of this essay, therefore, one element shall be discussed: epic poetry. Themes which are seen throughout, but especially in act two, appear to have come from the epic poetry of Homers The Iliad and The Odyssey. For instance, like Homer does with Achilles and Odysseus as his protagonists, Shelley’s poem also tells the story of a single protagonist battling against all odds to achieve a single goal, and like the earlier epics Prometheus unbound also explores the limits of fate and free will. While Shelley hasn’t used every stylistic aspect of Homers epics, for example, Prometheus Unbound isn’t written in dactylic hexameter like Homers epic are, he does use other literary devices borrowed from Homer. For instance, he uses Homeric epithets such as: “world-wandering herald, and eagle-baffling mountains”, to describe heroes, gods, and important settings throughout the piece.⁹ The more you read Prometheus Unbound the clearer it becomes that Shelley was at least inspired if not guided by the classical writers, particularly Homer when it came to construction and Aeschylus for overall topic and feeling.

- Politics

It’s no wonder that Aeschylus’ approach to the myth of Prometheus was the one which captured Shelley’s attention. Both experienced extreme political and social change as an aftereffect of war, and revolutionary uprisings brought on by people dissatisfied with the tyrannical regimes controlling their lives. Both were born into aristocratic families who existed in the upper echelons of society, and they both injected the opinions born from these experiences into their portrayals of the Promethean myth. Aeschylus experienced the growing pains of the early years of Classical Greece, “he saw the aftermath of the fall of the tyrannies of Pisistratus and his sons and how Athens clawed its way into lighter times, and following that he saw how looming peace was almost shattered by the threat of the Persian empire, and in 490bc Aeschylus along with his brother Cynaegirus fought against the Persians when they invaded Athens in the battle of Marathon; his brother didn’t survive”.¹⁰ During his lifetime, “Athens established independence, became the first democracy, the headquarters of the Dalian league, and overall, the centre of the Greek cultural world”.¹¹ Inspired by this period of change and newfound freedom, Aeschylus developed a style of Greek Drama which defined what we know as Greek tragedy. One reaction to all this was his interpretation of the Promethean myth. We can see this in how Aeschylus turns Prometheus into “a symbol of revolt against the gods for the cause of humanity, making him their champion, their cultural hero” whereas before this side of Prometheus wasn’t emphasised as much by earlier Greeks.¹²

Shelley’s political leanings resulted from his background as a child of the upper classes and his hatred for all that entailed is woven throughout his poetry. Although of the second romantic generation, he grew up surrounded by the politicians and aristocrats who lived during the first generation, inspired by the rebellious Coleridge and Wordsworth continued the fury against the social imbalance of Europe even when there’s waned. Shelley was born in 1792 midst the French revolution being only seven when it ended and although he wasn’t old enough to truly understand what was happening, it influenced him greatly, especially as his formative year comprised the tumultuous aftermath of that revolution; the Napoleonic wars. “Shelley’s father was a member of the ruling class and represented New Shoreham in the House of Commons from 1802 to 1818", and therefore he had more exposure to the in workings of the politics of the time than the average Briton.¹³

Shelley’s aversion to the politics favoured by his father and contemporaries at school and university can be seen throughout his works. However, despite Shelley’s avid support of the reasons behind the revolution and hatred for napoleon and other figures he considered being tyrannical, he was vehemently against war, an opinion which can be seen in his earlier poems as well, for instance, in Queen Mab written in 1813 in which he states:

“War is the statesman’s game, the priest’s delight,

The lawyer’s jest, the hired assassin’s trade,

And to those royal murderers whose mean thrones. 170

Are bought by crimes of treachery and gore,

The bread they eat, the staff on which they lean”.¹⁴

Shelley often found solace in the classics, seeing them as twisted mirror images of events and issues faced in his present, although he rarely understood their meaning in the same light as classical authors. For example, while Shelley’s respect for the author can be seen throughout the play, so can his disdain at Aeschylus’s representation of Prometheus and Jupiter. Greek myth paints Jupiter as this saviour who rescues the world from the wrath of the titans and although classical deities are admittedly rather flawed and that isn’t hidden, Jupiter’s rather tyrannical nature is glossed over in favour of seeing him as the righteous leader who is protecting the universe and saving his own kind from acts, he deems dangerous, even by Aeschylus, who is rather critical of Jupiter compared to others. To Shelley, however, he was just another tyrant in a long line of tyrants, who, as Shelley argues, is undeserving of Prometheus’s forgiveness, something which he is given in Aeschylus’ version. Coleridge wrote that “he is the binder of reluctant powers, the coercer and entrance of free spirits under the fetters of shape, mass, and passive mobility”, he was a manipulative being who used his power to twist everything to his way of thinking, and he throws a tantrum whenever someone disagrees with him.¹⁵ Prometheus brings the gods’ attentions to the humans who until he gifts them with fire, are ignored by those on Mount Olympus. To Shelley, however, as argued by Lewis, “Prometheus is a rebel, and Jupiter is a tyrant of the truest form”.¹⁶

Both Shelley and Aeschylus present Zeus/Jupiter as a tyrant and Prometheus as a rebel against monarchy, characterisations which would’ve spoken to both authors because of their life experiences. Shelley, however, expands on Aeschylus’ approach to the myth, and he takes a more volatile approach to the relationship between Prometheus and Jupiter, an approach which is very much reflective of his own political views. While both authors present Jupiter as a tyrant, Aeschylus suggested that forgiveness was possible, Shelley vehemently opposed this idea.¹⁷ To Shelley Prometheus’ forgiveness of Jupiter is a step backwards. He transforms the characters of Prometheus and Jupiter to represent not only who he thinks they should be, especially in Prometheus’ case, but who they really are. It’s as though he believed the Greeks had been looking at them through rose-coloured glasses, albeit for opposite reasons. Therefore, “he uses the typical myth as subtext, but doesn’t cast the characters of Prometheus and Jupiter in their usual straightforward roles of tyrant and rebel”.¹⁸ It is only when Jupiter is dethroned that Prometheus regains his freedom. When discussing his reasoning for choosing this ending Shelley exposes his revolutionary outlook which forces him to not accept reconciliation stating “but, in truth, I was averse from a catastrophe so feeble as that of reconciling the champion with the oppressor of mankind and the moral interest of the fable, which is so powerfully sustained by the sufferings and endurance of Prometheus, would be annihilated if we could conceive of him as unsaying his high language and quailing before his successful and perfidious adversary”.¹⁹ This outright anger at the acceptance of tyranny was nurtured during the aftermath of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars which followed. To Shelley, violence defeated the purpose of revolution, and to swap one tyranny for another definitely meant lowering one’s standards. And to him, that’s exactly what Prometheus would do if he reconciled with Jupiter; lowering his standard after he had fought so hard for the rights of those he cared about, something which Shelley would’ve been against on a personal level after all “Shelley married his first wife not of love but because he wanted to save her from her father’s tyranny”.²⁰ Despite his upbringing or maybe because of it, he simply couldn’t abide tyranny in any form and so Jupiter, who flaunts his power and expects all to kneel to him simply because he was a god, made him a clear target for Shelley. To Shelley, Prometheus would be victorious not if he won or if he was the bigger man and compromise like he did in Aeschylus’ version, but simply because he tried when no one else would. To Shelley, yes, as he is set forth by Aeschylus, Prometheus, is a rebel and revolutionary looking to change the status quo, but overall, he’s simply a good man, something we can see expressed in the closing verse for Prometheus Unbound:

“To suffer woes which Hope think infinite;

To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;

To defy power, which seems omnipotent;

To love and bear; to hope, till Hope creates

From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;

Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;

This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be

Good, great, and joyous, beautiful and free;

This is alone life, Joy, Empire, and Victory”.

Napoleon crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David 1805. Napoleon the man who Shelley regarded as the contemporary tyrant, the man following in the footsteps of Jupiter and preventing the new beginnings that the revolutionaries had fought for, just as Jupiter did when he acted against Prometheus and bound him to that rock. Image taken from: https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/napoleonConclusion

Shelley’s preface to Prometheus Unbound, gives us an insight into how important the classics were to him, but not only that it points out that the reception of earlier texts has been happening for a long time. Because of their personal experiences Shelley connected with Aeschylus on a personal level, which meant that Aeschylus’ work spoke to him on a level that other iterations of the myth may not have, this means that Shelley’s version is scattered with elements that clearly suggest reception of the earlier text, and although he disagrees with some of Aeschylus’ approach, it laid the foundation for a lyrical masterpiece that allowed Shelley to express his opinion on the state of the world around him in one of the most stunning examples of Romantic literature. What makes Shelley’s version so unique, however, is that it celebrates love as the force that should rule the human and natural world, arguing that we are too caught up in rules and structure which limits and controls us. He uses Prometheus not to look back nostalgically, but to go forth with hope for that which is still to be accomplished. Shelley was an exceptionally hopeful person who believed that everything good about humanity didn’t come from religion or some government bearing down on us dictating the rules we have to follow but from humanity itself, and he believed humans hadn’t found truly themselves and needed to do so in order to reach their true potential, a notion that based on the contents of Aeschylus’s version and his own personal experiences he may have empathised with. Finally, speaking on the connection between Romantic poetry and classical mythology O’Neil wrote, “romantic poetry would not exist were it not for its turbulent love affair with classical myth”, a statement which definitely rings true when concerning the reception of Aeschylus by Percy Bysshe Shelley.²¹

Endnotes:

1. Michael O’neil, “Shelley Prometheus Unbound,” in A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology, ed. Vanda Zajko and Helena Hoyle (Hoboken, Nj: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2017), 407–19.

2. Michael O’neil, “Shelley Prometheus Unbound,” in A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology, ed. Vanda Zajko and Helena Hoyle (Hoboken, Nj: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2017), 407–19.

3. Anthony John Harding, “Shelley, Mythology, and the Classical Tradition,” in The Oxford Handbook of Percy Bysshe Shelley, ed. Michael O’neil, Tony Howe, and Madeleine Callaghan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 428.

4. Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).

5. Harold Bloom, ed., The Selected Poetry and Prose of Shelley (United states: Signet Classics, Mentor, Plume and Meridian Books, 1966), 120–212.

6. “Herodotus, the Histories, Book 4, Chapter 45,” www.perseus.tufts.edu, accessed November 7, 2023, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.%204.45&lang=original.

7. Harold Bloom, ed., The Selected Poetry and Prose of Shelley (United states: Signet Classics, Mentor, Plume and Meridian Books, 1966), 120–212.

8. George Robert Dietz, “Certain Evidences of Classical Greek Influence on Shelley” (Masters Thesis, 1948), https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2077&context=uop_etds.

9. Michael O’neil, “Shelley Prometheus Unbound,” in A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology, ed. Vanda Zajko and Helena Hoyle (Hoboken, Nj: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2017), 409.

10. Harold Bloom, ed., The Selected Poetry and Prose of Shelley (United states: Signet Classics, Mentor, Plume and Meridian Books, 1966), 120–212.

11. . Cengage Learning Gale, A Study Guide for Aeschylus’s “Prometheus Bound” (Gale, Cengage Learning, 2017).

12. Cengage Learning Gale, A Study Guide for Aeschylus’s “Prometheus Bound” (Gale, Cengage Learning, 2017).

13. Sa’di S Rafida, “Prometheus Unbound : Its Origins in Aeschylus’ Tragedy and in Shelley’s Earlier Poetry” (Phd Thesis, 1973).

14. Abdulkadir Hamarat, “Shelley’s Revolutionary Idealism in Prometheus Unbound,” Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları/Journal of Language and Literature Studies 18 (2018): 199–210, https://doi.org/10.30767.

15. Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, ed. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (United Kingdom: E.Moxon, 1839), 8.

16. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Complete Works with an Introductory Essay upon His Philosophical and Theological Opinions (the Bavarian State Library: Harper, 1854), 352, https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_complete_works/dtVJAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.

17. Linda M Lewis, The Promethean Politics of Milton, Blake, and Shelley (University of Missouri Press, 1992), 168–69.

18. Aeschylus and Anthony J Podlecki, Prometheus Bound (Oxford: Aris & Phillips, 2005).

19. Linda M Lewis, The Promethean Politics of Milton, Blake, and Shelley (University of Missouri Press, 1992), 168–69.

20. Harold Bloom, ed., The Selected Poetry and Prose of Shelley (United states: Signet Classics, Mentor, Plume and Meridian Books, 1966), 120–212.

21. Abdulkadir Hamarat, “Shelley’s Revolutionary Idealism in Prometheus Unbound,” Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları/Journal of Language and Literature Studies 18 (2018): 199–210, https://doi.org/10.30767.)

images:

https://www.thecollector.com/prometheus-bound-art/

https://www.worldhistory.org/image/4335/aeschylus/

https://n2poetry.com/2017/06/25/so-you-think-you-know-the-romantic-poets-test-yourself/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley

https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1149/prometheus--atlas/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Shelley#/media/File:Portrait_of_Sir_Timothy_Shelley.jpg

https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/napoleon

Bibliography:

Aeschylus, and Anthony J Podlecki. Prometheus Bound. Oxford: Aris & Phillips, 2005.

Bloom, Harold. The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

– — – , ed. The Selected Poetry and Prose of Shelley. United states: Signet Classics, Mentor, Plume and Meridian Books, 1966.

Dietz, George Robert. “Certain Evidences of Classical Greek Influence on Shelley.” Masters Thesis, 1948. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2077&context=uop_etds.

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Aeschylus’s “Prometheus Bound.” Gale, Cengage Learning, 2017.

Hamarat, Abdulkadir. “Shelley’s Revolutionary Idealism in Prometheus Unbound.” Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları/Journal of Language and Literature Studies 18 (2018): 199 – 210. https://doi.org/10.30767.

Harding, Anthony John. “Shelley, Mythology, and the Classical Tradition.” In The Oxford Handbook of Percy Bysshe Shelley, edited by Michael O’neil, Tony Howe, and Madeleine Callaghan, 428. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Lewis, Linda M. The Promethean Politics of Milton, Blake, and Shelley. University of Missouri Press, 1992.

O’neil, Michael. “Shelley Prometheus Unbound.” In A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology, edited by Vanda Zajko and Helena Hoyle, 407 – 19. Hoboken, Nj: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2017.

Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Edited by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. United Kingdom: E.Moxon, 1839.

Rafida, Sa’di S. “Prometheus Unbound : Its Origins in Aeschylus’ Tragedy and in Shelley’s Earlier Poetry.” Phd Thesis, 1973.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Complete Works with an Introductory Essay upon His Philosophical and Theological Opinions. the Bavarian State Library: Harper, 1854. https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_complete_works/dtVJAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.

www.perseus.tufts.edu. “Herodotus, the Histories, Book 4, Chapter 45.” Accessed November 7, 2023. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.%204.45&lang=original.