In what ways, if any, can Shelleys Prometheus Unbound be considered a Essay

In what ways, if any, can Shelleys Prometheus Unbound be considered a revolutionary work - Essay Example This is why it speaks to us even today. P. B. Shelley was an English Romantic poet who rebelled against English politics and conservative values. He drew no distinction between politics and poetry and his work reflected the radical ideas and revolutionary optimism of the era. Like many poets of his times, Shelley employed mythological themes and figures from Greek poetry. Poets and scholars have traditionally read the tale of Prometheus as a lesson in revolution, seeing the imprisoned Titan as an emblem of the lone individual in heroic rebellion against mindless tyranny. The title character, Prometheus is perhaps more than other heroes and serves the scholars as a sort of critical mirror. As many critics have noted, through the doubling of the human qualities of Prometheus and Jupiter, Shelley subtly emphasizes the lack of distance between the tyrant and the slave, and also the cynical nature of time through periods of liberty and tyranny. Shelley’s manipulation of genres throughout Prometheus Unbound creates a con trolled sense of expectation and contrast that permits him to progressively expand his drama towards universal harmony. The lyrical harmonization of the universe pervades all levels of drama, uniting the mental drama of Prometheus and with the external drama of a transformed world, signaling the affirmative revolutionary edict of a new age of humanity. In Prometheus Unbound Shelley uses the old myth of the Titan who rebelled against the tyranny of the gods and who was punished by being chained to the rock. Obviously there is no amount of reality or human interest in the fantasy. There are two plays named Prometheus unbound. Both are concerned with the torments of the Greek mythological figure Prometheus and his suffering at the hand of Zeus. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound is a four act play first published in 1820. It is an inspiration from the first ‘Prometheus Bound’ by Aeschylus