Prometheus Bound : the Sophoclean terms of structure and inner dramatic vision of the tragic passion

Abstract

THIS ESSAY supports the view that Prometheus Bound, the authorship of which has been called into question, comprises dramaturgical terms associated with Sophoclean drama as regards the structure and the inner dramatic vision of passion. The main argument of the essay is focused on the physical, mental and visual condition of the two suff ering heroes, i.e. Prometheus and Io; indeed such a condition is a Sophoclean motif par excellence. The comparison with the physically and mentally suff ering heroes of Sophocles intensifi es the argument, which can be epitomized in the thesis that Prometheus Bound, on the basis of the dramaturgy of passion, may not be an Aeschylean work. It is highly likely that it belongs either to a tragic poet who skillfully imitated Aeschylean and Sophoclean elements or indeed to Sophocles himself.