The Unbinding of Prometheus

Prometheus Bound is the tragedy of civilization. In Greek mythology, Prometheus brought the gift of fire to earth and so gave to man the arts of civilized life: but, as a penalty for his presumption and to expiate his folly, the fire-bringer was impaled by Zeus. The compassionate llberator of men brought captivity to himself. The Titan Prometheus, as his name suggests, endowed mankind with the capacity to rise above the constraints of immediacy by the power of thought, and thus men began to acquire skilled mastery over their environment. But man is creature as well as creator. There are limits to his freedom which are not of his own imposition. Within human life there is an unremitting tension, from which, with advance in technical ability, we are never set free. The Promethean gifts carry their own problems with them, from which, as yet, no way of escape has been found.