Thought, Force and Selfishness in Ajax and Prometheus Bound - Essay Example

"Thought, Force and Selfishness in Ajax and Prometheus Bound" Greek mythology is famous for its tyrannical gods who care little about benevolence and goodness. In addition, the literary tradition and culture that spawned it has always placed an emphasis on knowledge and heroic power, ranking both attributes as among the most important for a god or man to possess. It is no small wonder then that many Greek tragedians engage with this theme in different ways. In the plays Ajax and Prometheus Bound, the tragedians examine the ways in which both gods and mortals use and abuse power, and the correlation between intelligence and force, paying particular attention to the way in which either is corrupted for selfish ends. Sophocle's Ajax is a mighty Greek warrior in the time of the Trojan war, second only to Achilles in "perfect prowess" (Sophocles, Ajax 1415). His wife is "spear-won", and his entire presence on stage is marked by Hector's bloody sword, a room-full of "sword-slain cattle", or his "self-dealt wound". After Achilles' death, a competition is set up between him and Odysseus over who will inherit Achilles' armor, symbolizing the inheritance of the latter's prized status. When the Atreidae decide that Odysseus should get the armor, instead of humbly accepting the judges' decision, Ajax's pride over his power and valor spurs him in revenge against Agamemnon and Menelaus, a wild act that is only thwarted by the duplicitous intervention of Athena, the patron goddess of Odysseus. She drives Ajax mad and instead of massacring the Atreidae, he slaughters cattle instead. The double humiliation and the rancor that he has stirred up in the Greek camp against him drive him to commit suicide. Ajax's actions-both the madness-inducing revenge, and his suicide-show not only a lack of wisdom but selfish pride in his lust for power. Despite his wife's pleas not to do anything rash and so cause her and his son to become slaves and to be mistreated by the Greeks, he only responds by insulting her - "Woman, silence graces women" (Ajax 292) - and deceiving her and his friends (Chorus) about his suicidal intentions: "I feel the keen edge of my temper softened by yon woman's words; and I feel the pity of leaving her a widow with my foes, and the boy and orphan" (652). His brother Teucer bemoans the taunts and the revilement that he will receive both at home and abroad because of Ajax's selfish act (1020-2), and the Chorus the future lack of protection that "bold Ajax" provided for him (1214). Ajax's pride in his might is such that he is unable to weigh the effect of his actions on others, and sees everyone else as less than himself (even king Odysseus). Furthermore, we see that it is selfish pride and arrogance that instigates Athena against him, as he spoke arrogantly against her, which is not befitting of his place as a mortal. The messenger reveals that "Ajax, even at his first going forth from home, was found foolish" (760), and when his father encouraged him with the wisdom of his years, "haughtily and foolishly he answered: 'I, even without [the gods'] aid, trust to bring glory within my grasp'" (770). More foolhardily, he spurned the help of the goddess Athena, thinking that he is mighty enough to win any battle as, "where Ajax stands, battle will never break our line" (776). The messenger rightly concludes that Ajax's "thoughts were too great for man" (788). Ajax's downfall or hubris then is that he is nothing more than an empty-headed muscle man, a dangerous combination of force and lack of intelligence. Throughout the play, Ajax's use of force is misplaced: against the "poor sheep", in his language to Tecmessa, and against himself. Regaining his right mind, he bemoans: "Seest thou the bold, the strong of heart, the dauntless in battles with the foe,-seest thou how I have shown my prowess on creatures that feared no harm" (364-6). While we can say that the first instance of misused force is as a result of Athena's intervention, his brutish manner to his wife and his suicide are done when he is in full possession of his faculties and cannot be blamed on anyone but himself. Here Sophocles demonstrates that, contrary to popular tradition, not all human foibles can be foisted off on the capricious gods. Wisdom, as the Chorus reveals, could be better spent. The outrage of Ajax's actions is partly due to the fact that the Greeks are at war against Troy, and his jealousy and outrage sow unneeded strife in the camp. This is clearly evidenced when he asks: "But then shall I go to the stronghold of the Trojans-attack alone, where all are foes-and in doing some good service, lastly die Nay, thus I might haply gladden the Atreidae. It must not be." (Ajax 468-72). Instead of turning his might towards the purpose for which he crossed the Aegean Sea and came to Troy, he turns it instead against himself. Agamemnon rightly says that "'Tis not the burly, broad-shouldered men that are surest at need; no, 'tis the wise who prevail in every field" (1250). The play centers on the rivalry between Ajax and Odysseus, and their personalities throughout the play bear this out. Ajax's selfish pride and arrogance is contrapuntal to the grace and humility of Odysseus, who defers to Athena in the opening lines of the play, and who shows mercy to Ajax in granting his "foeman" a proper burial (even if inevitably he is thinking of sowing a seed of mercy that he hopes others will show to him). Even at the beginning of the play, Odysseus, despite his superior status as king, shows compassion on his enemy, recognizing that they are kindred in their shared mortality: "I pity him in his misery, for all that he is my foe, Because he is bound fast to a dread doom: I think of mine own lot no less than his. For I see that we are but phantoms, All we who live, or fleeting shadows" (Sophocles, Ajax, 125-8). Later, he manages to placate, if not amaze, Agamemnon with his words: "Yon man was erst my foe, yet noble" (1355). Chorus sagely comments, on hearing these words that, "Whoso saith, Odysseus, that thou hast not inborn wisdom, that man is foolish" (1378). The counterpoint of Ajax's folly and Odysseus' wisdom is very significant, as at the end of the play Odysseus is justified for his justice, honor and grace, while Ajax's body lies in ignominy, only to be carted off in "haste" (1415). The after-taste is that of the rightness of the Atreidae's judgment in giving King Odysseus Achilles' armor (even while it might indeed be as a result of fraud), as it is this man that knows how to temper force with intelligence. Unlike Ajax, which saw the rivalry of two mortals, Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound pits the "upstart" god-king Zeus against the Titan Prometheus. Like Sophocles, Aeschylus intentionally cultivates an apparently irresolvable conflict between force and intelligence. The power-struggle is somewhat different. Prometheus is a powerless but defiant victim of an unjust and powerful god Zeus, who abuses this power to have Prometheus bound to "steep cliffy rocks" as punishment for having stolen fire from the gods and given it to humans. The distinction in personalities is also much more marked, as Prometheus is a compassionate god while Zeus is a despotic tyrant. Although he is never present onstage, Zeus' power is evident from the constant fearful reference to him, and the presence of others who (are forced to) do his bidding. He is presented as a terrifying and terrible tyrant who rules by arbitrary laws and demands blind obedience. Insecure over his new position as the "new leader of the gods" (Aeschylus, Prometheus Unbound 100), he uses terror and abuses power to inspire obedience among his fellow gods, "For young authority must ever be/ Harsh and severe" (Prometheus 32). The play is interspersed with threats of Zeus' terror which cause the gods to act in fear, for example, "Where Zeus commands, whoso neglects pays the traitor's fine" (15), and Might's charge that "Zeus' word respect and fear" (40). He unwisely disregards "hoary" wisdom, having not only cast down his own father Kronos into Tartarus, but also "'gainst the host of primal gods he points/ The lordly spear" (402), threatening the entire Titan race with extinction. In an attempt to assert his power, he rules with "self-made laws" (740) and "unrighteous rule" (151). Consumed with lust, he seeks to force his "despotic will" on Io, but little does he know that this abuse of his might and force will be his downfall, as Prometheus intimates: "Such wedlock even now/ He blindly broods, as shall uptear his kingdom" (908). Not only does he abuse power, unlike Odysseus, Zeus displays no compassion on others, neither to Prometheus, a fellow god who helped him to his position (220-4), nor to the helpless mortals who depend on the gods for protection. He repays Prometheus' help in dethroning Kronos with suspicion, and while he "assigned/To each [god] his fair allotment for wretched man nor part nor portion fell" (226-8). Instead Zeus threatened men with extinction. Indeed, in all respects, Zeus' heart is iron-like and "flinty hard" (244), as "prayer beats his ear in vain" (184) and only he among the gods "will withhold/The fellow-feeling and the tear" (160). Quite the opposite of Zeus is Prometheus, who is portrayed as a compassionate god. Instead of abusing power like Zeus, or turning his force and wit on himself, like Ajax, Prometheus uses his wit and power to show "forward love to men" (25). He is called "Man's best friend" who is "hated/For excess of love" (124). In light of Zeus' injustice towards man, Prometheus sets his mind and power to elevating man from his ignorance and sharing his godly wisdom with man to make his "ephemeral" life pleasant. Aside from giving them the gift of fire, he sows "blind hopes of good" to conquer their fears (250), reveals to them "the difficult art of the stars" (454), how to use animals to "ease [their] toils" (460), to "cure dire disease", the art of mnemonics, mining, divination and many "such wise arts /To soothe the ills of man's ephemeral life" (470). The gift of "immortal fire" (600) is in itself the ultimate gift, as in it he gives "mortal man" a taste of what it means to be gods. These compassionate acts of Prometheus are contrary to the practice of the tyrannous gods, "chief" of whom is Zeus. Unlike the other characters, Prometheus is also extraordinarily selfless. Gifted with foresight, he knows what his fate would be if he helps mortals, but he is willing to suffer this fate rather than to watch them suffer: "the wrath of gods to thee/Seemed little, and to men thou didst dispense/ Forbidden gifts" (28). Although he knew his deed would be dangerous for himself, he went about it "With conscious purpose, purchasing man's weal/With mine own grief" (268), and he even hoped in vain for some compassion on the part of "the master of Olympia". In addition, even when he is bound to a rock at the ends of the earth, he still shows concern over others more than himself, bemoaning, for example, the fate of Atlas, "Who in the extreme West stands, stoutly bearing/ The pillars of Heaven and Earth upon his shoulders" (352). Ocean calls Prometheus "passing wise, for other's weal/ For thine own good most foolish" (335). Prometheus' selflessness is in sharp contrast to Ajax, whose only thoughts when confronted with his debasement following his deranged attack against the sheep are about his own condition, and it is his utter humiliation that incites him to commit suicide. Like Ajax, Zeus is portrayed as lacking in wit (762), which accounts for his reliance on force and terror. Might remarks that "Against Zeus how dull a thing is wit" (61), evidenced in the fact that "the sophist" Prometheus is, despite his superior knowledge, bound by Zeus' aptly named minions, Might and Force. Zeus, with his brute force, "holds all Olympus in awe" (162). On the other hand, it is Prometheus' wit that wins out in the end (and leads to his eventual "unbinding", though not evident in this play), as he uses his secret knowledge of divination as a secret power, above and beyond the "might" and "force" of "thundering Zeus". Knowing that "No more than others Zeus can 'scape his doom" (518), he is able to be patient and long-suffering at being "bound" to a cliff, and wait his salvation in the form of Io's offspring. The balance of power between force and wit is seen aptly in the lines: What remedy remains I only know. Then let him sit aloft, Rolling his thunder, his fire-breathing bolt Far-brandishing; his arts are vain ... Unless my aid prevent, his shameful fall, Is doomed. (910-22) Overall we see four characters who each demonstrate a different interplay of the attributes under study. Ajax, the hero, is dishonored not only for his lack of intelligence and compassion, but on his over reliance and misappropriation of force. He can be compared to Zeus, who, though the king of the gods, rules only by might and not by intelligence or compassion. Odysseus, on the other hand, is a king like Zeus, and while not essentially "good", succeeds, at least in this play in finding a fair equilibrium between wisdom (albeit Athena-aided) and compassion. However the character that stands out among the four is Prometheus, who, despite his relatively powerless status, surpasses the others not only in wit but also in applying it to the good of others even to his own detriment. Both Sophocles and Aeschylus then are concerned with the proper use of thought and force, though they work out their theses in different ways. In Ajax, concerned as it is with mortals, we see that the main issue of the play is the negative impact on the individual of the selfish use of force and the misuse of wisdom. In the case of Prometheus, the issue at heart is what is the moral and social responsibility of those in power, given that the protagonists are gods. Furthermore, the portrayal of the proper use of power and intelligence in both plays give some insight into the ideologies that formed the basis for Greek democracy, in that more important than power or intelligence is to what extent they are used to unselfish and compassionate ends. In essence we see that an ideal leader, evidenced in Prometheus, is not necessarily the one who is strongest, or who uses the most force, but the one who uses his intelligence in order to show compassion to others, whether they be friend or foe, equals or "lesser beings". Read More