The Ministry of Higher and Secondary Education Of the Republic of Uzbekistan

The object of course paper Prometheus unbound is a lyrical drama. Its sensuous imagery is symbolic of mental processes. The poem's claim to lasting fame rests upon the soaring, idealistic lyricism, specially in the stanzaic tributes to the free creative spirit of man. Shelley employs a wide variety of stanzas with easy grace.
The subject matter of course paper In Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Prometheus Unbound", the theme of the power of love is central to the work. The poem explores the idea that love has the power to overcome even most oppressive forces and bring about positive change in the world.
The aim of this Course Paper is to define the cognitive principles of analyzing Bysshe Shelley's poem " Prometheus Unbound" in the literary context.
The methods of investigation used in this Course Paper are as follows: Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound" portrays love as a force that can liberate humanity from the chains of oppression, unite people from all walks of life, and transform individuals on a profound level.
The practical value of the research is that the
By studying this poem, you would gain a deeper understanding of the Romantic literary movement
The theoretical importance of
By studying this poem, you would have the opportunity to analyze and interpret literary devices such as symbolism, imagery, and metaphor.
The structure of the work - the given Course Paper consists of introduction, two chapters and a conclusion which are followed by the lists of literature used on the course of the research.



CHAPTER I. Prometheus Unbound is a four-act lyrical drama by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

1. 
   Shelley's play concerns Prometheus' release from captivity.
   

Prometheus Unbound is a four-act lyrical drama by Percy Bysshe Shelley, first published in 1820. It is concerned with the torments of the Greek mythological figure Prometheus, who defies the gods and gives fire to humanity, for which he is subjected to eternal punishment and suffering at the hands of Zeus. It is inspired by the classical Prometheia, a trilogy of plays attributed to Aeschylus. Shelley's play concerns Prometheus' release from captivity, but unlike Aeschylus' version, there is no reconciliation between Prometheus and Jupiter (Zeus). Instead, Jupiter is abandoned by his supportive elements and falls from power, which allows Prometheus to be released. Shelley's play is a closet drama, meaning it was not intended to be produced on the stage. In the tradition of Romantic poetry, Shelley wrote for the imagination, intending his play's stage to reside in the imaginations of his readers. However, the play is filled with suspense, mystery and other dramatic effects that make it, in theory, performable. Mary Shelley, in a letter on 5 September 1818, was the first to describe her husband Percy Shelley's writing of Prometheus Unbound. On 22 September 1818, Shelley, while in Padua, wrote to Mary, who was at Este, requesting "The sheets of 'Prometheus Unbound,' which you will find numbered from one to twenty-six on the table of the pavilion. There is little other evidence as to when Shelley began Prometheus Unbound while he was living in Italy,but Shelley first mentions his progress in a letter to Thomas Love Peacock on 8 October 1818: "I have been writing – and indeed have just finished the first act of a lyrical and classical drama, to be called 'Prometheus Unbound'."

Shelley stopped working on the poem following the death of his daughter Clara Everina Shelley on 24 September 1818. After her death, Shelley began to travel across Italy, and would not progress with the drama until after 24 January 1819. By April, the majority of the play was completed, and Shelley wrote to Peacock on 6 April 1819: "My Prometheus Unbound is just finished, and in a month or two I shall send it".Shelley also wrote to Leigh Hunt to tell him that the play was finished. However, the play was not yet published; Shelley would be delayed in editing and finishing the work by another death, that of his son William Shelley, who died on 7 June 1819. On 6 September 1819, Shelley wrote to Charles and James Ollier to say, "My 'Prometheus,' which has been long finished, is now being transcribed, and will soon be forwarded to you for publication.The play was delayed in publication, because John Gisborne, whom Shelley trusted to go to England with the text, delayed his journey. It was not until December 1819 that the manuscript with the first three acts of Prometheus Unbound was sent to England. The fourth act was incomplete by this time, and on 23 December 1819, Shelley wrote to Gisborne, "I have just finished an additional act to 'Prometheus' which Mary is now transcribing, and which will be enclosed for your inspection before it is transmitted to the Bookseller. While in Italy, Shelley became concerned about the progress of publishing Prometheus Unbound. He wrote many letters to Charles Ollier from March until April asking about the drama's progress and wanted to know if the text was accurate because he was unable to check the proofs himself. Both Percy and Mary Shelley were eager to hear when the book was published, and inquired Gisborne's wife, Thomas Medwin, and John Keats about its release throughout July 1820. It was not until late August that they received word that the book was published. They were eager to read the published version and obtained one by November 1820.
After they procured a copy, Shelley wrote to the Olliers on 10 November 1820: "Mr. Gisborne has sent me a copy of the 'Prometheus,' which is certainly most beautifully printed. It is to be regretted that the errors of the press are so numerous, and in many respects so destructive of the sense of a species of poetry which, I fear, even with this disadvantage, very few will understand or like." A corrected edition was sent on 20 January 1821 along with a letter from Shelley that explains "the Errata of 'Prometheus,' which I ought to have sent long since – a formidable list, as you will see". Shelley did not forget the printing errors, and even criticised Charles Ollier later when Shelley sent Adonaïs to be published.






1.2. Shelley became concerned about the progress of publishing" Prometheus Unbound"
Shelley's own introduction to the play explains his intentions behind the work and defends the artistic freedom he has taken in his adaptation of Aeschylus' myth:
The "Prometheus Bound" of Æschylus supposed the reconciliation of Jupiter with his victim as the price of the disclosure of the danger threatened to his empire by the consummation of his marriage with Thetis. Thetis, according to this view of the subject, was given in marriage to Peleus, and Prometheus, by the permission of Jupiter, delivered from his captivity by Hercules. Had I framed my story on this model, I should have done no more than have attempted to restore the lost drama of Æschylus; an ambition which, if my preference to this mode of treating the subject had incited me to cherish, the recollection of the high comparison such an attempt would challenge might well abate. But, in truth, I was averse from a catastrophe so feeble as that of reconciling the Champion with the Oppressor of mankind. 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.

When Shelley wrote Prometheus Unbound, the authorship of the Prometheia and its connection as a trilogy was not in question. Of the three works, Prometheus Bound is the only tragedy that survived intact, although fragments of Prometheus Unbound remained, allowing a fairly detailed outline based on the Prometheus myth told by Hesiod and extensive prophesying in the first work. It is this assumed trilogy, including Prometheus' reconciliation with Zeus, thought to occur in the final part of the cycle, which Shelley considers in the introduction.

Prometheus Unbound Critical Analysis
Prometheus Unbound presents the Titan Prometheus as a Satanic figure in the same style as John Milton's Paradise Lost. In Milton's work, Satan rebelled against God. Likewise, Prometheus rebelled against Jupiter, who in the play is essentially the lord of all creation. However, both characters have very different goals. Satan wants power and is prideful. Prometheus, on the other hand, committed his sin against Jupiter to help humanity. In Shelley's work, the god who rules everything, Jupiter, is a tyrant who would not even give humanity the power of creating a fire for fear they might one day overthrow him. This makes him the oppressor of mankind, and Earth even notes that Jupiter has bound her to spin around the sun, an act that is painful for her. By the end of the play, Prometheus and Asia reunite. Both are children of the Earth, one rebellious but wise and the other loving. Together with the Spirits of the Earth and the Moon, they signify a return to harmony away from the god that had ruled everything tyrannically. Humanity even leans to harness Jupiter's lightning. The Earth and humanity can now exist independent of divine intervention. A critical analysis of Prometheus Unbound shows that many of these ideas were in line with the Romantic Movement. Prometheus Unbound is a play by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It is an adaptation of Aeschylus's play, Prometheus Bound, but differs in that Shelley's version does not have a reconciliation between Prometheus and Jupiter. In this version, Jupiter is the oppressor of mankind, a tyrannical god who fears humanity may one day overthrow him. Prometheus had stolen fire from the gods before the play's beginning, an act that would lead to Prometheus's torture for all eternity. This is ironic considering that Prometheus' name means "forethought" in Greek. Prometheus is given the chance to free himself if he rebukes humanity, but he remains steadfast. Hercules eventually frees him while his wife Asia meets with Demogorgon and finds out Jupiter may be ruler, but he is not the god who created the universe. In the end, Demogorgon overthrows Jupiter. When Prometheus, Asia, and the spirits of the Earth and Moon reunite, it represents a return to harmony, a new age where humanity can grow without the gods.
CHAPTER II. OVERCOMING TYRANNY: LOVE, TRUTH AND MEANING IN SHELLEY’S PROMETHEUS UNPBOUND