Prometheus Unbound (Act 4) - Percy Bysshe Shelley
A Radiant Epilogue of Renewal and Cosmic Harmony
Prometheus Unbound
Act IV (Excerpt)
[Note: “Prometheus Unbound” is a four-act lyrical drama. Act IV functions less as a direct continuation of the plot than as a grand, visionary epilogue celebrating the newfound freedom of the cosmos. Below is a selection from the original text—due to length, only key passages appear. Please consult a public domain source for the complete version.]
Scene.—Apart from Earth entirely; the Spirit of the Earth, Spirits of the Air, Prometheus, Asia, Panthea, Ione, and other voices in a sublime chorus.
The Spirit of the Earth:
The joy, the triumph, the delight, the madness,
The boundless, overflowing, bursting gladness,
The vaporous exultation not to be confined!
Ha! Ha! the animation of delight
Which wraps me, like an atmosphere of light,
And bears me as a cloud is borne by its own wind.
Awake, arise! swift, as the radiant shapes
Of Sun-rise through the shadows of the night,
The nations throng, in love’s new harmonies,
Before the starry throne of Liberty.
A Voice (unseen):
Rejoice! for God has made his judgment void;
Behold! the Oppressor sinks into the dust,
And tyrants are as chaff before the gale;
While thou, fair Earth, with all thy births of bloom,
Dost laugh in radiant calmness. Ages pass,
And thou remainest, a silent monitor,
Witness of how ephemeral pride must fall
When living truth is crowned.
Asia:
Prometheus, lo!
A boundless music circles Earth and air,
And in each note I feel the breath of dawn
That stirs all creatures to rejoice in life;
Now color deepens on each stream and hill,
And hearts, once bound by fear, are beating free,
In harmony with this new morning’s light.
Is not love’s universal empire sealed?
Prometheus:
Asia, dear friend, and sisters, feel you not
How sweet the hush that follows storms undone?
The chain is sundered; heaven and earth can share
A single, deathless pulse. Our hopes, once dim,
Are realized. Let all that lives exult
In one collected voice of gratitude.
Let songs of joy and peace renew the world,
And let the human heart unlearn despair.
Chorus of Spirits:
Thou art the breath of the bright summer air;
Thou art the hush of the deep midnight sky;
Thou art the spirit of Earth’s new bloom
When storms are laid to rest.
From tortured sleep our hearts awake
To greet thy gifts with praise,
And in the cosmic round we make
A future lit by rays
Of reason, mercy, truth, and grace.
[The final lines blend into a magnificent chorus in which spirits, nature, and all liberated beings unite in cosmic celebration. Shelley closes with a vision of Earth’s enduring renewal, crowned by the unshakeable spirit of love and freedom Prometheus helped unleash.]
In Act IV of *Prometheus Unbound*, Percy Bysshe Shelley moves beyond the direct conflicts of the earlier acts to craft a lyrical epilogue exalting universal liberation. Having witnessed Jupiter’s downfall and Prometheus’s release in Act III, we now enter a radiant realm where Earth and its inhabitants rejoice in newfound harmony. Rather than advancing a conventional narrative, this act concentrates on the cosmic aftereffects of tyranny’s end.
Shelley fills these passages with choral voices—Spirits of the Earth, Air, and other natural or ethereal presences—singing of ecstasy and renewal. The environment glows with revived color, gentler breezes, and hearts that no longer tremble under oppression. Each stanza reinforces the Romantic principle that nature and humanity are intimately linked; when the “Oppressor” falls, the earth itself seems to awaken from a nightmare.
Asia, Panthea, Ione, and Prometheus observe and celebrate the transformations, embodying love and wisdom’s triumph over the once-dominant forces of fear and vengeance. Rather than engaging in vindictive triumph, they express gratitude and humility, showing that lasting freedom arises not from mere rebellion but from the unshackled flourishing of empathy, creativity, and reason.
Central to Shelley’s vision is the notion that liberation is not solely personal or political—it is spiritual and cosmic in scope. Act IV suggests that the rebirth of the world is a communal affair, singing in unison the ideals of compassion and enlightenment. By concluding *Prometheus Unbound* with a series of choral declarations rather than a final conflict, Shelley underscores his conviction that a future defined by love, unity, and perpetual learning is the ultimate, most powerful conclusion to any struggle.
In this sense, Act IV transcends drama, reading more like a poetic celebration and philosophical testament. As the voices unite, readers are invited to imagine a world where humanity and nature, finally free of oppression, can cooperate in endless cycles of rebirth—a world reflective of Shelley’s radical hope that tyranny, once overcome, need never rise again.
Key points
• Depicts a triumphant epilogue after Jupiter’s fall and Prometheus’s liberation.
• Focuses on cosmic harmony and renewed faith in human potential.
• Celebrates nature’s and humanity’s mutual awakening following tyranny.
• Shelley fuses lyrical celebration with philosophical reflection, transcending typical dramatic structure.
• Emphasizes that genuine freedom emerges from love, empathy, and unity.
