Read the excerpt from "Prometheus Unbound” by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
SCENE.—A Ravine of Icy Rocks in the Indian Caucasus. Prometheus is discovered bound to the Precipice.*. . . Time, night. During the Scene, morning slowly breaks.
Prometheus.
Monarch of Gods and Dæmons, and all Spirits
But One, who throng those bright and rolling worlds
Which Thou and I alone of living things
Behold with sleepless eyes! regard this Earth
Made multitudinous with thy slaves, whom thou
Requitest for knee-worship, prayer, and praise,
And toil, and hecatombs of broken hearts,
With fear and self-contempt and barren hope.**
*very steep rock face or cliff
**Jupiter has chained Prometheus to the face of a steep cliff to be tortured for all eternity as punishment for giving humans fire. In this excerpt, Prometheus criticizes Jupiter’s treatment of humans. (Note: Jupiter and Zeus are the same god; the only difference is the name. Jupiter is the supreme god in Roman mythology, and Zeus is the supreme god in Greek mythology.)
Read the excerpt from Prometheus by Josephine Preston Peabody.
Last of all, Prometheus went up secretly to heaven after the treasure of the immortals. He lighted a reed at the flame of the sun, and brought down the holy fire which is dearest to the gods. For with the aid of fire all things are possible, all arts are perfected.
This was his greatest gift to man, but it was a theft from the immortal gods, and Zeus would endure no more. He could not take back the secret of fire; but he had Prometheus chained to a lofty crag* in the Caucasus, where every day a vulture came to prey upon his body, and at night the wound would heal, so that it was ever to suffer again. It was a bitter penalty for so noble-hearted a rebel, and as time went by, and Zeus remembered his bygone services, he would have made peace once more. He only waited till Prometheus should bow his stubborn spirit, but this the son of Titans would not do. Haughty as rock beneath his daily torment, believing that he suffered for the good of mankind, he endured for years.
*steep cliff or rock face
Which element does Peabody change most in her adaptation?
A. the main character
B. the genre
C. the primary setting
D. the plot