Shelley's lyrical drama reimagines the myth: Prometheus, chained to his rock for giving fire to humanity, is finally released not by submitting to Jupiter but by revoking his curse, by refusing to perpetuate the cycle of hatred. The verse is some of the most beautiful Shelley ever wrote, visionary and ecstatic, imagining a transformed humanity freed from tyranny. He wrote it in Italy in 1819, politically desperate, personally grieving, yet capable of this sustained vision of liberation. The last act is pure celebration.