In Shelley's version of the Prometheus legend, the title character is someone rather like the poet himself. A great lover of humanity, he wishes to bring freedom to humankind, a freedom that belongs to humans as a right but has been taken away from them by the powerful.

In that sense, one could say that Jupiter, the father of the gods in ancient Roman mythology, represents the political establishment of early–nineteenth-century Britain, against which Shelley raged with such passionate intensity throughout his short life.

Prometheus is portrayed as the "champion of Heaven's slaves," someone who unhesitatingly sides with the underdog. Having experienced the cruelty of Jupiter first hand, he's in a perfect position to know exactly what it feels like to have one's freedom taken away. Being chained to a rock as punishment for stealing fire has made Prometheus yet more empathetic with man's condition of unfreedom.

Prometheus understands, as Shelley most certainly did, that freedom is universal or nothing. His freedom is inextricably bound up with the freedom of everyone else. None of us can be truly free if there are other people in the world who do not enjoy liberty. And this can only happen if the ultimate source of unfreedom, Jupiter, is deposed from his mighty throne.