Re: Pandora's box

After reading Sara Q's post I knew I had to post a reply. Mainly because I'm a fan of Greek mythology even though its been a while since I've picked up the old Greek myth book.

First, a history lesson. Or a mythology lesson. Well, a history lesson about the mythology. Pandora comes into play during the early phase of Greek myth when the world is newly made. It goes like this, in the early days man was like any other beast. Then along came Prometheus. Now Prometheus was a big old titan with an even bigger heart. He saw that these humans had potential for being much better than they were. So he taught them a lot of stuff like math, science, agriculture, medicine and writing. Clearly, Prometheus was a great guy. But there was one thing that man didn't have. Fire. So Prometheus sneaked into mount Olympus while Zeus was off partying with the other gods and goddesses, grabbed the fire and gifted it to mankind, thus ending the stone age.

Image via Wikipedia

Now when Zeus woke up the next morning he was shocked to see smoke coming from the land below. He was angry. Fire was his toy and he didn't want to share. So the first thing he did was to chain that meanie Prometheus to the rocks at Caucasus where a giant eagle would come and eat his liver which grew back the next day just in time for the eagles next meal.  Ouch.

Even after that was done Zeus wasn't happy so he ordered Hephaestus to fashion Pandora out of clay, gave her the box and married her off to Epimetheus, who happened to be the brother of Prometheus. The rest is as my co-author put it. Lesson over.

Secondly, this myth was made a long time ago, VERY long. So long in fact that the first known record of it, Hesiods "Theogeny" is considered a retelling. Back in those days, women were viewed in a different light.

I was originally going to get in this long talk about feminism and how men also have their fair share of negative phrases associated with them, but that is a long discussion, one for which I don't have the strength right now. I will admit that in Greek myth women are not normally given strong roles, but writing off the Greeks as totally anti-feminist would be a bit too hasty. There are numerous strong female characters in the mythology. My favorite is Athena the goddess of wisdom, war and justice (wisdom, how cool is that?). She got a whole city named in her honor (Athens anyone?). Then there is Hera, Zeus's wife who holds the honor of being the only god(dess) that Zeus was afraid of. How can you forget the Amazons? A tribe of women warriors more ferocious than any man. And then there's Atlanta, a hunter better than any other trained by the goddess Artemis herself, another strong female character.

I hope I haven't opened up another Pandora's box here.

Talha A. B.

Pandora's box

This might seem out of the blue but I’ve noticed how much the twosome ‘Pandora’ and her ‘box’ are tossed around in conversations. Political talk shows, general arguments, it’s always “let’s not go there, it’ll be like opening Pandora’s Box”. Etc. Etc. I’m guessing not many are aware of whom this godforsaken Pandora woman was and that the “box” is more than an expression of exaggeration. What I’m typing up today is an interpretation different from the usual (as given by the example above).

The story of Pandora’s Box is but a small fragment of Greek mythology. But somehow Pandora and her darling box paved a stereotype in more ways than one. I’m not saying it is the one and only true origin of such stereotypes, but how something that is a myth, that doesn't even exist, laid a foundation to in turn shatter the foundations of feminism.

The story goes that the Gods needed to punish mankind for some reason so they decided to create a woman as a punishment. According to them there was no other way of ripping Man’s heart out and planting seeds of unrest and dissatisfaction than the creation of the fairer sex.

Pandora was given seductive gifts such as beauty, persuasion, a talent for music and ‘social arts’. Alongside, she was given this beautiful gold box that the Gods and Goddesses filled with all the evils of the world and as an afterthought added in “hope”. The box was an offering for the man who would marry her. She was instructed not to open the box at ANY cost but not made aware of the reason or what lay within.

The guy she ultimately married took her to his house and left off for someplace shortly. Pandora explored her new home, performed all household chores but somehow every now and then she’d glance at the brilliant box which was stupidly placed at a very prominent location. Finally, unable to take it any more she decided to take a peep. On not being able to see much she opened it wide and out came a big cloud. She immediately closed the lid and dusted the cloud away. Little did she know ‘hope’ was still inside. It was a cloud of all the evils we know of today and they spread out everywhere.

Like I said before, it’s not the belief that’s important here; it is the context. I patiently wrote down all these facts while fighting the urge to express my aggravation. How much these so called Gods are in the wrong. Creating a woman as a punishment? You might think hey relax, it’s a myth but like I said this myth is quite a substantial part of our lives; we just don’t realize it. How many times does a movie introduce some seductress as a last resort of bringing some man down? Add in the theory of women being inquisitive, bad secret keepers and gossipers. Moreover, I read about some survey that proved that no woman can keep a secret longer than 48 hours.

What’s frustrating is the fact that this should not be about women but about ALL mankind. I mean who says guys don’t discuss the juicy details of certain friends and acquaintances or anyone else for that matter. They somehow do it in such a strategic manner that it ends up coming out of the mouth of some woman. There are exceptions of course (I say that to keep peace with my co-author here :P ).

Back to Pandora; if she had simply been told what the box contained she would never have cared twice. Somehow all the secrecy created a reverse psychological effect. It is said that there was no intention of malice, it was just curiosity and she immediately regretted what she did. Every woman’s story; why keep her in the dark? Just tell her already before she finds out elsewhere. If the latter happens she’ll actually start judging you and you do NOT want to go there.

Secondly, why make something so dangerously attractive (i.e. the dazzling jewel studded box) if you want to avoid her probing. This is again a reflection on society; the subject matter is never as big as its hype, thus the ‘mountain out of a molehill’ concept.

Thirdly the woman was bored out of her wits. Picture this: she’s actually a newlywed who’s all alone in a place unknown to her while the guy waltzes out of the house. Believe me, if women got even a small piece of action of the outside world men would stop whining about their personality issues.

Another thing that bothers me here is the fact that the ‘box’ was to be taken to her home of marriage; call it dowry. Let’s sum up here, a woman was created as a punishment and the dowry she brought along contained the world’s evils. Wow, what a complete package. What were the Greeks thinking? But even today the world (women included) believes and admits that all evils are in fact released by women, malice or no malice. Maybe that’s what everyone wants to believe.

The irony of it all is the part where hope comes in. It is true that with all the evils of hatred, jealousy, gluttony, lust, intolerance and greed lurking around it is difficult to locate hope. Hope stayed back because it was not part of the dark cloud. They can never co-exist you see. So never look for any glimmer of hope amongst all those evils. You have to look for it elsewhere; it’s closer than you think.

They say home is where the heart is. I say HOPE is where the heart is.

And with that I retire from a discussion that is I feel, still incomplete. I have been advised to keep it short to make it readable. (That sucks, really).

Think about this unusual interpretation. Anyway, this lovely lady needs her beauty sleep now :). So long readers.