Jacob's critique of Pandora's Box

Pandora's Box

Pandora's Box is a classical Greek Myth. Its original author is unknown. In the past, many people have retold this myth. This one was retold by Lori Verstegen. Interestingly enough, some later versions have the box containing all the blessings of life and when Pandora opens the lid all of the blessings fly away leaving the earth a desolate place. The setting begins in heaven on Mt. Olympus which is home for all the major Greek gods. It then shifts to the ravishing green earth when lovely Pandora is given away.

In the story, the main characters are Zeus, Pandora, and Epimethius. Zeus, king of all the Greek gods, finds himself irate at Prometheus. Cunningly, Zeus constructs the first woman, Pandora, in order to bring sin and sorrow into the world below. Zeus created Pandora to be exceedingly beautiful and verily gifted. He also fashioned her character with foolishness, mischievousness, and idleness. His scheme was to give her to Epimethius, the brother of Prometheus, a stubborn and weak man, so his plan could be carried out.

The conflict of the story begins with crafty Zeus plotting revenge. He feels indignant because Prometheus stole fire from Mt Olympus and brought it down to earth. Zeus created Pandora irresistible to draw in the foolish Epimethius. Smoothly, his plan works. However, before Pandora leaves for earth, she is given a beautifully decorated box by all of the gods. Tantalizing her, they sternly warned her not to open it. Not even a peep! During the course of the next day, Hermes takes Pandora as a gift from Zeus to Epimethius, who on seeing her beauty and believing himself to be fortuitous, immediately takes her into his home. Prometheus had warned him about trusting in Zeus, but to no avail. He had to have her. Hermes boldly bade both of them never to open the adorned box.

The climax of the story occurs when Pandora's curiosity takes over and she opens the forbidden
box. Epimethius was standing in the doorway like Adam did in the garden. Curiously, he did not stop her, but scrutinized with excitement because he to wanted to know what was in the box. As soon as Pandora opened the lid just a hair, all of the sins an sorrows spread throughout the land. It satisfied Zeus. Tragically his revenge on mankind was complete. The theme of this story is that curiosity can lead to disobedience, and disobedience can lead to harm, and harm can hurt others.

The story cleverly reveals the nature of man and the nature of sin. For example, when Pandora's curiosity takes over her self-control and she examines the contents of the box, the reader identifies with the desire to know what is in it also. Pandora was strictly warned not to open the box, but Zeus understood the nature of man's lack of self-control and knew she would disobey, causing sin to enter the world. The reader clearly understands the dangers of curiosity and the harmfulness of disobedience.