February 17, 2011
Since starting our mythology blogging project, my classmates and I have been exposed to a great variety of different sources all with hidden aspects of mythology and archetypes. There have been movies like Ong-Bak (The Thai Warrior), Samurai Jack, and even newer renditions of classic Greek mythology. Yet, for some peculiar reason the one example that has remained in head is the story of Pandora. It's a story you've probably all heard before where a single girl is given the choice of deciding the world's fate over a small and tempting box. It begins with Prometheus (a Titan god) who takes pity on mankind and gives them the gift of fire. Yet, Zeus the king of the Gods proves to be not so pleased. He sets Prometheus up for punishment -- tying him to the side of a mountain where he has his liver pecked off by an eagle day after day. However, Zeus's thirst for revenge wasn't over with just that, oh no, he had much more in store. He wasn't just satisfied that Prometheus was getting what he deserved but he had to let us, mankind also deal with the consequences.
Now what do you think that would be? A plague? A drought? Or just a bunch of lighting bolts thrown at the earth? No, Zeus wanted something that he knew man would easily fall head over heels for...the first woman. So, the construction began when Phestus, the Gods' personal blacksmith designed a woman who was beautiful, strong, and most of all curious. She was crowned with the name of Pandora which meant she was literally the "gift to all". Then she herself was given as a gift to Epimetheus (Prometheus's brother) who immediately fell in love with her which was exactly what Zeus was hoping for. The two got married and life went on as usual until Pandora got bored. She remembered that she had been given a valuable and still questionable present, the mysterious box. She knew that it must not be opened but that didn't stop her from fondling it for days on end. That is until her curious nature got the best of her. One day, she raised the lid of the box for just a peek and out ran the most horrible things you could imagine! There were things like envy, greed, sickness, sorrow, hunger, prejudice and evil of every kind.
Pandora was taken aback until she suddenly realized what terrible things she had let loose and slammed the box lid shut. Although mostly everything had escaped there was still one that remained behind and that was hope. Hope was left safely at the bottom of the box just in case mankind needed it to lean on.
Once I begin to think of Pandora, I wondered why women are painted in the same likeness all the way from ancient Greece till today? I mean we can't all be labeled as "bad" just because of a few female characters who had a knack for falling into mischief. For just like Pandora even Eve, the biblical figure from the garden of Eden, follows along with the same description that women are a "beautiful evil". That we as women were created to please the eye and deceive mankind. Yet, I can't help but disagree that women are not the reason why the world is faced with hardships and disasters. Maybe it's just the way that past society's beliefs were run but women are definitely not the culprit. Both women and men have their responsibilities and consequences in the world and neither can be blamed for everything. It's outrageous! Yet despite all the time that has past the same idea of a "beautiful evil" still persists in today's society. In the media viewers are constantly bombarded with images of beautiful women in sexual and evil roles. Women are often portrayed as gifts to men and then become determinable to them. We might not realize it but there are still biased opinions of what women are and what we do. Another example could be this "good girl gone bad" image that persists throughout Pandora's myth. It's appears as if everything was fine until the scenario becomes grim and the blame falls on just Pandora because she fell for temptation. Now how is that fair, considering everyone makes mistakes. For what if it was the other way around? What if women weren't to blame but men? Now that would be a complete different story.
