Pandora’s Box is one of the most intense and descriptive myths of behavior in humans. This tale was used to teach them about human weakness and to explain the many misfortunes of man!
Pandora unleashed 7 evils into the world
Wrath – Wrath is defined as either strong vengeful anger or indignation. Or it can be vengeful punishment for an offence or a crime that’s been committed against you, an example of when a modern day person would feel wrath is if the band new car they bought was stolen and destroyed.
Gluttony – Gluttony is normally associated with over indulgence, normally with food but there can be other forms of Gluttony such as; not savouring a reasonable amount of food, eating outside of meal times (mindless eating), anticipating eating with preoccupied longing, or consuming costly foods for example eating lavishly simply for the purpose of conspicuous consumption. Probably the most common form of gluttony in modern society is mindless eating or boredom eating.
Greed – Greed is defined as a selfish and excessive desire for more of something, such as money or food. Some examples of greed would be someone who is obsessed with money and will do anything to get more, when it comes to money there’s no such thing as a moral compass, and they will hurt anyone including family and friends in order to get more cash,
Envy – Envy is best described as a feeling of unhappiness over someone else’s life, mixed together with a desire to have the same or feeling like you are more deserving of that life than that person. An example of envy would be seeing your neighbour with a new car or seeing your co-worker get the promotion that you wanted. You might feel a sense of resentment toward the individual for attaining something you want but have yet to achieve.
Sloth – Is best described as someone who is disinclined to do anything, whether that be housework or getting a job, sloth is often used to describe people who are lazy or not easily roused to activity. For example, rather than taking part in activities with friends, a person who easily succumbs to sloth would rather sit on the sofa and watch television.
Pride – Now normally we’d encourage people to be proud of their accomplishments or to take pride in their work, however pride in this sense means a slightly different thing, basically pride means to be totally self obsessed with yourself and your own accomplishments, being overly boastful or to have an excessive preoccupation with your own importance.
Lust – Lust is described as unbridled sexual desire, many men throughout time are described as being motivated by lust. However, lust can be more than just sexual desire, you could be lustful of someone career, things, or life in general.
The Story of Pandora’s Box
This ancient Greek myth starts with Prometheus’ gift to mankind, which was the gift of fire. When Zeus, ruler of Olympus, found out, he was filled with rage! Fuelled by his anger, he punished Prometheus by shackling him in chains and each day he’d send an eagle to peck out his immortal liver, which grew back overnight! Zeus also decided that mankind needed punishment too, so he commissioned Hephaestus and Athena to create the very first human, flesh and blood woman. Aphrodite gave her the ability to charm all men, and Hermes the gift of trickery and deceit. They breathed life into her and named her Pandora. Even though she was mortal, Zeus decided to marry Pandora to Epimetheus, Prometheus’ brother. She was given as a gift to Epimetheus, and he was overjoyed at the idea!
Prometheus tried to warn his brother that this was also a form of punishment, but Epimetheus laughed at him and joked saying ‘If this is what Zeus’ punishment is like, he can punish me more often, for Pandora is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!’ Pandora came with a dowry which included many beautiful things, the most odd was a box made out of clay, with clear instructions that it never ever be opened. Pandora was as curious as she was beautiful and longed to open the box, but she brimmed with excitement at life on Earth, so this stilled her longing for what was in the box for some time. But because of her thirst for knowledge, often her mind would drift back to thoughts about the box. Pandora itched to find out what treasure was so great it could never be looked on with human eyes, or why it had been placed into her care. She swore that she often heard voices spilling out of the box, begging to be set free. The enigma of the box became maddening to Pandora!
Over time, the box became an obsession to Pandora, it was as if forces beyond her control were pulling her towards the box, saying her name over and over. One day she could resist the temptation no longer. She stole away from Epimetheus, ‘just one peek inside, and then I can rid my mind of this forever’ Pandora thought. But at the first crack of the lid, the box flew open, monsters, spectres and awful sounds rushed out surrounding Pandora, screeching and cackling. She desperately tried to trap the creatures back into their box, but to no avail, they billowed away and were now free in the world of mortals! As Pandora wept and shuddered, she heard a soft whisper coming from the box. This voice wasn’t the cruel howl of demons, it was a light twinkling sound that eased her anguish. Pandora once again opened the box, and a warm beam of light floated out, as the light fluttered around the evil Pandora had released, her fears melted away. She knew that opening the box was irreversible, but she had also set free hope to temper the effects of the evil. Many years later, Prometheus was freed by none other than Hercules, Zeus’ own son. Hearing about the injustice Prometheus suffered, Hercules kills the liver pecking eagle and unbinds Prometheus from his chains. Although Hercules had Zeus’ permission to free Prometheus, we never find out why he changed his mind to set Prometheus free, but it has been speculated that Prometheus knew of a huge secret about Zeus that he didn’t want to be known!
What was Pandora’s Box trying to explain?
Pandora’s box is a tale explaining the extreme consequences of playing with the unknown and how it can affect not just us but the people around us. Pandora’s curiosity also suggests the duality of human enquiry, are we bound to always question the unknown, or are there some secrets that are better left alone. The story is also used as a cautionary tale to teach children not to let their curiosity get the better of them or lead to obsession, as it can potentially lead to dangerous situations! It also has an air of teaching children to respect decisions made by others that may affect them, for example when Zeus forbids Pandora to open the box, but she does anyway, it can be likened to a child disobeying their parents.
