Human existence is marred by contradictions and Hesiod’s Pandora myth introduces man to the complexity of male-female relations as well as the futility of hope. This paper seeks to analyze Hesiod’s myth paying particular attention to the depiction of Pandora, the meaning of her name and the role that hope plays in man’s life. The paper further explores the parallels between Pandora and Eve of the Old Testament.
The depiction of Pandora and Eve from the Old Testament is full of ambiguities that make it difficult to easily decipher whether they are intended to be good or evil beings. In the case of Pandora, ambiguities start with her name which has a double meaning. Hesiod makes a point that Pandora means “she who is given all gifts” (Marshall Cavendish, 2005). In other contexts Pandora is used as an epithet for Gaia who is the goddess responsible for all sources of life or “she who gives all gifts”. It should be noted that Pandora is the first woman who was created by the Greek gods in their quest to punish mortal men. Pandora like Eve of the bible is driven by curiosity and opens the jar which leads to the spread of diseases and suffering for men.
Pandora’s ambiguous name and her depiction as more of a curse than a blessing is a way of reinforcing the traditional views of women as contributed less to humanity except for the advancement of evil. Thus, Pandora shares a lot of attributes with Eve who is accused of being part of the architect for humanity’s first sin as well as the mother of the earth.
It is apparent that Hesiod makes an effort to reject women’s contribution to humanity. Scholars denote that at the core of Hesiod’s thinking is the idea that women have little if nothing to contribute to human existence and he makes a concerted effort to “obscure the degree to which men actually depended on them [women]” (Cavendish, 2005, p. 1082). According to Hesiod, women bring trouble to men but it is difficult for men to avoid them because doing so means that the men is unable to get any children who will have to inherit the man’s property. Like in the case of Eve, the evil of women is said to be inescapable. Epimetheus is argued to have accepted the gift of woman defying disapproval from his brother Prometheus. Before this happened all men lived lives that were relatively easy. Pandora’s is said to have released diseases from the jar and men’s life became more difficult and of toiling.
Parallels can be drawn between Pandora releasing the evil from the jar and Eve taking part in the serpent’s deception in the Garden of Eden which led God to make men toil for the rest of his life. In both the bible and the Greek mythology, there is a constant struggle with finding the right place and characterization of women. Their importance is reduced to their contribution of future heirs of men’s property. The misogyny of Hesiod is also the same kind of misogyny that one observes in the Old Testament. Both tales are about a woman’s capacity for deception.
Pandora releases diseases, toil and evil from the jar and leaves hope because hope releasing hope would have taken men’s critical weapon for continuing to exist which is hope. Hope is there to provide light to an otherwise grim world. The problem with hope in the jar is that it stays trapped. Thus meaning hope is perennially inaccessible. Besides, leaving hope trapped, the jar is also representative of Hesiod’s consistent attitude towards women of both contempt and usefulness.
Hope finds itself in the jar of evils because it has the capacity to provide justification for man’s suffering in the present. Austin argues that hope in Hesiod’s myth is not an evil. He further notes hope is a “mind’s compensation for its disillusionment. It is what keeps humans from despair” (Austin, 2010, p. 67). The problem with hope is that it is an illusion on itself. Thus, Austin (2010) denotes that hope might be the worst of human delusions, making it a worse of evil. Thus hope rightfully belongs to the jar of evil, since what it provides is in most times similar to other evils like toil.
Hope that is not fulfilled is more painful than bodily afflictions. The ambiguity of hope is consistent with the ambiguity of Pandora’s name and the role she plays as the first woman. Hope presents both negative and positive states. It is an acknowledgement that there is a marked difference between reality and humanity’s expectations. What makes hope negative is the fact that it tries to provide humans with positives by denying reality. Hope plays a significant role in enslaving humans. At the same time it provides humans with reasons to continue living. Hope was kept in the urn because that is where it belongs, it does not belong to the world of men since it is neither part of reality or myth. The trapping of home reveals the grey nature of human existence.
In conclusion, Pandora’s name is ambiguous and so is the depiction of hope in Hesiod’s narrative. Hope is related to the jar of evil because of its detachment from reality and the potential contributions it makes to men’s suffering. Parallels between Eve and Pandora reveals the misogyny of ancient tales as well as the easy scapegoating of women for all the evils on earth.
References
Austin, N. (2010). Meaning and Being in Myth. University Park, PA: Penn State Press.
Cavendish, M. (2005). Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology Volume 8. New York, NY: Marshall
Cavendish Corporation.
