The Pandora myth dates back to 8th-7th century BCE. In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus, God of fire. She was called ‘all gifted’ or ‘all giving’ because of the many gifts she received from the Olympian gods. Aphrodite gave her beauty, Athena gave her cleverness, Hermes gave her a cunning mind and crafty tongue and at last Hera gave her immense amount of curiosity
Before sending her to earth, Zeus gave her a jar (often mentioned as a box in many versions) and warned her to never open it. On earth, Pandora met Epimetheus. Prometheus and Epimetheus were twin brother, Prometheus created man out of mud while Epimetheus gave varies positive traits to humans.
Prometheus stole fire and gave it to the human igniting Zeus’s wrath. Epimetheus did not know Zeus instructed Hephaestus to make Pandora to punish the humanity. Despite his brother’s warning the titan was charmed by her and they married later.
Whenever she looked at the jar she was filled with curiosity. She would think of jewelry, valuable gold and treasures. At first Pandora resisted but later the curiosity got better of her and she opened the jar. The jar released all the miseries and sorrows in the world. Pandora quickly snapped the lid shut, trapping the last remaining thing in the jar, hope.
What Zeus wanted had happened, misery and sorrows spread among the humans. Pandora could hear a voice calling her to open the jar again but she was scared. Epimetheus said nothing inside could be worse and they decided to open the jar second time, releasing ‘Hope’.
INTERPRETATION
The existence of hope can be interpreted in two ways. On the positive side, the hope can signify that joy and sorrows are intertwined, as long as there is bad there will be good. World might be filled with countless evils but despite it the world still remains beautiful.
On the negative side sometimes, false hope is also an evil. In some situations, it is better to let go than to hold hope. ‘Deceptive expectation’ will lead to further disappointment and frustration.
‘Curiosity killed the cat’ is a famous proverb used to warn people to keep unnecessary curiosity in check. In later years second phrase was added and the full proverb was ‘curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back’. It meant the unnecessary investigation might land in trouble but the knowing the truth itself is rewarding and brings a sense of fulfillment.
