Pandora’s Boxes
Pandora was a woman with seductive gifts.
Pandora’s name means “all gifts.”
The story of Pandora’s box (or jar) is analogous to the Judeo-Christian story of Adam & Even in the Garden of Eden, eating from the tree of knowledge of good & evil.
Pandora opens the box because she is curious. She is later maligned for her pursuits of knowledge.
Pandora’s Box has become a metaphor for anticipated and unanticipated consequences that are difficult, if not impossible, to stop.
In this myth, as it has often been told, culture blames the woman for most of its evils.
I like Pandora’s boxes. I like metaphors for things that are started and are difficult to suppress. A modern and different perspective might suggest Pandora’s feminine actions are not opaquely “evil,” but rather creative, growing, pervasive, and beautiful.
Some women intentionally open Pandora’s boxes with good intent and good consequences. Some choose to leave them open to allow for their full effects.
Historically, there was one more thing that came out of Pandora’s box: Hope.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora
Painting by John William Waterhouse.
