Pandora (As Woman: the Origin of all Man's Woes) It was a world ruled by Gods and populated by men, there were no women, man had but one friend, and he was the God, Prometheus. Zeus, however, the Father of the Gods, was scornful of man and held them in contempt. He was determined that they should remain primitives and barbarians. Prometheus, however, sick of Zeus's disdain and his constant meddling in the affairs of man, played a trick on Zeus at a banquet, and the Lord of all the Gods was made to look a fool. He was not amused and as a punishment removed fire from man. They would never enjoy the pleasure of cooked food again and without heat to warm them they would surely die. So Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and returned it to man. But Zeus was a vengeful and unforgiving God. Enraged he vowed to punish man for all eternity and hatched an evil plan. He ordered Hephaestus, the blacksmith, to create a mortal being of stunning beauty. But with that beauty would come also a lying tongue and a deceptive heart. Hephaestus laboured day and night, and what he moulded from the barren earth was a masterpiece. With pride he presented it to the other Gods. Athene, the daughter of Zeus, liked what she saw and breathed life into it. She clothed it and taught it to cook and to weave. Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, made it sensual and alluring. Hermes provided it with charm and made it mercurial. Zeus named her Pandora, the first woman.
Louise Brooks from the film Zeus, delighted at his creation, laid his trap. He offered Pandora as a gift to Epimethus, the brother of Prometheus. He had been warned by his brother never to accept gifts from Zeus. But as his own brother endured eternal torment, bound and ravaged by vultures, Epimethus was falling hopelessly in love. Soon he married Pandora. Zeus was delighted and sent them a beautiful box as a wedding gift. But with it he also sent a message warning never to open it and look inside. At first Pandora did not mind. But as time passed her inquisitiveness grew and grew until it became unbearable. She begged Epimethus to permit her to look inside the box. But he forbade her. One day, when Epimethus was away, she approached the box. For many hours she just stared at it but she could also see the key lying nearby. She took the key and unlocked the box. She would just have a quick peep inside, she thought, what harm could that do? But in a rush and before she knew it, burst forth all the evils, sorrows, plagues and misfortunes of the world: disease, despair, malice, greed, lust, hatred, violence, old age and death - all were unleashed and set free. She quickly closed the lid shut, but it was too late. All that she could save, and all that was left to man, was hope. That blind eternal spirit. But this was part of Zeus's plan also. He did not want man to despair of life. He wanted him to suffer. No how much the evils of the world tormented him, he must have hope, so he can go on being tormented anew. For hope, as Nietzsche remarked, is the most evil of evils because it prolongs man's torment.
As the poet Hesiod, writing of Pandora, remarked: "From her is the race of women and female kind: of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live among mortal women to their great trouble, no helpmates in hateful poverty, but only in wealth". The story of Pandora may be myth but it should be viewed in the context of the masculine fear of femininity and the subordination of women through the ages. From the Legend of the fall, the prohibitions of religious texts, to the Witch Craze and the discriminations of secular law.