Pandora's Box

Pandora's Box

Source: Greek Mythology

Pandora was created to punish mankind because Prometheus stole fire from mount Olympus to give to man as a special gift. Hephaestus made Pandora and each of the gods gave her a gift; (Aphrodite gave her beauty, Athena clothed her, etc.) most important, Hera, Zeus's wife, gave her the "gift" of curiosity. Hermes was to take Pandora down Mt. Olympus to Earth to present Pandora to Epimetheus as his new wife. Hermes gave Pandora a golden box (in some versions a vase) for a wedding present but warned her to never open it. Even though Prometheus warned Epimetheus to not accept any gifts from the gods, he did anyways. Pandora had the box on the table but her curiosity was driving her crazy so she hid the box in a room and locked the door. She was still tempted so she took the box outside, put it in a wooden chest and wrapped chains around it, dug a hole, buried it, and rolled a boulder on top of it. She woke up in the middle of the night, put on her robe, and walked outside. She touched the boulder and it rolled very easily out of the way. After she dug up the box, she was just going to open it just to take a peek at her present which ended up releasing all of the evil know to the world today. She closed the box in time to keep in hopelessness (other versions say different things she kept in/ let out).

This myth deals with Man vs. Man and Man vs. Himself. The Man vs. Man comes in play when Prometheus stole the fire and Zeus wanted to punish him. Also when Prometheus told his brother Epimetheus to not accept any gifts from the gods, he did and look what happened. Man vs. Himself is prominent with Pandora and the box. She has to struggle with herself the whole story and still loses control in the end.

The main meaning I see coming from this myth is curiosity killed the cat. Basically what he is alluding to is always