The approach to interpreting Greek mythology has been long debated among various theories, including allegory, comparative mythology, myth-ritual, psychoanalysis and structuralism (Dowden 17-24). As regard to the myth of Pandora by Hesiod in his masterpieces of Theogony (573-620, translated by Trzaskoma et al. 131-160) and Works and Days (75-125, translated by Trzaskoma et al. 160-167), two particular theories stand out along with my interpretation: comparative mythology (Dowden 21) and philosophical allegory (Dowden 17-18). While comparative mythology may be well demonstrated by the common existence of the misogynistic view in stories among different cultures across the globe, the approach of philosophical allegory appears to be most thorough
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Created under Zeus’ command, Pandora is “a curse for mortal men” (605) for Prometheus had stolen fire for humans against Zeus’ will (565-572). Later, also by Zeus’ design, Pandora opened a jar, spreading all the evils into the world for humans to live in misery (Works and Days 115-122). In Hesiod’s words, Pandora is presented as a wonderful beauty that brings catastrophe to humans and the reason why women are to blame for disasters. Another legendary Greek myth, the Trojan War, was a long, bitter battle fighting for the beautiful Helen, which eventually destroyed the city of Troy according to Homer’s Iliad (translated by Fagles and Knox 633). On the other side of the Eurasian continent, there was the king of the Western Zhou Dynasty of ancient China who fired the warning beacon frequently, not for summoning the armies for emergency, but fooling the armies to see his beloved, gorgeous concubine, Bao Si, laugh. When the enemy came, no soldier showed up to defend the palace since nobody trusts the call of warning beacon anymore. The kingdom then collapsed and ceased to exist (Loewe and Shaughnessy …show more content…
Despite of the fact that there is a considerable amount of similar stories with the “women bring kingdoms down” plot, women, after-all, remain just a flat character; and the common element of misogyny is merely a bias of the male audience. If we were to obtain a lesson from these stories or figure out the meaning in them, it would be too superficial and irresponsible to say that the significance of these great stories, after enduring centuries, is just to repeatedly remind us about sexism. As for the myth of Pandora, Hesiod certainly did not compose an epic poem with the motif only to establish or explain a reason to disapprove women bringing troubles. If Hesiod really held a misogynistic view in mind, why would he dedicate all his works - both Theogony and Works and Days - to the Muses, praise them in the beginning of both, and give credit to the Muses for “[teaching] [him] the art of singing verse” (Theogony 23)? One may argue that the Muses are Immortals, and thus, are high above we human beings. However, mortal women, just as the goddesses, are also females who have the
Created under Zeus’ command, Pandora is “a curse for mortal men” (605) for Prometheus had stolen fire for humans against Zeus’ will (565-572). Later, also by Zeus’ design, Pandora opened a jar, spreading all the evils into the world for humans to live in misery (Works and Days 115-122). In Hesiod’s words, Pandora is presented as a wonderful beauty that brings catastrophe to humans and the reason why women are to blame for disasters. Another legendary Greek myth, the Trojan War, was a long, bitter battle fighting for the beautiful Helen, which eventually destroyed the city of Troy according to Homer’s Iliad (translated by Fagles and Knox 633). On the other side of the Eurasian continent, there was the king of the Western Zhou Dynasty of ancient China who fired the warning beacon frequently, not for summoning the armies for emergency, but fooling the armies to see his beloved, gorgeous concubine, Bao Si, laugh. When the enemy came, no soldier showed up to defend the palace since nobody trusts the call of warning beacon anymore. The kingdom then collapsed and ceased to exist (Loewe and Shaughnessy …show more content…
Despite of the fact that there is a considerable amount of similar stories with the “women bring kingdoms down” plot, women, after-all, remain just a flat character; and the common element of misogyny is merely a bias of the male audience. If we were to obtain a lesson from these stories or figure out the meaning in them, it would be too superficial and irresponsible to say that the significance of these great stories, after enduring centuries, is just to repeatedly remind us about sexism. As for the myth of Pandora, Hesiod certainly did not compose an epic poem with the motif only to establish or explain a reason to disapprove women bringing troubles. If Hesiod really held a misogynistic view in mind, why would he dedicate all his works - both Theogony and Works and Days - to the Muses, praise them in the beginning of both, and give credit to the Muses for “[teaching] [him] the art of singing verse” (Theogony 23)? One may argue that the Muses are Immortals, and thus, are high above we human beings. However, mortal women, just as the goddesses, are also females who have the