Mythology

I wanted to tell the story of another female divine, Pandora. Her story is her conception by Zeus, Pandora was meant to be a punishment after Prometheus stole fire from the gods. The entire formation of the idea of woman was as a punishment for man’s wrongdoing; Pandora was a deception, beautiful on the outside, while within she was filled with chaos, trickery, and ultimately, misery. Despite the fact that it was Prometheus, a male deity, who began the divine-mortal conflict, neither he nor Zeus were ever blamed for their part in releasing evil into the world. That designation was given solely to Pandora, a woman who would not have been created had Prometheus not stolen fire from the gods. Sorrow and pain were not caused by a man’s folly; rather, they were caused by a woman’s. The designation of blame is one of the most patriarchal themes of this tale: Pandora, though she is just as much a victim of Zeus’ punishment as men, was the one who was declared responsible while Prometheus got off without blame.