Since the creation of humanity, we have used stories to explain the creation of ourselves, and of the entire universe. These stories, known as myths, help characterize the culture from which they derive, and in essence are part of every human being who is part of a culture or group. Myths are diverse and intricate, with completely different outcomes and views. However, taking a closer look at these stories there are countless similarities between each explanation of how humanity came to be. Though the cultural groups that make up humanity are vastly different, their myths have similar aspects to them that cannot be considered just a mere coincidence. The Greek myth “Pandora’s Box”, the Iroquois myth “the Diver” and the Judeo Christian myth Genesis all have similar “universal” characteristics. …show more content…
This can be seen in Genesis, where “the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it” (The Holy Bible, Genesis 3.6). The woman, Eve, eats the forbidden fruit, though expressly told not to. Her action dooms humanity to become mortal, and to be cast out of the Garden of Eden. Similarly in “The Diver”, a godlike woman causes trouble in heaven and falls from the sky down to Earth, and "Here, mysteriously, she gave birth and from her children came all human beings”. “Pandora’s Box” also follows the same pattern of a curious woman ruining life for men. Pandora, "The first woman, created by the gods to look beautiful and possess all charms, yet to cause man harm through her excessive curiosity", is given a jar by Zeus which contains all the evils of the world. She eventually opens it, and brings evil unto the world. In all three of these myths the curious woman is portrayed as harmful to mankind, and as a common symbol of