Stories of Pandora and Eve

The Greek myth of Pandora and the Hebrew story of Eve both relate the creation of the first woman, but the woman was created for different reasons. The story of Pandora is about the betrayal of a titan, named Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus and the gods and gave it to man. As a punishment, a woman was created to bring misfortunes to mankind. In the story of Eve, a woman was created by God as a companion for man, but she also brought misfortunes to man. Although both stories are about the creation of the first woman and how their disobedience is the source of despair for mankind, the story of Eve has a more positive view of women. In the Greek myth of Pandora, the creation of the first woman was ordered by Zeus as a gift to punish man for stealing fire. Zeus ordered the other gods to create Pandora. She was given several traits by different gods such as beauty, musical talents, healing, manual dexterity, and gardening. Pandora was lovable, talented and was the ideal female. In addition, Pandora was also given a box and told never to open it. Yet, given the traits of foolishness and curiosity, she opened the box and released the misfortunes that afflict mankind. In the story of Eve, the creation of the first woman was by God, who decided that Adam should not be alone : “It is not good that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper meet for him” Gen Ch2; 18. Therefore, God caused a deep sleep on Adam and He took one of his ribs and created Eve as his companion. So, a woman in the story of Pandora was created by gods for punishment, but a woman in the story of Eve was created by God for man’s companion. Both stories depict the woman as the cause of man’s misfortunes. Pandora brought misfortunes to man by opening the box when told not to. When she opened the box, out came: violence, crime, disease, plague, poverty, and sorrow. Pandora’s curiosity was what led to the misfortunes that afflict mankind. Likewise, Eve brought misfortunes to man by disobeying God and following the serpent’s advice to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Good and Evil. Therefore, God punished woman by causing pain of childbirth to all mothers and their husband to have power over them for eternity. In addition, God punished man by inducing hard human labor to all man. All in all, t he misfortunes for man was because the disobedience of a woman. Unlike the story Pandora, the Hebrew story of Eve reflects a more positive view of woman. Eve was created as a companion for the first man, Adam. As well as created to be a helpmate and a wife. The creation of Eve was for all good reasons. As Marilyn Yalom writes: “When he is good, she supports him, when he is bad, she rises up against him” page 3. Eve has been honored as the foremother of humanity and some say an improvement over Adam. Though both stories portray the creation of first woman as the cause of man’s misfortunes, the Hebrew story of Eve gives a more positive view of woman. Each story show a different purpose in creating woman. Pandora as a punishment and Eve as a sustainer for man. Moreover, both stories may indicate that wives are subordinate to husbands and needs to be controlled by men or misfortunes could be a outcome.