the Prometheus myth looks at man's relationship to the gods, and their connection to other men, animals, to create order through differentiation and decay. At Mecone, Zeus was asked to choose between bone or the better meat to sacrifice to the gods.
This act of selfishness evolved men closer to animal and defines human nature as more bestial. This act also taints the relationship between man and gods that further creates the classic antithesis of nomos and phusis. Clearly the male gender was distinguished to create order in the chaos that lied within the poem. As punishment and in response to man’s self-serving being by stealing fire from Prometheus, Zeus thus creates Pandora- a female gendered being. She is “not something [fully] good but
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At the beginning God created mankind in the likeness of himself; he blessed them and told them to “be fruitful and multiply, rule of the [earth]”. Adam was name then “named his wife Eve because she was the mother of the living.” There are no differences between human and animal until God had given Adam the opportunity to name everything around him. The act of naming allows the human to distinguish this idea of “mastery” over anything that is undistinguished and a barbaric animal. Naming allows humans to not only have the ability to distinguish itself from other non-human beings living on earth but also from his own animality. Names give a sense of personal identity and uniqueness. It is a symbolic act to connect an individual to society. As Edward Deluzian explains in his “Names and Personal Identity” article, by being given a name, “society confirms the individual's existence and acknowledges its responsibilities” toward that person (Duluzian,). The name differentiates Adam from Eve and from the animals who are nameless. By naming Eve, the female figure becomes a part of the history of the society, and, because of the name, his or her actions in this world will exist separate from the actions and responsibilities of others. Just as Eve commits herself and Adam to the fall of sin, so too does the veil of innocence and ignorance. God questioned how Adam knew he was naked and as a result bestowed women’s pain during child birth and orders that “he, [Adam] will rule over you, [Eve].” This rich piece of text is to be understood as playing a role in defining the new subordinate status of women. Not only does man have power over animals but the very nature of man is now to be seen as omnipotent. Women seemed to be equal as
One of the plays found in Nine Muses is “Pandora”. This play is about Hesoid, a Greek poet, who describes the creation of the universe of gods and humankind. He shares a story about “a gift for humankind” (P.22) or in other words, the first woman Pandora. As she enters the mortal world, she becomes the wife of Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus, a titan. Epimetheus’s brother told him he is not to have anything to do with the gods, and when he found out that Pandora was a gift from the gods, he told her he told her that he could not accept her- a gift from the gods. Pandora finds a beautiful clay jar hidden behind a curtain, while searching for the “wife” of Epimetheus. Pandora reaches to open the jar assuming it has Epimetheus’s wife in it but Epimetheus stops her explaining that there are terrible things in the jar. Being a curious girl, as soon as Epimetheus leaves the room to attend his daily chores, Pandora walks over to the jar and opens the lid letting the terrible thi...
Prometheus Bound is quite different from other tragedies in that it is peopled entirely by gods. The play focuses on the story of Prometheus, and we have versions of this myth in Hesiod's famous works. There is reason to think that the author of Prometheus Bound was not only acquainted with Hesiod's version but actually drew on Hesiod directly in this play. This essay therefore aims to establish in what ways the author of Prometheus Bound seems to have drawn from Hesiod's version of myth, in what ways he has diverged from it, and what reasons he might have had for making these changes and innovations. This might therefore highlight any particular emphasis or purpose of Prometheus Bound and what its author might have been trying to get across. Though there is not space in this essay to discuss the problems of attributing this play, it must be recognised that this ambiguity of authorship and dating makes it even more difficult than usual to look at views and purposes behind the play.
The creation of woman in Greek myth was initially caused by Prometheus’ attempt to outwit Zeus, first by tricking the gods into choosing the less...
Most of the social norms are unspoken norms that every individual does but does not realize. One of the norms is the lack of real names, “our name is Equality 7-2521” (1). By getting rid of individual names from the society, they are not only detracting from the individuality (their goal) but also their personal value, if your name is meaningless, then it can subtract value. The society also has unique social relations. “Men may not think of women, save at the Time of Mating.” (13) The society’s goal with this rule is to prevent preference, if men were allowed to think of women they would prefer some over the other and thus would make mankind not equal. This can reflect a low value on the individual because although they may want to think of women they cannot for the good of the
In Hesiod’s version, Zeus created Pandora as a punishment to man and illustrated her as an evil, deceitful and supposed curse on mankind, “Evil conspirators. And he added another evil to offset the good...she was a real pain for human beings” (Hesiod, 149-164) On the contrary women in Ovid’s tale were treated as companions who worked together for the greater good, as depicted by the myth of Pyrrha and Deucalion, “Then, side by side, they went without delay to seek the waters of Cephisus’ stream.” (Ovid, 17) Deucalion and Pyrrha are portrayed to be righteous and true devotes of the Olympian gods and hence given the responsibility of repopulating earth. Ovid demonstrates that the humans in this myth portray the role of a god, where they repopulate Earth with righteous humans, thus creating order in the universe again. He portrays their role as a vital component in this occurrence as without their diligence and morals—this act would not have been possible. Thus, establishing the human-centered concept of his
The stories about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Women were slaves, concubines, and child bearers; they were also wives, matriarchs, and prophets. Although, some women had less important titles than others each served a purpose. Even if the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates the love and dedication women had for Him. The scriptures describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.
While in Theogony it only describes the beauty, Athena gave her. I think Hesiod does this because in Theogony, he later explains how evil women is to men. In the description of the woman he wanted to show how different women would look from man, in Theogony he is telling the background stories so he must tell his reader how this woman looks like and emphasis more on her beauty and how that would capture a man. While, in Works and Days his speaking to his brother and he probably knows how that woman looks like and so he emphasizing more on how she was created evil, how the gods and goddess design her to be evil. In this poem, Hesiod tells us her name Pandora while in the other poem he does not. I think this is like this because in Theogony women is the embodiment of evil. She is more of a symbol, Theogony is meant to tell us how things came about and what things are. While in Works and Days the woman was design as someone who will ruin mankind not exactly classifying all women as being the evil but instead being descent of the one who ruin mankind. She was the tool made to unleash all the evils in the world. I think Hesiod did this because his explaining to his brother Prometheus reckless actions leads to the
In Prometheus Bound, all the characters are keenly aware of the power of Zeus: his name is invoked as the one who decided on the punishment for Prometheus and his wrath is sensed by the others. For example, Prometheus describes Zeus as “hard-hearted” and “in constant anger with an unbending mind”. Under Zeus’s rule, Prometheus stole fire and then gave this element to humans, thereby upsetting the existing paradigm Zeus ruled. Zeus is a “tyrant” who trusts not his “family or friends”. Prometheus insightfully recognizes that Zeus’s leadership is tyrannical. While Ocean agrees with Prometheus’s assessment of Zeus as he says “our king’s a harsh one, and his rule unchecked” but at the same time there are other characters who do not hold this same opinion. Hephaestus for one, is unable to support Prometheus’s lamentation about Zeus’s excessive power and so does Hermes, son of Zeus, owing to his family loyalty. Hermes supports Zeus’s actions and affirms the Prometheus “wronged the gods in furnishing honors to mortals” which implies that to hold the element of fire is a right born solely by Zeus, Hephaestus and other worthy gods.
The very creation of women was set as a punishment to man because Prometheus, son of Iapetos, tried to trick Zeus into eating bones and then, with the tube of a fennel, steals fire to give to mankind. Zeus then proclaimed, "To set against the fire I shall give them an affliction in which they will all delight as they embrace their own misfortune." Out of Zeus' anger came Pandora, the first woman. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mold women from the earth and water, Athene to dress and adorn her, Temptation to give her necklaces of gold, and Hermes to implant a bitch's mind and a thief's temper. Hesiod describes women as a "precipitous trap, more than mankind can manage." Hesiod states, "even so as a bane for mortal men has high-thundering Zeus created women, conspirators in causing difficulty." And thus the first woman was named Pandora, Allgift,-"a calamity for men who live by bread." And so Pandora and all the evils of the world, except Hope, were released into the world by a punishing Zeus. Hesiod explains how formerly the tribes of men lived "remote from ills, without harsh toil and the grievous sickness that are deadly to men." From Pandora descended the female sex, "a great affliction to mortals as they dwell with their husbands- no fit partners for accursed Poverty, but only for Plenty." An analogy is then used to compare women to drones who, according to Hesiod, feed off hard-working bees all day. Hesiod immed...
In the 1930s, who would have perpetrated violent acts against women in the name of sexual gratification yet still hold expectations that women take care of them? By making men in general the placeholder for “you” in the poem, it creates a much stronger and universal statement about the sexual inequality women face. She relates to women who have had “a god for [a] guest” yet it seems ironic because she is criticising the way these women have been treated (10). It could be argued, instead, that it is not that she sees men as gods, but that it is the way they see themselves. Zeus was a god who ruled Olympus and felt entitled to any woman he wanted, immortal or otherwise.
Elizabeth A. Johnson draws attention to how, despite being considered equal in Genesis, women had their worth ignored “Consistently subordinated and demeaned in the theories, symbols, rituals,
In our present era, there is no doubt that the evolution of women's rights has come a long way. It is in the Western Culture that these values for which women have fought for generations, are in conflict with Genesis 1-3. The events that occur in this "creation story" are crucial in that it begins when God creates man in his own likeness and man is given domination over all living things. The significance is the prominence given to men; God is male and his most important creation is male. The biblical account underlines the supremacy of man while making it clear that women play an inferior role. Furthermore, the biblical account also describes how woman are disobedient and yield to temptation, the result of which is the expulsion of both Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. In the poem "How Cruel is the Story of Eve", Stevie Smith's castigation towards the biblical story of Eve demonstrates how women have been victims of despair and suffering since the beginning of time. She holds it responsible for cruelty towards women in history, she implies that the values derived from the story of Eve were forced upon women without choice, and finally, she challenges the authenticity of the religious tale on a whole. Without a doubt, women have fallen victim to an untrue, religious tale from the beginning of time, and the poem is an outcry representing the suffering of women throughout history.
Mortal females cause struggles among men and are portrayed as wicked in Greek Mythology. In the story of How the World and Mankind Were Created, the Father of Men and of the Gods, Zeus, swears to get revenge upon mankind because of the poor sacrifices made to the altars. Therefore, he “[makes] a great evil for men, a sweet and lovely thing to look upon… they [call] her Pandora… the first woman… who are an evil to men, with a nature to do evil… is the source of all misfortu...
...on of Iapetos provides fire to man, Hesiod’s tale of Prometheus provides a deeper comprehension of the attitudes of Zeus, king of the gods, and an acceptable cause for the evils that plague mankind. Prometheus has no value in himself; even his rescue by Herakles was achieved for the “glory of Theban-born Herakles.” (Hesiod 532). Prometheus’s identity is entirely dependent on Zeus’s wrath and the punishment delivered to mankind as a result and in turn, the explanation of these two things is entirely dependent on Prometheus.
Throughout all Greek myths, the gods were always created in the image of man. This shows how Greeks viewed men in a positive way and thought that they were more powerful and superior to women. In addition, they thought men and women are unequal and that men were given jobs that required more physical strength. Although women played a role in Greek myths, they were not as important as men. Women had a more easier and feminine jobs than men. In the Greek creation myth, we see Hades as the god of underworld and Aphrodite as the goddess of love. The difference between th...