What is the lesson learned in Pandora's box?

Answer 1

It depends on the audience. The modern interpretation is very different from the intended moral application.

In the original tale, Pandora was the very first woman, and was specifically created to PUNISH mankind for their complicity with Prometheus and his gift of divine fire (they accepted the gift, which was also considered a sin).

Similarly to the Hebrew creation story, women were essentially the source of all the evil and ill in the world. The were created to be something men desired and to be owned by men. At least according to those stories. The real moral of that story is that woman are inherently untrustworthy.

A more modern moral would probably be that you should listen to the advice of others who are more wise or experience than you, and further, you shouldn't let your curiosity override your common sense.

Answer 2

It depends on how you look at it. The modern interpretation would likely be that you should have faith and obey the gods. Further there's the addition that despite all the ills in the world, there is always Hope.

However, the story itself alludes to how women were created as a punishment to man, and the events unfold because Pandora (the woman) didn't obey Epimetheus (her husband). So the underlying theme is that all the evils in the world were beset on men by woman, and that they should be controlled, lest they do considerable harm.

Answer 3

One can never escape the mind of Zeus.