Pandora's Box Critical Lens Essay

Most people have experienced the feeling of receiving important advice, but not wanting to listen to it, and having to face the consequences later. This is presented in both the myths “Pandora's Box” by Louis Untermeyer and “Icarus Flies Too Close to the Sun'' by Josephine Preston Peabody. In “Pandora’s Box,” Pandora is told to never open the box she was given because she can never trust the gods, however, her curiosity keeps bringing her back to the box and its mystery. In “Icarus Flies Too Close to the Sun,” Icarus was strictly demanded to be careful about how high or low he flies, even so, he gets too exhilarated and forgets the words of his father and suffers the terrible fate of drowning. In the myths “Pandora’s Box” and “Icarus Flies Too Close to the Sun” the common message represented is if one should ignore the advice given by the wise, one

In “Pandora’s Box,” the theme that if one should ignore the advice given by the wise, one would have negative consequences is clearly shown. Epimetheus was concerned with Pandora and he needed to make sure she did not open the box. At the beginning of the story, he starts by telling her they “have reasons to fear the gods'' and then adds, “also their gifts,” so it is important to “keep it well fastened.” He even makes it more known how much he means it because he would “never rest easy” if Pandora would forget his words (Untermeyer 478). This part of the text demonstrates when the advice was given to Pandora and how Epimetheus was definitely wiser than her because he had been on the earth for a lot longer than she had. The whole conflict is based on whether or not Pandora can control her curiosity and listen to the wise words that tell her she cannot open it. The theme is further installed in the middle of the myth because Pandora can not get the box out of her mind and she does something she would regret. The text shows this when the author writes, “Half fearfully and half eagerly she lifted the