why was hope in pandora's box ?

Question

i understand that when she opened the box, all the evils of the world were unleashed, and that the only thing left was hope, but why would hope be classed as an evil ?

Answer 1

I came across this explanation:Hope springs eternal in the hearts of humankind.
Lying within every disaster is Hope and from the Greek myth of Pandora's Box we see that the gods in their wisdom and kindness(even though the human race was being punished for the wrongs of Prometheus) saw to it that we would have hope and that it should still be found in amongst the evil,misfortunes and calamities that have beset humankind since the dawn of time. When we find life too hard,tough and painful,hope can be a temporary but calming sedative to the troubled soul. Initially it is hope, sometimes illusory, that gets us through the early stage of the misfortunes that befall us.[i] Often people who articulate hope well in times of disaster and turmoil are elevated to the status of heroes...

Following the first initial phase of upheaval or disaster,the first task is turning hope into optomistic and realistic plans for the future that will possibbly alleviate the problem and maybe prevent it's re-occurrence. Responded to in this way and with specific goals in mind hope is then outward looking and creates new oppurtunities out of crisis,it also adds to one's emotional growth.

But hope also has another side to it,it is the side that can show it's face when we are either unable or not willing to transform this illusory hope into realistic hope. It is an immature denial of reality,a flight into fantasy that someone/something will simply appear magically, making things better. A fantasy like this would be to pin your hopes on winning a lottery and solving all your money problems that way rather than make some workable plan to deal with them. Now it would be fair to say that the majority of us are given to both forms of hope,illusory and realistic although circumstance and our personal history will often be the decider as to which form will dominate. We need to have a sense of hope in either form in order to survive but it is important that we know the difference between the two.

The opposite of hope and the most unbearable of the human emotions is Hopelessness. It is said that "where the is life there is hope"..but might it not be that "where there is hope there is life"?.....it would seem that with hope gone that even rising from our bed each day would be futile......without hope what sort of life are we to have...?...It certainly would be without love or meanining. A living death.

Answer 2

Hope was the seal within the box that held the evils in the box, and Hope remained in the box so that human kind would not loose there own hope that one day evil my be gone form the world. That is my opinion any way, and I am sure there are many a ancient philosophers that have written there views on the matter sadly those text may have been lost to the ages.

Answer 3

Hope wasn't classed as an evil. It was in the box with all the evil things because until they entered the world, there was no need for hope. It was in the box in case someone opened it, because when stuff starts to go wrong, then you need hope.

Answer 4

If you think about it, Hope was not needed when there were no evils in the world. Once Evil was introduced, Hope was the gift of the gods to mankind to help them deal with these evils, to see the light at the end of the tunnel so they could get through the tough times.

Answer 5

Most scholars contend that Pandora's "box" is a mistranslation, and her "box" may have been a large jar or vase, forged from the earth, perhaps because of similarities in shape between a jar and a woman's uterus. There is also evidence to suggest that Pandora herself was the "jar".

The mistranslation is usually attributed to the 16th Century Humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam when he translated Hesiod's tale of Pandora. Hesiod uses the word "pithos" which refers to a jar used to store grain. It is possible that Erasmus confused "pithos" with "pyxis" which means box. The scholar M.L. West has written that Erasmus may have mixed up the story of Pandora with the story found elsewhere of a box which was opened by Psyche.

The original Greek text from 700 BC of Hesiod's Works and Days, whence we get the earliest extant story of Pandora and the jar, does not specify exactly what was in the box Pandora opened.

Answer 6

hope is considered the worst of the potential evils, because it is equated with terrifying foreknowledge. By preventing hope from escaping the jar, Pandora in a sense saves the world from the worst damage.
if that makes sence

Answer 7

They had to put hope in the box or everyone would think the story was pointless. Meaning that people would think that there's no hope against the 'evils' of the world, and people would top themselves.

Answer 8

As previous posters have stated, the field replaced into supposedly a actual component (in some thoughts it quite is forged as an urn or a pot, yet many times a sealed field) given as a doubtful wedding ceremony present to pandora by zeus, who had decrease than nicely-wishing in thoughts. interior have been each and every of the evils of the international, so while Pandora's curiousity have been given the extra suitable of her and he or she opened it, the paradise of the international replaced into ruined and beset by plagues and ills. besides the indisputable fact that, in some retellings, she controlled to clap the lid back close basically in time to determine "desire" did no longer get out - to be sure that even if undesirable issues ensue, mankind constantly has desire left. it quite is an historic tale, that, in my own opinon, replaced into later swiped and repackaged into the completed eve/apple/fall of eden tale for the bible.

Answer 9

The storyteller didn't class hope as an evil: it was the one consolation humanity was left with. Probably tied in with the idea that the gods were ultimately merciful, and tried to help humans even though they were disobedient and didn't deserve it.

Answer 10

I will consult with the oracle and let you know.

My box had two compartments; One filled with the force of evil and the other one full of hope for the world. I opened the wrong one and evil forced it's way onto the world, but the compartment with hope (and hope always springs eternal) was there to save the day and let forth the power of Faith, Hope and Charity.