Moral Allegory And Structuralism

1021 Words5 Pages
As stories are universally prevalent in all cultures, the following essay will specifically focus on mythology and will be supplemented with two theories that can explain the underlying meaning of the myth. The two theories that will be referred throughout the essay are Moral Allegory and Structuralism; although there is evidence that both theories have become obsolete, I will argue that they can both still work to explain certain myths. The purpose of this essay is to provide insightful evidence on the excerpt, Pandora, from Hesiod (Theogony 573 -620, translated in Trzaskoma et al., 2004) that it can be associated with the aforementioned theories and to provide rationale for how Structuralism defines it better. Advocates for Allegory clearly state that myth is a disguised philosophy or theology, concealed with secrets through the form of allegories (Dowden, 1992). Specifically, the excerpt will be looked at from the perspective of a Moral Allegory. The whole excerpt can be thought of as having women being a symbol for love. Although it was written in more of a negative light,…show more content…
Although Moral Allegory has its perks, it is difficult to say whether or not Hesiod’s interpretation is in fact what I have stated. Due to cultural and historical changes in comparison to Hesiod’s era and our current era, we cannot identify with complete accuracy any hidden values he has written, if any. Structuralism works better as we can look at the story as having social hierarchy and gender authority differences. It allows us to clearly note the binary opposites of evil and good and both Zeus’ and Pandora’s participation as a mediator. From Structuralism we can break down the myths into parts where we can then analyze them more thoroughly. This helps readers to understand the reason why Hesiod wrote his story in a specific format and what he meant in doing
Show More
Related

  • Hesiod And Pandora

    904 Words  | 4 Pages

    theories of mythology – philosophical allegory, and structuralism (Dowden, 1992, p. 17-24) to the myth of Pandora, which is presented by Hesiod (Trzaskoma et al., 2004, p. 162-164). This myth, attempts to answer some of man’s most impossible questions: Why is there evil in the world? In a universe where powerful gods exist, why is mankind subjected to such pain? Both theories offer various insightful explanations of Hesiod’s narrative, offering to expose the moral and social ideas of the ancient authors

    Read More

More about Moral Allegory And Structuralism

Open Document