<P> In the first half of the 18th - century, three French plays were produced with the title "Pandora's Box" (La Boîte--or Boëte--de Pandore). In each of these the main interest is in the social and human effects of the evils released from the box and in only one of them does Pandora figure as a character . The 1721 play by Alain René Lesage appeared as part of the longer La Fausse Foire . It was a one - act prose drama of 24 scenes in the commedia dell'arte style . At its opening, Mercury has been sent in the guise of Harlequin to check whether the box given by Jupiter to the animated statue Pandora has been opened . He proceeds to stir up disruption in her formerly happy village, unleashing ambition, competition, greed, envy, jealousy, hatred, injustice, treachery and ill - health . Amid the social breakdown, Pierrot falls out with the bride he was about to marry at the start of the play and she becomes engaged instead to a social upstart . </P> <P> The play by Philippe Poisson (1682 - 1743) was a one - act verse comedy first produced in 1729 . There Mercury visits the realm of Pluto to interview the ills shortly to be unleashed on mankind . The characters Old Age, Migraine, Destitution, Hatred, Envy, Paralysis, Quinsy, Fever and Transport (emotional instability) report their effects to him . They are preceded by Love, who argues that he deserves to figure among them as a bringer of social disruption . The later play of 1743 was written by Pierre Brumoy and subtitled "curiosity punished" (la curiosité punie). The three - act satirical verse comedy is set in the home of Epimetheus and the six children recently created by Prometheus . Mercury comes on a visit, bringing the fatal box with him . In it are the evils soon to subvert the innocence of the new creations . Firstly seven flatterers: the Genius of Honours, of Pleasures, Riches, Gaming (pack of cards in hand), Taste, Fashion (dressed as Harlequin) and False Knowledge . These are followed by seven bringers of evil: envy, remorse, avarice, poverty, scorn, ignorance and inconstancy . The corrupted children are rejected by Prometheus but Hope arrives at the end to bring a reconciliation . </P> <P> It is evident from these plays that, in France at least, blame had shifted from Pandora to the trickster god who contrives and enjoys mankind's subversion . Although physical ills are among the plagues that visit humanity, greater emphasis is given to the disruptive passions which destroy the possibility of harmonious living . </P> <P> Two poems in English dealing with Pandora's opening of the box are in the form of monologues, although Frank Sayers preferred the term monodrama for his recitation with lyrical interludes, written in 1790 . In this Pandora is descending from Heaven after being endowed with gifts by the gods and therefore feels empowered to open the casket she carries, releasing strife, care, pride, hatred and despair . Only the voice of Hope is left to comfort her at the end . In the poem by Samuel Phelps Leland (1839 - 1910), Pandora has already arrived in the household of Epimetheus and feels equally confident that she is privileged to satisfy her curiosity, but with a worse result . Shutting the lid too early, she thus "let loose all curses on mankind / Without a hope to mitigate their pain". This is the dilemma expressed in the sonnet that Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote to accompany his oil painting of 1869 - 71 . The gifts with which Pandora has been endowed and that made her desirable are ultimately subverted, "the good things turned to ill...Nor canst thou know / If Hope still pent there be alive or dead ." In his painting Rossetti underlines the point as a fiery halo streams upward from the opening casket on which is inscribed the motto NESCITUR IGNESCITUR (unknown it burns). </P>

What is the legend of pandora's box