virgin, single, weeping in lonely solitude
This solidifies the fascination of the 'beautiful pure virgin' which is used a lot in Greek mythology. And Psyche was punished for her beauty and her punishment was having only the most "most wretched of men" would want her. This leaves Psyche to 'hate that beauty of form the world found so pleasing'. This seems like a ridiculous punishment when Psyche did nothing.
dark blood trickles down over his snow-white flesh
This is interesting imagery. The 'dark blood' is sad, evil and associated with death while the 'snow-white flesh' seems pure. Maybe this is a symbol for Adonis's pure-ness and beauty. But also being too pale is a sign of sickness and being ill. So this is just an interesting use of words.
Further on in the paragraph, it says "kiss of death" which made me wonder if this is where that trope came from.
And she swiftly summoned Cupid, that son of hers, a winged and headstrong boy, who with his wicked ways and contempt for public order, armed with his torch and his bow and arrows, goes running around at night in other people’s houses, ruining marriages everywhere, committing such shameful acts with impunity, and doing not an ounce of good.
I found this very interesting. In Western culture, we think of Cupid in such a positive way. But here it is claiming he does not do an once of good - this is just the opposite of how I viewed him growing up. I wonder about other depictions of Cupid in history and other cultures
Feels so long since when you punched and knocked out four men yesterday, left them naked in the street.
I didn't understand much of the comedy throughout this play BUT I did think this was funny. Mercurius is longing the fight men? The scene of him fighting 4 guys and leaving them 'naked in the street' just seems like a ridiculous show of masculinity
It never was the habit of my dad to boast to good folk of the good he does.
This just seems completely wrong haha. I do not think of Zeus as a humble god and I don't think many others (readers or characters in Greek myth) would agree. Interesting that Mercurius says this. I wonder if he really believes it or is just saying that (going back to the 'enslaved by his dad' line'
No wonder then he’s frightened for himself.
Does this mean he is afraid to be a human? Or afraid of humans? He is probably afraid to be a human because, as Zeus, he is almighty and has all this power. But under the disguise of Amphitruo, he doesn't have that power. The power that everyone fears him and respects him. I think he is 'afraid' not so much to be a human but that being a human means he looses his respect, power, and authority
you’re suddenly enslaved. I’m sure his master’s mean, but mine’s a god, and he’s depraved
does this mean that Mercurius believes he is enslaved by his father, Zeus? And he believes Zeus is evil? Mercurius comes to Earth and pretends to be Sosia but I was under the impression he did that to 'help' is dad, not because he was being forced / did not want to. Do all of Zeus's children think this way? That Zeus is evil and they are enslaved to him? Very interesting!
Nor did Epimetheus heed heed the advice from Prometheus
The part about Epimetheus embodies the "cunning, devilish, evil" part of about. She "tricks" him - this sums up about Greek society thought about women. That they are beautiful, can be used for sex and reproduction but are evil, terrible beings that you do not want to deal with otherwise. It blames Pandora (because she tricked Epimetheus) and NOT Zeus (who was the one who created her and wanted to get revenge on mankind)
But the woman took the great lid off the jar (95) and scattered what was inside. She devised baneful anxieties for humankind.
This states that women caused all the worlds evils. This can be seen as the 'birthplace' of misogyny - its kind of crazy how blatant this hatred of women is. I wonder how many cultures distain of women derived from this story. Pandora is 'so evil' that she didn't even let hope out of the box - this story wants Pandora to be the evilest thing ever (ie women are evil)
And he ordered Athena to teach her own craft to her, weaving a very intricate web. (65) And he ordered Aphrodite to shed golden charm over her head; also harsh longing, and anxieties that eat away at the limbs. And he ordered Hermes
It is so interesting that Zeus ordered other women to make Pandora. Athena, Aphrodite, and Horae helped create Pandora - does this mean women are at fault for the evils that Pandora brings to earth? Sort of seems like the onus is on these women rather than Zeus