Creating The Webbd Wheel: What is a Woman?
In which we consider definitions ...
And isn’t that question a political hot potato right now!
However, the story of Pandora comes to us from ancient Greece, and The Hanged Man was written well before the current conflicts at the heart of identity politics.
As a storyteller, I adapted and told Pandora’s tale years ago. I’ve always had sympathy for Pandora. Of course she opened the box! Of course she wanted to know what it contained. I would have done exactly the same thing.
Exposure of the hidden thing is a common theme in old stories from every culture. It often appears in the context of lovers. There’s only one rule: You must never look at me at night, or open this box or basket, or watch me when I’m doing a certain activity. One way or another, the lover does look, and discovers their partner is a magical being or has magical powers. The discovery and the broken promise have consequences.
Rumplestiltskin demonstrates the flexibility and paradox of story in this post. Old tales survive because they carry deep meanings. Not one, but many meanings, many layers. We can all recognize these various viewpoints of what a woman is. Are they all true? Are none of them true? Is the right answer hidden among the many interpretations?
Story is not science, not data. It doesn’t speak to the logical part of our brains. Story is dynamic, and it depends on intuition, imagination, metaphor, symbolism. I can tell you what I think this story means; in fact, I have told you, as I wrote it. But others might come up with different meanings. Nobody can capture an old story, pin it down, and demand consensus. Stories have their own lives, their own existence, and are untamable.
Just like a healthy woman.
The lack of emphasis on Pandora’s physical appearance in the source material is interesting. We don’t know what she looks like, what she wears, how she decorates her body. We don’t know what size her breasts or waist are, or how she wears her hair, or the color of her skin. Clearly, physical appearance is of no importance in defining what a woman is.
Said another way, in modern context, makeup, nail polish, clothing, hair, and jewelry do not define a woman. Neither do skills, jobs, or interests. The ability to present believably as a woman does not make one a woman. We must go much deeper in order to discover what a woman, or a man, for that matter, is.
Pandora doesn’t cook, or sew, or push a vacuum around. She doesn’t appear in the source material as a mother, a daughter, a wife, a sister, a lover, or a prostitute. She is not defined by gender roles of any kind, unless we believe curiosity and “disobedience” are the exclusive domain of women!
It’s important to note in all versions of Pandora’s story as told by Rumpelstiltskin she is defined by the onlooker, not self-defined. Nobody asks her what she is. Rather, she is told what she is. Each of Rumpelstiltskin’s definitions is an external narrative, a story based on observations and assumptions filtered through various psychological and experiential lenses.
Thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about what a woman is do not necessarily define a woman, and neither does our particular story about what it is to be a woman.
So what is a woman? Does this story give us a concrete answer?
No. I have a concrete answer, but that’s not what either the story or this essay is about. I don’t write to tell people what to think. I write to figure out what I think, and I hope to provoke readers to think for themselves. The purpose of story is to question, to consider different viewpoints, to gain insight, to consider layers of meaning. Rumplestiltskin gives the story to the initiates as a gift, a Rubik’s Cube, a Chinese puzzle box, perhaps even a warning. The point is not to come up with a concrete answer and demand agreement. The point is to play with the question, to descend into it, to see how far we can stretch around it.
Story is not a door slammed shut. It’s a window opened.
Note this story is rich in themes other than what a woman is. Hope. Is it good or is it bad? Is it both? Is it true it might be a weakness without action and intention? Did Pandora do wrong to open the vessel, or did she do exactly what the Gods who gave it into her keeping intended? Was that action necessary to the survival of the world of men, who until then had no reason to struggle, to grow, or to learn?
I don’t know. What do you think?
This particular version of Pandora’s story was in my keeping. Now I pass it on to you.
(This essay was published with post #44 of The Hanged Man.)