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Themes in the epic of gilgamesh
Themes in the epic of gilgamesh
Themes in the epic of gilgamesh
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Loyalty in The Epic of Gilgamesh The ancient Mesopotamian writing, The Epic of Gilgamesh, gives readers insight into the traditions and customs of the people who wrote it. Like all epics, The Epic of Gilgamesh is the story of a heroic national figure: this epic gives the story of the life of Gilgamesh from his birth as two-thirds god, one-third man to his death. Throughout the epic the importance of loyalty is addressed. In The Epic of Gilgamesh readers see that loyalty is the most important aspect of a Mesopotamian relationship and that there are always consequences for violating trust. Insight into loyalty and the consequences of violating loyalty is first along with the civilization of Enkidu. Before his civilization "Enkidu ate grass in the hills with the gazelle and lurked with the wild beasts; he had joy of water with the heads of wild game" (63). Not only did Enkidu live with the animals of the hills "he helps the wild game to escape; he fills in my pits and pulls up my traps" (64). The animals of the hills trusted Enkidu. No other man would be allowed to run with these animals, but they accepted Enkidu. The young trapper became displeased with the actions of Enkidu. The trapper journeys to Uruk to seek advice from Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh advises the trapper to "go back, take with you a child of pleasure. At the drinking-hole she will strip, and when he sees her beckoning he will embrace her and the game of the wilderness will surely reject him" (64). This passage demonstrates the known consequences of violating a loyalty. Gilgamesh knows that Enkidu will not be able to resist the temptation of a woman. The animals of the hills distrust humans and by being with a woman Enkidu will violate the trust of the animals. The trapper takes a harlot and returns the fields. Gilgamesh's plan works well: "As he lay on her murmuring love she taught him the woman's art. For six days and seven nights they lay together, for Enkidu had forgotten his home in the hills; but when he was satisfied he went back to the wild beasts. Then when the gazelle saw him, they bolted away" (65). Just as Gilgamesh had predicted Enkidu gave into human desire and became civil. The animals were betrayed and no longer accepted Enkidu as of their own.
Theodore Roethke's poem “My Papa's Waltz” is a unique American poem which is written in iambic trimeter. The poem captures the sometimes intense relationship between father and son. Roethke's own father, a German immigrant, died when he was still a teenager. His father was a major inspiration in his life and images from his childhood appear throughout his poetry. A biographer, Matt Forster comments that “His poems are often explorations of his own psyche, using imagery from his childhood to describe his interior life (Forster 2005).” He became one of the best known American poets by the end of his lifetime in 1963. In the famous poem “My Papa's Waltz” the author uses musicality and deep psychologically-rooted themes to create a poem that is unforgettable and alive with action. The poem is composed in iambic trimeter which parallels the 1, 2, 3 tempo of a waltz. This feature helps in creating the illusion of musicality and dancing as is suggested in the poem's title. Thematically the poem comments on the oedipal complex, the intimate relationship between father and son, loss, memory and music.
“My Papa’s Waltz” is composed of four stanzas with four lines in each stanza. Each line is similar in length and the same number of rhymes. In each stanza, there are rhymes or rhymes combined with the first and the third lines or the second and fourth lines. Theodore Roethke’s poem, "My Papa’s Waltz," is often times misunderstood regarding the nature of the relationship between the father and son. Without having any prior knowledge of Roethke’s relationship with his father it is difficult to fully understand the meaning of this poem. Judging by the title, the person revealed in these lines is the boy’s father, and the boy is the speaker. The father is drunk on whiskey. He’s drunk to the point that the scent of his breath is too much for the boy. It is hard to decide if he is actually there, as there is nothing actually said between father and son, nor does the father respond to the boy. Rather, his son is possibly just imagining him. The line "I hung on like death" (Roethke 3), suggests that the whiskey is in fact causing the boy to become dizzy. The use of the word “death” so soon in the poem signals the reader that this poem is not merely a joyful memory. Suggesting the boy hung on “like” death is an example of a simile ("My Papa’s Waltz | Literature Folio", n.d., ). Furthermore, the "waltz" of the poem is a metaphor for the relationship between father and son, indicating the struggle between enjoying and fearing his father’s strength. The details used in describing what is taking place in the kitchen shows the pair is creating so much uproar that the pans are falling off the walls. These lines also provide the setting, the kitchen. A great deal of family life is spent in the kitchen – cooking, eating, and now, waltz...
Kate Chopin makes an effort to display different elements that women can bring to a situation. Her descriptions of the female characters displays women as helpless at first glance, but at closer look readers see the underlying strength that females can obtain in the midst of adversity. "The Story of an Hour" largely focuses on the dependence of Mrs. Mallard towards her thought to be late husband, yet Chopin also incorporates gender roles within Josephine as well.
The role of the prostitute is to tame Enkidu and civilize him. Enkidu is found by a hunter, he lived with the animals and did as the animals would. The hunter brought the prostitute to domestic Enkidu. In that time time they thought that having sexual relations would civilize or domestic a wild man. So the prostitute sleeps with Enkidu and the animals do not except him anymore as one of their own. So he is now forced into the human world.
Oedipus Rex”, by Socrates, is a play that shows the fault of men and the ultimate power of the gods. Throughout the play, the main character, Oedipus, continually failed to recognize the fault in human condition, and these failures let to his ultimate demise. Oedipus failed to realize that he, himself was the true answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus ignored the truth told to him by the oracles and the drunk at the party, also. These attempts to get around his fate which was determined by the gods was his biggest mistake. Oedipus was filled with hubris and this angered the gods. He believed he was more that a man. These beliefs cause him to ignore the limits he had in being a man. Oedipus needed to look at Teiresias as his window to his future.
Boredom causes Gilgamesh and Enkidu to make another bad choice. Gilgamesh decides to make a name for him. Gilgamesh wants to go to the great cedar forest and cut down all the cedar trees. In order to do this they need to kill the Guardian of the Cedar Forest, Humbaba. Enkidu has seen this demon and initially tries to dissuade Gilgamesh. Enkidu is not the only one trying to discourage this adventure. The elders and Ninsun also try to discourage the adventure. Gilgamesh is given many opportunities to make a different choice, but does not choose to. He continues on to make a name for himself. Even in the midst of the battle Gilgamesh is given the opportunity to spare the life of Humbaba. Once again Gilgamesh makes a choice, he chooses to slay the great demon. Humbaba then curses Enkidu. Sometimes a choice may not only affect the one that makes the choice, but others also. Gilgamesh chooses to kill Humbaba. Enkidu even tries to talk Gilgamesh out of it, but in the end it was Gilgamesh that is cursed.
Everyone has memories about the past in which they can remember a certain taste, smell, or feeling that brings joy. The speaker in “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke is reminiscing about his father in what used to be a joyful moment but is now a haunting memory. This poem is frequently analyzed due to it’s meaning that continues to be relevant after sixty-eight years. It can be seen as a happy poem about a father and a son, but the diction and metaphors used lead to its serious and sad implication. “My Papa’s Waltz,” is a narrative poem written in a lyrical way using rhythm and beat. The speaker tells a story about a joyful memory between a father and son that has an unfortunate connotation. Behavior in family relationships is not always what is seems to be because the speaker realizes the truth behind the moments he had with his father.
The poem being written in 1948, making Roethke forty years old, was made at a time when Roethke is older and more able to understand his father’s position. While the actions in the poem appear to incriminate the father, the tone throughout seems lighthearted and playful. The word “Papa” in the title has a connotation to a small child’s loving term for his father. The rhyme and rhythm of the lines give the poem an upbeat, playful mood. This mood gives the poem the feeling that the author is looking back at these memories as hilarious, given tragedy plus time equaling comedy, and is thankful for the time his busy father would spend with him. As a man, Theodore could understand the hard work it takes to provide for a family and the emotional toll it would
Tying this to the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu at this point, we know that Gilgamesh treats women as more of prizes than actual human beings throughout the epic. This is especially apparent on Tablet VI, after Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to be her husband. Gilgamesh spends 42 lines of Tablet VI (24-76) telling Ishtar that she will not actually love him, citing two of her former husbands: Dumuzi from line 43, and Ishullanu from line 61. This angers Ishtar and sends the Bull of Heaven after Gilgamesh, which would ultimately lead to Enkidu’s
Enkidu was created to be Gilgamesh’s equal and his soul mate. ‘“You made him… now create his equal; let it be as like him as his own reflection, his second self, stormy heart for stormy heart’” (14). So the goddess of creation, Aruru “dipped her hands in water and pinched off clay, she let it fall in the wilderness” and created Enkidu (14). Before Gilgamesh had met Enkidu he loved him; ‘“… I bent down, deeply drawn towards… [Enkidu]… I loved it like a woman and wore it at my side”’ (16). Enkidu had “virtue in him” (14). He was also “innocent of mankind” (14). After Enkidu was civilized the wild animals would not be near him. He felt ...
Theodore Roethke's history is significant to the tone and subject matter of his poetry. A poet of the Midwest, he combines a love of the land with his vision of the development of the individual. Roethke is often described as a confessional poet because of his use of modernist techniques to explore his psychology and life (Dunn). Many of his most successful poems are lyrical memories of his childhood. "My Papa's Waltz," is one such account. Theodore's father owned and operated greenhouses, and Theodore spent a great deal of time there in his youth. Many of his memories of these times became the subject of his writings. However, the poet's adolescent years were jarred by the death of his father from cancer in 1923, a loss that would powerfully shape Roethke's psychic and creative life. (Kalaidjian)
Perhaps one of the main reasons the Epic of Gilgamesh is so popular and has lasted such a long time, is because it offers insight into the human concerns of people four thousand years ago, many of which are still relevant today. Some of these human concerns found in the book that are still applicable today include: the fear and concerns people have in relation to death, overwhelming desires to be immortal, and the impact a friendship has on a person’s life. It does not take a great deal of insight into The Epic of Gilgamesh for a person to locate these themes in the story, and even less introspection to relate to them.
The epic begins with the men of Uruk describing Gilgamesh as an overly aggressive ruler. "'Gilgamesh leaves no son to his father; day and night his outrageousness continues unrestrained; And he is the shepherd of Uruk, the enclosure; He is their shepherd, and yet he oppresses them. Strong, handsome, and wise. . . Gilgamesh leaves no virgin to her lover.'"(p.18, Line 23-27) The citizens respect him, but they resent his sexual and physical aggression, so they plead to the gods to alleviate some of their burden. The gods resolve to create an equal for Gilgamesh to tame him and keep him in line. This equal, Enkidu, has an immediate impact on Gilgamesh. When they first meet, both having never before met a man equal in stature, they brawl. "They grappled with each other, Snorting like bulls; They shattered the doorpost, that the wall shook."(p.32, lines 15-18) In giving Gilgamesh a real battle, Enkidu instantly changes him; having this equal gives Gilgamesh a sense of respect for another man. These two men fighting each other creates a serious mess, but they both end up without animosity toward the other.
In order to lessen the fear of that power being used for crude purposes, Gilgamesh enacts a civilizing campaign of Enkidu. The prostitute sent to seduce Enkidu is done with the intent that “the wild beasts that shared his life in the hills will reject him” (Gilgamesh 64). Though meaning the literal animals of the forest Enkidu originally lived with, this line may also serve a metaphorical purpose as well. The “wild beasts” or thoughts of pure animal reason also are assumed to leave Enkidu’s mind and Enkidu realizes “wisdom was in him, and the thoughts of a man were in his heart” (Gilgamesh 65). Gilgamesh’s own creation appears to have been done with civilizing intent. After all, Gilgamesh is decidedly two-thirds god and one-third man (Gilgamesh 61). However, Gilgamesh’s motivations lead him to take actions to the detriment of his people. This is particularly true in regards to leadership. Previous to discovering Enkidu, it appears Gilgamesh’s actions are thoughtless towards his own people including enforcing the doctrine of prima nocta (Gilgamesh 68). After learning that everlasting life is not his destiny, Gilgamesh takes his own self-aggrandizing actions and reverses them. These motivations direct him to enact his great building projects. As the civilizing of Enkidu was defined in the parameters of participating in social
The epic begins with Gilgamesh terrorizing the people of Uruk. They call out to the sky god Anu for help. In response Anu tells the goddess of creation, Aruru, to make an equal for Gilgamesh. Thus Aruru created Enkidu, a brute with the strength of dozens of wild animals. After being seduced by a harlot from the temple of love in Uruk, Enkidu loses his strength and wildness yet gains wisdom and understanding. The harlot offers to take him into Uruk where Gilgamesh lives, the only man worthy of Enkidu's friendship. After a brief brawl the two become devoted friends.