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The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story of Gilgamesh, a man who was two-thirds god that was saved by companionship. Gilgamesh was a cruel and careless king, who spent his time raping women, exhausting citizens, and conquering foes and foreign lands until he met, fought and was guided by his great friend and soul mate, Enkidu. With the help of Enkidu and his influence, he learned compassion as well as wisdom and integrity, and eventually Gilgamesh became a great and fair king. Though the story focuses mainly on Gilgamesh and his friendship with Enkidu, there are several roles played by women that help to make and move the story along. Without these important women who show great strength and feminine qualities despite being oppressed by the patriarchy, Gilgamesh would not have been the great king he was meant to be. In the story, a women’s status is clear. Women are deemed as less important and less powerful compared to men. However, they are important and powerful characters that drive the story with their feminine qualities. Men often use women to gain for themselves, regardless of the outcome for the women. One of the women mentioned at the beginning of the story, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” is Shamhat, a harlot taken to seduce and tame Enkidu, by the hunter who discovers Enkidu. Shamhat is told to use her womanly ways to seduce Enkidu, dragging him away from his wild beast life. “Treat him, a human, to women’s work” (The Epic of Gilgamesh 104), There was no concern whatsoever to Shamhat’s well-being or safety. Yes, she was a harlot, but she was put in serious danger when she was used as bait to lure a wild man away from other wild beasts. Another example of women being controlled by a patriarchy in The Epic of Gilgamesh is the go... ... middle of paper ... ...y, as they are the characters that move the story forward. Shamhat’s seduction abilities, as well as Utnapishtim’s wife’s compassion, along with the help of Ninsun and Ishtar, the protagonists in the story moved forward. The women in the story display examples of feminine qualities and the overall strength women possess. The Epic of Gilgamesh shows that a women’s touch can tame even the wildest of men, and that a women’s wrath can send them spiraling. It also shows the nurturing and caring side of women, through their wisdom and compassion for others. Had it not been for these women and their places in society, Gilgamesh would never have accomplished all that he did. Works Cited "The Epic of Gilgamesh." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton & Compnany, 2012. 99-150. Print
The epic poem Gilgamesh is the first heroic epic of world literature. The role of the primary mortal woman mentioned in it is only to benefit and please men, and with little or no consideration as to how she feels...
...in literary works has often reflected the way that women were viewed at the time of each work’s creation. For three works, The Odyssey, The Wife of Bath, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, each author chose to oppose the prevailing view. The characters that these women play are crucial to the hero’s success or failure. Each woman is able to overcome adversity and oppression to prevail over the male sex. By doing so, they can be viewed as being a role model to all the women who read these works. Even though, there may not have been noticeable changes in the way women were treated in each work’s respective time period, they serve as a divergence away from traditional values and set a framework for further success in equality.
...omething frowned upon. This brings up the idea discussed in class that women are man’s greatest downfall. From the epics, one can assume that women are sneaky, manipulative, seductive, unfaithful, and disloyal beings that ensnare men and ultimately lead them to their destruction, whether physically or mentally. Not to say that there are not women like this in society but, portraying the majority of the female characters in this manner gives off the impression that women in general are all like that, which is most definitely not the case. Therefore the portrayal of these women is misleading and a little overdramatic.
The Epic of Gilgamesh follows the journey of the hero Gilgamesh, ruler of Uruk, who is two-thirds a God and just one part human. We are introduced to Gilgamesh as a tyrant who covets women and sends young men to battle or to endure heavy-labored work. As he is two-thirds a God, Gilgamesh is the strongest in the land, preventing anyone from challenging him as ruler. He is a dictator and has more power than he can use, so in the pursuit of entertainment that could live up to his God-like standards, he often causes great trouble in Uruk. The people of the city know they cannot satiate his appetites, so they turn to the only beings who have more power than Gilgamesh: the Gods. The people pray to the all-powerful Gods to create an equal for G...
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, gender plays a very significant role. While women were not the most powerful gods nor the strongest or wisest of humans, they still had tremendous influence. Though the main characters of the story, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, are male, women did not play a necessarily minor role. With all the women that play a role in the Epic of Gilgamesh, gender is a topic worthy of discussion.
Females in both texts, Gilgamesh and Genesis/Exodus, are not talked about very much at all and I think that in its self says a lot. When women are brought up they are either being used or doing something great. Even though they are only talked about a few times, when they actually are talked about it makes an impact on the story. Women are put into this story to make a difference to one of the other characters in the story.
In Greek literature, women are commonly assigned traditional gender roles. They are forced, confined, and demoted under the relentless and debilitating categorization of submissive, melodramatic, and obedient. When their position in society is juxtaposed with the role of men, the overwhelming discrepancy in the ability to pursue happiness and rights between men and women are especially apparent. While women are often overlooked and considered weak by societal terms, men are regarded upon in the highest esteem and provided with power and authority correlated with their gender, which automatically qualifies them with the role of the dominant figure in society. For the longest of time, society has constructed the role of women in a restrictive way to
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story that revolves around the companionship between the two heroes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Gilgamesh is a semi-god who is also the king of Uruk. As he has no equal, his power leads him to become corrupt. He becomes a greedy and cruel king who takes what he pleases without care. The gods set out to create an equally impressive man that could balance and counter Gilgamesh’s power. They created Enkidu, a wild man made of clay. At first they fought, but then they became inseparable friends. Gilgamesh and Enkidu would go onto to have adventures in which they would test their limits and brave the terrors of Ancient Mesopotamia. Throughout the Epic of Gilgamesh, the influence of women on Gilgamesh and Enkidu was visible,
in a patriarchal society, women lie at the bottom of the social hierarchy. A patriarchy judges women for their beauty and innocence rather than merit and intelligence. Throughout the twenty-four books of The Odyssey as well as Game of Thrones, a modern day rendition of medieval society written by George. R. R. Martin, women struggle for power in society. In these societies, in order to be accepted and respected, women need to submit to society.
In the narrative poem Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, otherwise known as the oppressive king of Uruk, endures great transformation. In the beginning, his character is unpleasantly
Women in The Epic of Gilgamesh plays a very significant role. Women were not considered as the most powerful gods nor the strongest or wisest of all humans but they still had great influence over others around them, at that time of Mesopotamia. Though the main characters of the story, Gilgamesh and Enkidu were men, women did not necessarily play a minor role. The roles of women in The Epic of Gilgamesh were mixed. Women are represented as harlots (Shamhat), wise (Ninsun) and as gods (Ishtar. In the epic of Gilgamesh, it can be seen that while men were considered to be the most powerful and wisest humans and gods, women had the power to significantly influence these men. Several women mentioned and described in the Epic of Gilgamesh carried roles that had important effects on the men they encountered. One woman I found very interesting is Ishtar, the goddess of love and fertility. I will discuss how women were being portrayed in the story using her character to support my analysis and how the creators of this epic portrayed women in Mesopotamia through this character.
The society in which classical myths took place, the Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal one. By taking a careful gander at female characters in Greco-Roman mythology one can see that the roles women played differ greatly from the roles they play today. The light that is cast upon females in classical myths shows us the views that society had about women at the time. In classical mythology women almost always play a certain type of character, that is to say the usual type of role that was always traditionally played by women in the past, the role of the domestic housewife who is in need of a man’s protection, women in myth also tended to have some unpleasant character traits such as vanity, a tendency to be deceitful, and a volatile personality. If one compares the type of roles that ladies played in the myths with the ones they play in today’s society the differences become glaringly obvious whilst the similarities seem to dwindle down. Clearly, and certainly fortunately, society’s views on women today have greatly changed.
The struggle for women to play an important role in history can be traced from the ancient Mesopotamians to the 1900’s. There has been a continuous battle for women to gain equal rights and to be treated equally in all aspects of life. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest recorded account of the roles of women and their importance in a functional society. Women have been viewed as anything from goddesses to unwanted servants throughout history, regardless of a variety of changes in rulers, religions, and simply time periods. The Epic of Gilgamesh might lead one to consider the roles of women a small and insignificant part compared to the man 's role. In fact, three women; Shamhat, Ishtar, and Siduri, were able to create and maintain a civilized Mesopotamian society with using their uniqueness of their body, mind, and spirit.
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 "The Epic of Gilgamesh" it seem like the women have all the power. The women have great influences on the men. In "Gilgamesh" sex plays an important role, and it also seems that sex has a hold on Gilgamesh and also Enkidu - not just a hold on them, but more of an addiction throughout the story of Gilgamesh. In the beginning of the story, Gilgamesh has a great lust that leaves "no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior's daughter nor the wife of noble men. To me, the lust in Gilgamesh's heart makes him a very selfish person. I think what makes Gilgamesh a selfish person is because the gods made him perfect, he was beautiful and strong as a savage bull and everyone feared Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh knew he had power so he abused it, because no men could bear Gilgamesh's arms. Also since Gilgamesh was king of Uruk, of which he had built the great city walls, he took what he wanted.