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Love, Friendship and Sexuality in ‘Gilgamesh’
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Love, Friendship and Sexuality in ‘Gilgamesh’
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story about men and gods, set in ancient Mesopotamia. Gilgamesh is king in the kingdom of Uruk, where he rules with impunity. The epic follows the events in Gilgamesh’s life that culminate in him becoming a humble person after a great friendship with Enkidu. Just like any other work of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh contains several important themes, such as immortality, the nature of the gods, as well as love and sexuality. Although the story is set in ancient times quite different from ours, readers stand to learn quite a lot from reading the story. The central theme in the story is love, friendship, and sexuality, and the significance is that readers can relate these to their own lives.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu met under difficult circumstances, yet they grew to become the best of friends. Gilgamesh was a harsh and ruthless king who mistreated his people at will. For example, he raped any woman he desired and also used forced labor to build his temple. The people of Uruk cried out at these injustices, and the gods heard them. To challenge Gilgamesh, the gods sent a creature named Enkidu, who lived in the wild with animals. When a trapper discovered Enkidu’s extraordinary strength, he brought a prostitute named Shamhat to tame Enkidu and make him human. Sex was considered a calming force. After meeting with Shamhat, the wild animals ran away from Enkidu. He went to Uruk in search of Gilgamesh, who was just about to rape a bride, and the two men fought for a long time. Eventually, Gilgamesh prevailed, but the two later became good friends. They went on various adventures, but they angered the gods, and Enkidu was punished with death. Heartbroken over losing his friend, Gilgamesh sought a way to become immortal.
The friendship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh is the major part of the epic. Although the two met under strained circumstances, they later went on to become great friends (Ackerman,18). After their first fight, they set out on adventures together. One of these was to a forest belonging to the gods and forbidden to mortals. The two disregarded this and entered the forest, after killing Humbaba, the demon guarding the forest. They then journeyed back to Uruk on a raft made from cedars from the forest. When they returned, one of the goddesses named Ishtar fell in love with Gilgamesh, but he ignored her. Ishtar had her father send the Bull of heaven to destroy Gilgamesh, but he and Enkidu managed to kill the bull. This enraged the gods who killed Enkidu.
Love is evident in the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, as well as between other characters in the story. The theme of love and friendship is significant because it shows readers how powerful the force of love can be. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu met, they were supposed to be enemies because Enkidu was sent to stop Gilgamesh and his evil ways. However, even after the two fought, they later became good friends. This shows that friendship can strike between any two people, no matter their circumstances. Love is an integral part of friendship because it is the force that binds two people together (Ziolkowski 31). The love between Gilgamesh and Enkidu is even more apparent after Enkidu’s death. Gilgamesh was stricken with grief after his friend’s death and worried about his own death in the future. This deep grief is a sign of how much Gilgamesh loved Enkidu and valued their friendship.
The theme of love and friendship in the Epic of Gilgamesh also shows how far people are willing to go for love and friendship. The goddess Ishtar fell in love with Gilgamesh, although he did not return her feelings. This deeply wounded and enraged the goddess, and she set up a scheme to punish Gilgamesh. She asked her father to send the bull of heaven to destroy Gilgamesh, all because her love was not returned. This situation shows that love is a powerful and also destructive force when it is not reciprocated (Besamusca 12). Enkidu and Gilgamesh teamed up and eventually killed the bull, a testament to their great friendship. Enkidu could have left Gilgamesh to deal with his problems, but as a true friend, he stood with him in his challenges. Sexuality is shown in the situation between Shamhat and Enkidu. Sex was considered a powerful tool that could calm Enkidu from being a beast into a man, and it worked. The significance of this is that with the right weapon, any person can be subdued. In the epic of Gilgamesh, sex was a powerful tool, and the trapper used wisely to tame Enkidu.
In conclusion, the theme of love, friendship, and sexuality in the epic of Gilgamesh is significant in many ways. The friendship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh teaches readers that even the worst situation can result in positive outcomes. Enkidu and Gilgamesh should have been enemies, but they struck up a great friendship in trying times. Love is a major part of friendship and other relationships because it allows people to support each other in good and bad times. Enkidu and Gilgamesh shared a great love, and this is why Gilgamesh was greatly wounded by the death of his friend. The theme gives readers a chance to reflect on their own situations, and see the positive side of any terrible situation. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a great lesson due to its relevant themes.
Works Cited
Ackerman, Susan. When heroes love: the ambiguity of eros in the stories of Gilgamesh and David. Columbia University Press, 2005.
Besamusca, Bart. “The human condition, friendship and love: The Epic of Gilgamesh and medieval Arthurian romance.” People and Texts: Relationships in Medieval Literature. Brill Rodopi, 2007. 1-15.
Ziolkowski, Theodore. Gilgamesh Among Us: Modern encounters with the ancient epic. Cornell University Press, 2011.
Long Essay
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Long Essay
The 1920s were prosperous years from the American population, and this cultivated the culture of consumerism. At this time, items such as ready-made clothing, motor vehicles, household appliances like refrigerators, and trips to theatres became staples in the American household. Although these were not new in the country, there was an increased appetite for them in the 1920s. There are several reasons for this shift to consumerism. Consumerism is a theory used to explain why people acquire goods and services in increasing amounts with time (Beder 43). Some of the reasons for the increasing consumerism in the country during the 1920s are technological advancements and inventions in areas such as communication, transport, and manufacturing.
The first reason is that people had more disposable income with increased prosperity. More Americans had jobs, and wages were on the rise. Wages rose from an approximate figure of $36.4 billion to over $50 billion. This rise meant that people earned more, and thus they had more disposable income to spend. They spent this extra money on consumer goods that they previously would not have been able to access. Access to credit also became much easier during the 1920s, and people could purchase any goods they wanted and pay off their debts later over time. This fuelled the attitude that a person could buy now and pay later.
Advertising also played a massive role in encouraging the culture of consumerism in the 1920s. Companies used different platforms such as television, print media, and celebrities to advertise their products to the public. Movie theatres gained popularity during the time, and advertisers took advantage of this. There were adverts before the airing of movies, and this prompted consumers to purchase the products they saw. The 1920s also saw a growth in the celebrity culture, and ordinary people wanted to be like these celebrities. A company would hire a celebrity to advertise a product, and people would rush to purchase the item. Access to electricity as the country switched from coal gave households the power needed to run appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators, and electric irons that saved on labor and were also luxurious (Beder 45). Another reason why the United States prospered in the 1920s is increased efficiencies in terms of new technology and mass production. An example of this is the assembly line in factories that allowed them to harness economies of scale and produce goods at a lower price for the consumers.
The Great Depression between 1929 and 1940 marked a period of economic turmoil for the United States, and it also spread to other industrialized nations in the world. The Depression brought changes to the relationship between the economy and the state. Currently, the US government has different kinds of support for citizens who are unemployed, disabled, or living in poverty. Things were quite different in the 1930s. There were no such provisions, and when the Great Depression hit, people lost their sources of income, leaving them helpless. This was when President Roosevelt sprung to action with the New Deal and the Second New Deal.
Before the Depression, the economic system was more or less a laissez-faire capitalistic system (Cole & Ohanian 783). However, when the economy collapsed, the people were left alone with no one to come to their rescue. This situation is what prompted the state to take more control of the economy, and the two were firmly entwined since then. The government took a more proactive approach when it came to economic matters. Some of the systems introduced under the New Deals include social; security, unemployment insurance, welfare programs, job creation programs, among others (Cole & Ohanian. 802).These federal programs allowed the state to oversee the economy of the country and step in when necessary. For example, unemployed people could file for unemployment insurance and get some money from the government when they lost their jobs. About two hundred thousand people received social security benefits in 1940 alone, and this has grown to millions today.
The Second World War and the early Cold War brought many changes to the United States. The Cold War inspired fear and paranoia among the American public that there were communist spies in the country (Keegan 31). For this reason, the government and the public took a great interest in finding any spies and punishing them. Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy preyed on this public fear claiming that he had a list of communist spies within the country. The Second World War had a significant impact on the US economy. When the war began, the country was still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression, including widespread unemployment. The war effort required the production of different kinds of goods and this created employment for many people. World War two became a kind of alleviation for the Great Depression because people could find work in the factories (Murray & Millett 11).
The America of today is based mainly on the contours of the twentieth century. The first reason for this is that many government programs established under the New Deal during the Great Depression are still in place today. These include unemployment insurance, government bailouts, and the social security system. The Cold War was characterized by proxy wars between the United States and the Soviet Union, and this persists to date. The United States and countries from Eastern Europe fight for superiority in areas such as space exploration, the creation of arms and weapons, as well as proxy wars.
Works Cited
Beder, Sharon. “Consumerism: An historical perspective.” Pacific Ecologist 9.1 (2004): 42-48.
Cole, Harold L., and Lee E. Ohanian. “New Deal policies and the persistence of the Great Depression: A general equilibrium analysis.” Journal of political Economy 112.4 (2004): 779-816.
Keegan, John. The second world war. Random House, 2011.
Murray, Williamson, and Allan Reed Millett. A war to be won: Fighting the Second World War. Harvard University Press, 2009.
Literary Analysis The Yellow Wallpaper
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Literary Analysis: The Yellow Wallpaper
The short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman discusses the narrator’s struggle with mental illness without any support from her husband. The narrator and her husband went to a holiday home so that the narrator could get enough rest and improve her health. In reading the short story, readers can see that the narrator is an oppressed woman who has little or no say in what happens to her. Her husband makes all the decisions, and he often dismisses everything that she wants to do or say. In the nineteenth century, women suffered from many types of oppression, and the narrator in the short story embodies many of their struggles. With time, women gained the courage to speak out against oppression, especially through the media. As a writer, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote the short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ as a way to expose her own struggle through the literary media by employing different themes and literary styles.
The main character in the story is the narrator, who in this case, is the author of the short story. She is suffering from depression and struggles with how to overcome it. Her husband, John, is a doctor who has dismissed her illness as nothing more than ‘temporary nervous depression’ (Maitun 12).Despite this diagnosis, the author feels that there is something more profound, but her opinion is drowned under the learned opinion of both her brother and husband, who are professionals in the medical field. Weir Mitchell is the doctor who treats the narrator, and his recommendation is the resting cure. He thinks that a lot of rest will eventually help to cure the sick woman. For this reason, John takes the narrator to a holiday home from which she writes ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’ The narrator explains, “He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get.” (Gilman 648)John does not want the narrator to exert herself in any way, and she has to keep her writing a secret though it makes her feel better. The short story is based on Gilman’s personal struggle with depression and futile attempts at getting treatment. Having been treated by Dr Mitchell, she wrote the story to elaborate on the evils of the resting cure.
One of the major themes in the short story is the oppression of women in marriage. The narrator’s husband makes all the decisions regarding her life, leaving her no option to follow his every lead. He does not care what she thinks or wants; he just does what he feels is good for her. She writes, “He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.” (Gilman 648) For example, she is not allowed to write or do any other work despite the fact that she knows some type of exertion would make her better. Instead of confronting her husband about this, she is reduced to hiding her journal whenever her husband approaches. John refuses to let the narrator see her cousins because he thinks they are too stimulating for her delicate condition. Another prominent theme in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is self-expression. The narrator in the story is not allowed to express herself in any way, especially through writing. She has to keep her thoughts and opinions to herself, and this eventually drives her into a nervous breakdown. The diary is the only way for her to express her stifled thoughts and opinions.
The main premise that Gilman passes across in the short story is the dangers of the resting cure. Many doctors, especially in the nineteenth century, prescribed the resting cure for women suffering from mental illness. Having gone through the trauma of the resting cure herself, Gilman tries to fight against the use of this technique. She shows that the resting cure is ineffective because it does not take into account the narrator’s need for mental occupation (Dennis 23). Her mind is already plagued by thoughts and anxiety, and extended periods of idleness only make it worse. She becomes obsessed with the wallpaper and conjures up many images in her mind because her mind has no other occupation. She mentions her own doctor in the short story, and he eventually discarded the resting cure as a means of treating mental illness (Stiles 41). John, the narrator’s husband, threatens that if she doesn’t get better, he will return her to Dr Mitchell, and the thought of that terrifies the narrator. John and Dr Mitchell might have had the narrator’s best interests at heart, but they infantilize her and treat her like a passive object.
The short story employs several literary devices to make its point clear to the readers. The first person narration makes the whole story more credible. Gilman is the narrator in the story who speaks from her personal experience. Because of this, the narrator explains things as she sees them, making readers get her primary point of view. She explains how she feels, her thoughts and her desires which have been repressed by her husband (Stiles 14). Her unhappiness and dissatisfaction are evident in the way she writes, yet she must do her best to get better for the sake of her husband. The reader can empathize with her. Symbolism is a prominent feature in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’ After observing the wallpaper for many days, the narrator begins to see the figure of a woman inside it. The woman is trapped behind bars and constantly tries to get out. the narrator says ,” Then in the very ‘bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard.” (Gilman 654) As the days go by, the narrator becomes fixated on this woman till the day of her nervous breakdown. The woman in the wallpaper finally escapes, and the narrator thinks that she too escaped from the wallpaper. The struggles of the woman in the wallpaper symbolize the narrator’s own struggle to escape from the confinement of her mental state and marriage, where she is not allowed to do anything but rest.
Situational irony in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is also another literary device. This refers to a situation in which a character does something that results in the opposite of the intended result. In the short story, all John wants is for the narrator to get better. He takes her on holiday into the countryside so that she can get all the rest and air she can get. John actually thinks that she is doing a lot better after some days, with the narrator writing “John is so pleased to see me improve!” (Gilman 653). However, their stay in the house only makes things for the narrator. She learns to keep her obsession with the wallpaper a secret, but it eventually drives her into a breakdown. Dramatic irony is also used in the short story where the reader knows something that the characters do not. John chooses a specific bedroom for the narrator and himself in their holiday home, and the narrator notices some strange things in the room such as the fact that the bed is fixed to the floor. She muses, “It was nursery first and then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge, for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.” (Gilman 648) She concludes the room must have been a nursery, but this is evidently not the case. The fittings in the room suggest that it was used to confine an insane person.
When Gilman first published the short story, it received a tense reception. Women could relate to many of the things the author wrote about, yet others said it would encourage people to feel as insane and depressed as the writer. Even before this, many publishers refused to publish it because it had very dark themes. Another issue is that the story left people confused as to what eventually happened to the narrator in the story. Gilman made sure to hand a copy to Dr Mitchell, who later acknowledged the destructive effects of the resting cure and abandoned the treatment. Gilman’s efforts to shed light on the issue of mental illness and its treatment among women finally bore fruit.
In conclusion, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is the story of a woman trying to get treatment for depression. The story is set in the nineteenth century where mental illness was dismissed as something minor and temporary, and John shows this in suggesting that rest would be the best cure. The main themes in the story include oppression of women in marriage, self-expression and the resting cure. The author uses literary devices such as irony, symbolism, and first-person narration to bring out the meaning of the story. Although the story received mixed reactions upon publishing, it still played an important role in challenging the benefits of the resting cure and creating awareness of mental illness.
Works Cited
Dennis, Clarissa E. “Creativity and Madness: The Misunderstandings Behind Mental Health.” (2019).
Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s” Yellow Wallpaper”. Gale Cengage Learning, 2016.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860-1935. The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader: The Yellow Wallpaper, and Other Fiction. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.
Maitun, Maitun. The wife’s depression in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s the yellow wallpaper. Diss. UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, 2018.
Stiles, Anne. “The Rest Cure, 1873-1925.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web.