Gender Roles In Gilgamesh

Two understand how the gods influenced our hero, Gilgamesh, one must first look at the various ways the gods meddled into his life. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a tale of a half-mortal man whose quest to break his own boredom turns into a tale of friendship, immortality, and kingship. However, his tale would not have been able to happen if it was not for the influence of the various Sumerian deities. After the people of Uruk complained to the gods about Gilgamesh’s child-like behavior, the goddess Aruru creates the man that will become Gilgamesh’s closest friend, Enkidu. Enkidu was created as an equal to the king so that Gilgamesh would have a way to occupy his time. Unfortunately, after the two friends defeated the giant Humbaba, a terrible demon creature, the god Enlil becomes enraged, but despite Enlil’s best effort, he is unable to punish the two.

Ninsun is another powerful women in Gilgamesh. Technically she is actually a goddess. She plays as a helpful mother, but her other lady like values are not taken away because of this. It mentions when she goes to talk to Shamash that she “put on a garment as beseemed her body”, and “donned her tiara” (113). This indicates that although she is a mother she is still a beautiful and powerful goddess.

I feel as though all of the books show different characters from different places having to deal with their own struggles also having different beliefs such as religion. But what all these books seem to have in common is gender bias against women. Women play pretty important roles in the books we have read this year.

Furthermore, the boundary between men and the gods is separated by a thin line of mortality. Utanapishtim’s wife shows that Gilgamesh cannot cross that line. Also, Ninsun's wisdom keeps Gilgamesh in check and shows women's power of knowledge. When Gilgamesh dreams of meteors and axes, the goddess Ninsun, Gilgamesh's mother knows exactly what is going on. Here, Ninsun gives Gilgamesh the exact thing that will keep him in his place. Only a woman could do that. When Gilgamesh asks Utanapishtim how to get immortality he responds, "You only must prevail against sleep for six days and

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, gender plays a very significant role, because while women were not the most powerful gods nor the strongest or wisest of all humans, they still had tremendous influence over others around them, and even today, over those who study and learn about the women of the time of Mesopotamia. Though the main characters of the story, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, are male, women did not necessarily play a minor role. One particular issue that is demonstrated among several others in the Epic of Gilgamesh is the status of women. Since this is a story of women's status many years ago, it is indeed an interesting issue to discuss,

Gender roles in ancient Mesopotamia were clearly defined (teachmiddleeast.edu). Generally, men worked outside of the home and women stayed inside of the home while focusing on raising their children and keeping up with work that took place in the home. However, there were exceptions; we know of women who were “bartenders” and even women who were priestesses, but with limited responsibility. Due to the fact that some were from socially higher families and owned large amounts of property, those women were not allowed to marry. Women at the time were given much less freedom than men, however, women were more protected than men, which is seen in Hammurabi’s Code of Law, specifically in his 130th law:

For thousands of years there has been a strong distinction between the roles of men and women. Often times in stories there will be women that are only mentioned for their beauty and charisma. Hardly ever will you see pages upon pages being spent talking about the true character and accomplishments of women characters. Even though stories like The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis were written thousands of year ago, (when stories were told mostly told from a males perspective) the light shined on women in the texts show them as wise, strong, and greatly influential beings. In The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of  Genesis, the writer shows the women as bringers of knowledge,  guidance, and care to the men in the texts that are lacking thereof.

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

Ninsun interpreted the dream as a premonition of the arrival of a friend and partner whom Gilgamesh will come to love. It is also interesting to note that the tablets say that Shamhat was simultaneously giving Enkidu the same sort of prediction as Gilgamesh. (15). The tablets also seem to imply that Gilgamesh and Enkidu may have had a homosexual relationship. (11).

Ninsun is not the only woman that takes on the role of a wise woman who provides guidance. After passing through the twin mountains of Mashu, Gilgamesh encounters Shiduri, the tavern keeper. Lost in his wanderings, he is forced to seek advice from her on how to reach Uta-napishti. It is ironic because after his blatant abuse of power and mistreatment of women, as mentioned above, it is a woman that he seeks advice from in one of his weakest moments. She tells him how to reach Uta-napishti and the dangers that lay in between and tells him to find Ur-shanabi so that he may continue his journey.

The Epic of Gilgamesh chronicles the life of the great warrior and hero Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is not great hero because he is moral. In fact he is feared because "a goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms" (1). This phrase underlines the terrible power of femininity, in the view of the Mesopotamian culture that produced the text. On one hand, the female principle is responsible for creation. On the other hand, the female principle also has the ability to destroy: the epic takes a largely dim perspective of humanity, and often, by extension of women, because the source of all creation is a goddess, Aruru. Aruru creates but she also generates suffering.

The Epic of Gilgamesh contains several instances where women are regarded as objects that solely provide men with pleasure, specifically with the story of Shamat and Enkidu. In the beginning of the epic, the story is introduced with the creation of Enkidu and his transformation into a human being; a vital part of Enkidu’s transformation being a woman named Shamat. Shamat acts as the bait or lure that leads Enkidu out of his animalistic lifestyle, and causes him to become human. In order to do so, Shamat is told to do sexual acts that will arouse Enkidu. For example, the

Gilgamesh and Enkidu were both created by Aruru, but Gilgamesh was created with the destiny that he would become a king, whereas Enkidu was raised with wild animals, and later “turned into a man” with the help with a temple prostitute. Despite

Changing Women's Roles in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales

In both The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Tale of Genji women play a very important role. In a time were men were considered to be leaders, fighters, and the powerful decision makers, it was the women behind them that supported, advised, and took care of them. In the ancient times females were considered dominate over males because they had the ability to carry a child and continue human life. These two tales show us the important roles that women played and the vulnerability of women in a male dominated world. In each story women are considered as important characters, but each story portrays them differently.