Gilgamesh Women's Roles

TWomen has always use they sexuality to obtain what they want from men. Sometimes it feels like they have power over men and sometimes it feels the opposite. Meaning women are use like an object to please men. In the story of Gilgamesh, when the hunter saw the giant Enkidu, who was unstoppable, he went to his father to relate what he saw. His father recommended him to go to Uruk and ask Gilgamesh to lend him a female prostitute, whose power could defeat Enkidu. He returned to the forest with the prostitute. She stayed naked on the ground to attract Enkidu. He approached her and aroused on her seven days and seven night. He became completely weak. He couldn’t no longer run like he uses too and could no longer be friend with the animals. Finally,

Woman in the ancient world when viewed together can be seen to have played a role as second class citizens, however when viewed individually throughout the different cultures of the ancient world the role of woman alternated to a certain extent from region to region. Depending on where you went during ancient times, woman were held to different expectations in their place in society, politics, and family lifestyle. The variation of the role of woman went off the basis of religion, agriculture, status, and primarily the values of that culture. Though there were many similarities in the position of woman in the ancient world.Primarily, the role of woman varied from one early society to another.

Contrasting to the theme of women as nurturers in “Gilgamesh,” they can also be viewed as sexual possessions and ultimately the downfall of man. This is especially evident when Shamhat sleeps with Enkidu: “Enkidu had spent himself, his body was limp, his knees stood still, while his beasts went away, Enkidu was too slow, he could not run as before…” (Foster, Tablet I 191-193). There is a large emphasis on the importance of sex; the harlots “are the fairest of form, rich in beauty, full of delights, even the great gods are kept from sleeping at night!” (Foster, Tablet I 222-224). Even Ishtar, the goddess of love and warfare, who behaved most like a man, was embarrassed and rejected by Gilgamesh after she proposes marriage. He throws out a variety

The roles of women in literature have been analyzed and discussed throughout history. Many early literary works are centered on male heroism, with women playing only minor accessory roles as wives, lovers, or seductresses. Under closer examination, one will note that female characters have much more complex roles than these. This essay will discuss the different roles of female characters in three historical works: John Gardner’s Grendel, Homer’s The Iliad, and Beowulf. In Grendel, female characters take on the roles of hostesses and peacemakers, while in The Iliad and Beowulf they also have political influence. These female characters reshape the themes of heroism and monstrosity by influencing the male characters in both stories. These varying

It was not until after reading this story that I caught on to who actually helped make Gilgamesh the noble king that he was at the end of the story. I truly believe that the women in Gilgamesh played a serious role in the making of the new Gilgamesh. I say this because the women throughout this amazing epic seem to have been guiding Gilgamesh through his journey. Even though becoming a better leader for his people was not a part of his journey, it still happened and it actually benefited Gilgamesh as a person.

As societies become more open and inclusive, so do the literary characters that inhabit them. Unfortunately, for women who lived in the time of Geoffrey Chaucer, and later Charlotte Brontë and Virginia Woolf, the mountain they tried to climb towards equal political, social and economic rights was steep and treacherous. Yet these three authors, even though bound by their respective societal limitations, used their skills to give voice to characters that embody the first feminist literary characters of our time.

The social and political roles of woman in ancient societies varied from civilization to civilization. In the Egyptian society woman was considered equal to men, depending on their hierarchy position woman could possess great influence and power. Woman had the right to own property, negotiate and even participate in the Civil Law process, issue contracts under their names, all this allowances made possible for woman to assume roles beyond the traditional housekeeping like lands owners, goods dealers and priests. The reality of woman in other ancient societies was not that optimistic. A relevant example is the case of Greece where women were not considered citizens, had not access to any legal proceeding or right to own land.

The struggle that women had to endure through the centuries has been rooted deeply to the idea that women are inferior to men. Men, as the stronger sex, were thought to be intelligent, courageous, and determined. Women, on the other hand, were more governed by their emotions, and their virtues were expected to be chastity, modesty, compassion, and piety. Men were thought to be more aggressive; women more passive. Women education was primarily at home by mothers or fathers. The education comprised of the arts of sewing, water color, and polite conversation for the upper class and domestic work for lower classes. Those who did attempt to educate themselves in the male subjects of Greek and Latin were measured by male standards of scholarship when they attempted to express themselves in print. While this might not be the current situation for women in society women had to fight to get where they are right now. In this paper, I will to be discussing two visionary women who saw that women needed change their position in society. I will be discussing Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Adrienne Rich “On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose and their arguments about the states of women’s education. In this paper I hope to prove that the women used the power of words to express their personal struggle for other women to understand there are not alone;

In many plays in Literature women can be portrayed as weak or unimportant. Readers get the opinion that women are to be seen not heard by the men that surround them. Many works of literature help readers explore important social issues of the time. Woman Right’s is something that was a major issue in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Many works of literature express this time and the struggles women had to go through to be treated fairly. Women were often treated as property in these times, rather than being treated as an equal to her husband. This works of literature help readers understand the things of the time period. The author uses characters to depict a story that shows the reader exactly what times were like

Throughout literature women are depicted with a wide variety of abilities and skills. In the Anglo-Saxon era of literature, the depiction of women greatly relies on their social status. Poor women in this era had little rights and were considered property of their husbands or fathers. Lower class women were expected to conform to their husband’s wishes along with cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. Although lower class women had very little rights and their responsibilities were based in the home, upper class women had more power and did not perform civil house duties. Upper class women often acquired power through obtaining money or items of monetary value. Queens do not have to cook, clean or take care of their children and often obtained great power over their kingdom. Women in “The Wife’s Lament” and Marie De France’s “Lanval” are depicted differently which exemplifies the importance of social status.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh women were presumed as powerful but I think they also had a small role. I think that they were portrayed solely as sexual characters. At some

Throughout history women have fought to be treated equivalent to men. In today’s society, although there are still improvements to be made, it is easy to see that the female population has made a significant step towards equality and independence. Looking back about one hundred years ago, gender roles were still very specific and consisted of the man working and supporting the family, and the woman taking care of the home and the family. Women had very little voice in that time and were often treated with little respect due to the cultural norm that men were superior. Two historically influential plays that were written during the birth of feminism

Throughout generations women have been always been treated as second class citizens in society. This concept is portrayed in many different novels from past generations, it is shown how women had to live by societies will or else they would be out casted and left in isolation. They were discredited, such as their help during the first Great War and described unfavorably by men in literature and even some women in society. To society women were to be homemakers, while the men were to do all the hard labor and provide food for the family. Literature was a place where the divide was shown clearly. Many male writers describe the female gender as weak willed and oblivious to the world around them. Men would write women as fanciful and that they were made to please men. This is not the case when it came to women writers, women would describe women as strong and in a positive favor. Women always believed that with the right education they would be at an equal level to their male counter parts.

Literature is the perfect indication of civilization during the time it was written. By examining literature, we gain knowledge of the social structures that once prevailed within that society. For centuries throughout literature we notice that women are reoccurring images, described in a number of different ways and roles: sometimes, embodying minor but crucial roles. Women usually serve as subordinates to male counterparts or the hero, conveying necessary knowledge and wisdom for the completion of the mythic quest. Moreover, they are given the sacred ability to change and influence the hero's quest through creation or destruction. However, women are considered to be treacherous beings because of their great potential to create or destroy, which depends upon how she decides to utilize her power and how she is approached. Literature works like the ancient epic of Gilgamesh display women as an epitome of great wisdom and knowledge but also the power of temptation and corruption.

In this paper, I am going to analyze the female characters that caught my attention the most in the three stories The Epic of Gilgamesh, Thousand and One Nights, and Candide. They all are important characters in each of the stories and their influence in the story is to help. These stories also depict how women were being treated during these times such as being used for their bodies and wisdom. The characters that I will be analyzing in the paper are Shamhat, Ishtar, Shiduri, Sharazad, the Old Woman, and Cunegonde. In all three stories, they mostly share the same depictions of the role of women and how women weren’t really important besides their bodies.