Women In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Women have struggled throughout time to gain the recognition of their male counterparts. Unlike the modern-day woman, women in the past were never held as high as a man and always did what they were told. With old-aged literature, much can be studied on how patriarchal societies functioned. An example of a piece of literature is an epic poem which is a long narrative that introduces a hero that is commonly a superhuman. That hero goes through trials, which often leads them to their death but a lesson is always to be learned regardless. These epic tales were memorized and passed down orally before the invention of writing and when the written language was finally created, the stories were written down. There are three notable works that exhibit

A shepherd suggests to his son that he should go to Gilgamesh and request a harlot. This harlot taints Enkidu’s innocence which makes him weaker and more easily defeated when it comes to battle between Gilgamesh and him (Sanders 64). A woman is simply ordered to give sexual pleasure to a wild man in the woods and without question she does it. In Sumerian culture, one can see that women are regarded as sexual instruments. This can be said about their culture because even a shepherd who has a ranking far lower than that of King Gilgamesh also has the same regard for women. People reading this story thousands of years later think that in ancient times only pompous leaders held the radical views but here that precipice proves wrong. Many male characters in the story hold this view and because of their culture women continue to hide in the shadows and do what they are told. Women are also never recognized for their devotion to men and their accomplishment such as when Enkidu curses the harlot just before his death (91). The harlot only does what she is told and without her Enkidu would still be in the woods living ignorantly never having tasted food fit for the gods and the whole epic would never have even happened. Enkidu confuses his hate of his fate with women by using them as his scapegoat. Moving on with his low consideration of women, Gilgamesh rapes every woman he lusts after (62,67). Culture is engrained in a person from the time they are a young child. If it is a normal occurrence for the King to take the innocence of virgins away from them before their husbands then no one especially the women will fight back. Citizens of Uruk know not to trample with the King’s doings as well because he is the most powerful human being on the planet. If something happens often as well as occurs for many years then women who are born into this culture do not know any better.