Monday, January 31, 2011

A Woman's Power

The first three tablets of Gilgamesh demonstrate the power women have in ancient Mesopotamia. They did not have direct political power like that of men, but had the ability to influence the opinion of men and thus their actions. Although their power is a secondary one, it has the ability to move demi- gods like Gilgamesh and powerful beasts like Enkidu.

In the first tablet, the god Anu paid heed to the complaints of “the warrior’s daughter, [and] the young man’s bride”, and thus took action against Gilgamesh’s tyranny in Uruk. This demonstrates the woman’s role of praying to the gods to ensure the happiness and safety of their love ones. This seemingly inconsequential form of power is actually a vital one to ancient Mesopotamian civilization because religion plays an important role in a person’s everyday life and a source of a king’s power.

Another form of power a woman has, which is not quite as respectable, is sex. In tablet one, Shamhat, a prostitute, is the one the men summon to lure Enkidu from the herd and bring him to Gilgamesh. Sex is the thing that civilizes Enkidu, and gives him “reason and wide understanding” (8). This seems to imply that only a woman can civilize a man. However, troublingly, Shamhat is merely following the king’s and shepherd’s orders to use her body to do “work” and is not expressing any thoughts of her own. This brings into question the power of a prostitute. They have the power to change to change men, but they also hold very little respect from society.

A more dignified form of power women have is that of mother’s power over her son. This is demonstrated in Tablet III, where Gilgamesh went to seek his mother’s advice on his and Enkidu’s journey to the Forest of Cedar. Gilgamesh says to Enkidu, “Let us go to Queen Ninsun. Ninsun is clever and wise, well versed in everything, she will set our feet in steps of goo counsel” (23). However, the mother’s power is still limited. In this case, Ninsun could not order her son to not go on such a perilous journey, but she can advise him on his decision. Ninsun also adopts the orphan Enkidu. Although her adoption may be an altruistic gesture, it also further seals Enkidu’s responsibility to protect Gilgamesh, now his brother, during the journey. She uses the power a mother has on Enkidu.

-Ruby Lin

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