Literature is a perfect reflection of the society during the time. By looking at a literature work we can see how a society structures and the roles of people within that society. Throughout many centuries, there is an image that is hardly missed in literature work: the image of woman. They have been described in many different ways and roles: sometimes, they are the major (main character) of the story but sometimes, they are just the minor. They are the origin, inspiration of evolution who convey learning and wisdom. Not only so, they have the power to influence and change the history. Moreover, they are always given a very sacred duty which is being a great mother. In this blog, we will be examining the roles of women through two great old texts: The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Hebrew Bible from Genesis.
From the beginning of this world, woman was born to give a very sacred duty which is to bear her child. This role was obviously mentioned in The Hebrew Bible – Genesis 4 when the God curses Woman
“I will terribly sharpen your birth pangs,
in pain shall you bear children” Gen.4.
Not only in this current society but also from the old texts, women have been described as a very great mother.
“In Sumerian mythology, Ninsun or Ninsuna (“lady wild cow”) is a goddess, best known as the mother of the legendary hero Gilgamesh, and as the tutelary goddess of Gudea of Lagash.” Wikipedia
The first mother that we should talk about is Ninsun. Ninsun presents in the story as Gilgamesh’s mother and she is a very supportive mother which reveals in the way she watches out for and takes care of her son. She is extremely devoted to her son and always supports him through his journeys. We can clearly see this when she tried to put in a good word for her son in front of Shamash before Gilgamesh and Endiku’s quest to slay Humbaba (Tablet III). Even when it saddens Ninsun that Gilgamesh is taking on the quest to slay Humbaba, she still goes to ask Shamash for help which then contributes to Gilgamesh’s winning. So, without the care of loving mother, Ninsun, Humbaba could not have been slayed. She is described as a very caring and responsive mother.
Another woman that was also described as a very devoted mother is Rebekah – mom to Jacob and Esau (Gen.27). Even she seems to be unfair to Esau, she turns out to be a very fair mother in balancing support for her children. While Esau gets his father’s favorite, Rebekah makes it fair to Jacob by her constant support. With the love of a mother, she totally devoted to her child – Jacob by guiding him what he should do to get his father blessing before he dies. She helps Jacob to cook Isaac’s favorite meal which eventually helps Jacob get his father trust. Those two mothers are the wonderful mother who always think of their children. Because of their children, they can do everything which even hurts them. They show us how the duty of being a great mother deeply stays in a woman’s soul which never disappears throughout the time.
“Jacob and Rebekah (illustration from a Bible card published 1906 by the Providence Lithograph Company)”
Not only being a great mother, women in those old texts was also described as the one who conveys learning and wisdom. In fact, these old texts all indicate this role of woman. The very important detail we should notice which indicates this women’s role in The Hebrew Bible is when Eva was the one who ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge first. (Gen.4). This moment shows an idea: even before getting knowledge, woman is the one who is meant to keep and convey learning and knowledge. Eva’s action of pursuing Adam to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge can be seen as action of conveying knowledge, even they eventually get punished from the God.
In the Epic Of Gilgamesh, Shamhat should be a typical example. She is sent to tame the wild-man Enkidu and bring him back to human society. Before taking about what she had done, let’s image what if she didn’t exist, what should have changed? Enkidu is an important character, who will together with King Gilgamesh go through future adventures and he is also the one causes Gilgamesh to find the immortality of life. When recognizing how important Enkidu is, we have to admit that the one who brought him back from the nature, gave him the chance to meet Gilgamesh, plays a more important role – she is Shamhat.
“The Last Quest of Gilgamesh. © 1995 Ludmila Zeman, published by Tundra Books of Northern New York.
What did she do? She went out into wilderness where she “stripped off her robe and lay there naked [….].For seven days, Enkidu made love with her”. In fact, the sex act leads Enkidu into masculine manhood and signals a break with the uncivilized. She fed him a human meal and clothes him. What she had done is she educates him, conveys learning to wake humanity inside Enkidu up. Her mission is to bring him back to human-kind and she actually wants him to learn “how to live”.
The next woman in The Epic of Gilgamesh who also conveys the wisdom of life is the tavern-keeper, Siduri who lives at the end of the earth. She just appears in a short period but she plays a significant role in changing the whole story’s wisdom. She is the one who untie the knot of the story. Her image in the story represents wisdom and she actually appears as a great educator not only to Gilgamesh but also to the reader. After the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh realizes the limitation of human-kind and he looks for a means of immortality. He met Siduri and raises his question about the immortality of life. Shiduri tells him
“Siduri Sabitu (the tavern keeper)”
“Let your stomach be full,
always be happy, night and day,
make every day a delight,
night and day play and dance.
Your clothes should be clean,
your head should be washed,
you should be bathe in water.
Look proudly on the little one holding your hand.
Let your mate be always blissful in your lions.
This, then, is the work of mankind.” (Tablet X).
It should be the intention of the author when writing this text. How can a woman can understand this simply meaning of life while a great King like Gilgamesh who has to go through many challenges in order to find it? She encourages him to put away his grief and fully enjoy life because the eternal life that he is seeking for is unrealistic. That is a really beautiful work of author in choosing a woman as an image of wisdom.
There is one thing for sure that we can not live in this world without women. According to the two old texts – the Epic of Gilgamesh and The Hebrew Bible, we can see how important women are in those old time. They are the origin, inspiration of evolution who convey learning and wisdom. Not only so, they are always given a very sacred duty which is being a great mother.
