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The story of Gilgamesh is about the relationship of Gilgamesh and his good friend Enkidu. Gilgamesh was a powerful man, so the gods tried to create Enkidu to be his equal, but they create a relationship and together go on a quest. They go and defeat Humbaba in the Cedar Mountain. Later on the quest, they go and defeat the Bull of Heaven that the goddess Ishtar has sent to destroy Gilgamesh.

Enkidu, as the play goes on, gets sick and dies. Gilgamesh is devastated by his death, and does not want this to happen to him, so he goes on a quest for immortality, but fails because he is told that the gods created life along with death. The theme of this story is that death is inevitable in human life, which Gilgamesh learns.

The play Medea begins in with a conflict. Medea’s husband, Jason, has left her to go with the king’s daughter. Medea gets very upset, and seeks revenge. This play is about how Medea seeks revenge and see if she was right or wrong in the way she sought revenge. She had loved Jason, and they had 2 kids together. She tries to kill Jason, his new wife, the king of Corinth, and her own 2 kids. Many people question if killing her 2 kids was right or wrong. That showed how upset she was because she felt betrayed. She believed she had no choice but to kill all of them. That satisfied her. This play shows how betrayal can bring out the worst in people. There are consequences for every action that takes place. Here is a picture of an actual play of Medea. http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/01/theater/20080102_SHAW_SLIDESHOW_5.html

In The Iliad Achilles lacked so many moral standards.  One of which was that he saw his slave girl as just a symbol of status and not as a person.  We know this because when she was stolen, there was never any proof that he actually loved her.   When Agamemnon stole his slave girl away, he almost killed him and not because he was emotionally tied to the girl, but because he didn’t like that Agamemnon was practicing a higher authority over Achilles.  It bothers me that for so long women have been so suppressed that they barely had any status at all.   Though even as the fact that women aren’t valued high in status, they still have major contributions to conflict.  They are so powerful that even while being suppressed, they are able to make men fight over them with their beauty.  Women contribute to a huge factor in the pride of a man and so even while not saying a word, she is able to start a war.  Men underestimate our power greatly, and even when they think it is them that has the control, they aren’t prepared.  http://images.comicbookresources.com/previews/marvelcomics/illustrated/preview/MARILILIAD001_Page_1.jpg this picture explains it all: women are in control.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu represent a bond that was so close that it was almost homosexual.  They loved each other very much and tried to take on Humbaba together which would be a major accomplishment.  They also represent a power that is very corrupt.  The two take on the almost impossible task of taking down Humbaba just because they knew they could.  They wanted the glory even though Humbaba did nothing to cause them to want to kill him.  Power is such a dangerous thing because all it does is make people greedy for more.  The moral of the story is that while trying to be the best person possible, it isn’t right to do it at the expense of other people.   Also, by the end of the play Gilgamesh searches for immortality.  But that isn’t the best way to live his life because how can you know what to prioritize if you know you are going to live forever?  We need to have goals that are set in stone at out gravestones so that when we get there, we can rightfully say I did this and I enjoyed it.  The relatively short time span of life is the best way to live as the best person possible.

Sita is a girl that would do anything for the man that she loves.  She reminds me of myself in a way because I, too, would give up a lot for the love of my life.  However, what strikes me the most about her is that even when her love, Rama, didn’t believe that she was pure even though he knew she was so madly in love with him and wouldn’t lie; she still went through the motions of trying to prove it to him.  It’s bewildering to believe that a woman would also compromise her dignity for love.  She was the perfect wife, he the perfect husband; they were so disgustingly in love with each other.  But not only did Rama banish Sita because rumors of her impurity were roaming the air, but he also wouldn’t believe her even after he went through hell and back trying to rescue her.  What’s worst is that Rama made her take the purity test and she passed, but then when bad press still surrounded him about Sita living in another man’s home, he exiled her again.  It amazes me that she was so…okay with his treatment of her, especially when she was pregnant with his twins this time around.  Take a look at how devoted she was to her husband http://api.ning.com/files/0Kir9dwCJ4yUSSv8CyxAitcqTN4uj9hzs4xuDcmEwaRzUXZPrhDKkEgb9sufDAgh512MVXrD6k3Lt043lLYqO7TEZeFttyQP/SitaRam02.jpg?width=360&height=275

Medea represents the extreme version of any woman strong enough to seek revenge on a man that has betrayed her, especially a man that she loved.  She gave up so much for Jason, the man she fell in love with, such as sacrificing her brother’s life, abandoning her family, using her powers to help him achieve his goals, and giving birth to his children.  She did all that just for him to leave her for another woman, with the intention of increasing his status in society.  Medea gave him two children, and he left her.  What woman wouldn’t be enraged?  The worst part is that he tried to justify his actions by saying he had her and her children’s best interest in mind when he did what he did.  Thankfully, Medea, unlike many other women, saw right through him and was strong minded.  Her idea to kill Jason, his new wife, and his new father-in-law was perfectly justified in my eyes.  They all took part in her blatant unhappiness so it was only right for her to want them dead.  Killing her children, however, was going overboard.  But it just goes to show the anger she felt because of his betrayal.  It also goes to show that women do have the capability of taking men down; it’s just that we choose to be lovers instead.  Cross our lines, though, and we’ll be keen to seek revenge.  Take a look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRyX0Zkklzg and just see the vengeful look in Medea’s eyes.  A woman’s capabilities should never be underestimated.

The story of Medea is one that has changed the perception of women in the world of literature. It is a story which displays the power of a woman who seeks revenge from her husband because she feels betrayed. Many of the modern adaptations of Medea show her as this passive woman who contemplates homicidal thoughts with respect to her husband, but the original version is much darker than that. Medea’s infamous decision to murder her children as a way to stop the blood line for her husband is interpreted by some as a monstrous act with no justification for her actions. On the other hand it is also interpreted by others including myself as a strategic plan that expresses her deep passion and love for her husband. Although it was selfish of her to murder their children, she took away all he had, similar to how he stripped her from her family by forcing her to set a curse on her loved ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zInoTXKyOvI