NOTE: Answer two of these
questions in a short paragraph, at least a few sentences and be specific. Don’t give one word or one
sentence responses and avoid the easy answer. There are multiple ways of
looking at each question, and answering them carefully will not only help our
class discussions, but will serve as pre-writing for your short and critical
paper assignments.
Answer TWO of the
following:
Q1: Does the poet consider
Gilgamesh a good king? Though he is clearly a “great” king (powerful, almost a
god, etc.) is he wise, noble, virtuous? Where do we see this, or where might we
question this?
Q2: This poem is very
concerned with the difference between humans and animals; in essence, the
question of what makes one “human.” In the first three tablets, what does separate a man from a beast? How
does Enkidu become a creature of “reason” rather than a beast of the wild? Why
might this be such an important distinction for ancient man/writers?
Q3: The Epic of Gilgamesh is full of holes and omissions, requiring a
translator to fill in the gaps with what he/she knows of the culture and from
other related documents. Where did you feel the story was the most incomplete
and why is this important? Where could the story change significantly based on
what we don’t see and what we don’t know?
Q4: Why does Gilgamesh
decide to slay the great giant Humbaba who lives in the treacherous forest?
What might this say about him as a hero and/or a king? Is his decision
universally celebrated? Why or why not?
Q1: No I don’t think the writer thinks very highly of Gilgamesh. Was he strong and powerful? Well it is very evident he was, none could stand up to him. He conquered all. It says there was no sons left with his father and all the virgins were taken from their lovers by Gilgamesh. Even the gods thought to get involve to try to stop Gilgamesh after his own people pleaded to the gods to do something. So they created someone to defeat him. His own people called him arrogant and when I think of someone being arrogant, I don’t think it as a compliment.
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Great responses...yes, clearly even though he has done (or will do) great things, in the beginning of the poem he is a power-mad tyrant, glorying in his own abilities. If the people have to implore the gods for salvation, he must be pretty bad indeed! And you're right, an entire book could be written about Enkidu, or even the entire story from Enkidu's perspective. The poem is too brief on why/how he changes and how this affects him.
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