Essay On The Women In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Women Who Made a Difference Women, while often portrayed as unimportant to the hero’s success or failure, were sometimes the catalyst that aligned the hero with fate. Siduri, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, gave Gilgamesh the information he needed to complete his quest for immortality. It was, however, her words of wisdom that ultimately offered the answers he sought. Rebekah, in The Old Testament, executed a plan so Jacob, rather than Esau, received his father’s blessing. When Esau vowed to kill Jacob, Rebekah ensured his protection. Jokasta, in Oedipus, enabled the fulfillment of prophecy by abandoning her baby. She denied Oedipus the opportunity to face her with the truth by killing herself.
In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Siduri was a tavern keeper who lived at the edge of the world. While her appearance in the story was brief, her contribution to the story was monumental. Gilgamesh came to her seeking Utanapishtim, who dwelled in the Underworld. Gilgamesh believed Utanapishtim held the secret to immortality. When she first saw Gilgamesh, Siduri was afraid of him and hid upstairs. But Gilgamesh persisted and Siduri agreed to talk to him.
Siduri first attempted to …show more content…
In an attempt to prevent the fulfillment of the prophecy, King Laios decided that he and Jokasta would kill their son. Jokasta agreed and gave their son to a shepherd to be abandoned in the woods. Their plot was flawed, however, as the shepherd did not leave the baby in the woods to die. He gave it to another shepherd who in turn gave the baby to King Polybos, who raised the baby, Oedipus, as his own son. Many years later, after a chance meeting and an argument, Oedipus killed King Laios, who he did not know was his father. After solving the riddle of the Sphinx, he was allowed to enter the city. He married Jokasta, the king’s widow, and became King Oedipus. The prophecy was