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Representation of Women The modern times are marked with many socio-political changes. One of them has to do with reconsidering the role of women in our society. In Western countries they are now given the equal rights with men and it appears to have happened very naturally. Despite the Bible-thumper's effort to keep women in submission, social evolution proceeded its natural course. Women now serve in army and police; they successfully pursue political careers and gain excellence in science. Although, there is a fact that women were being oppressed under Christianity and Islam, it appears that even as far back as five thousands years ago, they used to be thought of as quite equal among people who werent influenced by these two monotheistic religions.
Ancient Greece and Mesopotamia are the regions of the world from where all modern concepts of beauty, morality and justice originate. Many modern historians credit Aryan expansion with the fact that civilizations started to spring up simultaneously in different parts of the world. Yet, they all seemed to be governed by the same ethical principle respect for human individuality. The Epic of Gilgamesh and Aeschylus Agamemnon gives us an insight to how ancient predecessors of Europeans viewed women. Between years 1300 and 1000 B. C.
Babylonian poet named Sinliqeunninni redacted folk stories of Assyrian king Gilgamesh into a single narrative, a poetic epic that spanned 3000 lines and 11 clay tablets. The stories itself are believed to be composed in about 3000 year B. C. , well before Homers Odyssey and Iliad were written. There is no intact copy of this epic, given the antiquity of text. There are about eighty fragmentary manuscripts that dont match each other in details. Yet, generally, the story line appears to be more or less the same.
In this epic, Gilgamesh is shown as half-God, half-man. Hes being put through great many ordeals during his quest to gain immortality. He started his kingship as conventional tyrant, whos totally deprived of any sense of morality. His contemporaries used to be disturbed over the fact that he used to rape women on daily basis. The Gods decided to try to reform him by creating the man, named Enkidu, who was meant to bring Gilgamesh to his senses by becoming his friend later in the story.
What is the most remarkable about it is the fact that, at the beginning Endiku was totally wild. In order to civilize him, Gods sent him a prostitute. After having slept with her, Endiku realized that wild animals no longer accept him this signified him becoming a real man: She drinks the sparkling water now with joy, Which all her form doth cleanse and purify. And he turns to her with greatest joy in his heart, To be led to the world of men (The Epic of Gilgamesh, Column IV) Gilgamesh and Endiku become friends and set out to a journey that would bring them immortality. All they had to do was to steal trees from a distant cedar forest, to where no mortals were allowed to enter. After countless adventures, Gilgamesh finds himself in possession of a miraculous plant that would make his dream come true.
Yet, in the last moment, serpent steals it from him By the time Gilgamesh returns back home, he realized that the true immortality for the king depends on whether he is able to gain respect among its people. Throughout the story, encounters with women enrich epic hero spiritually. Some of the erotic scenes in the story are quite graphic, yet this only shows that ancient Mesopotamian's were totally deprived of repressive morality something that our society hasnt quite accomplished yet. Women come as seducers and mentors, being entitled with great power over the men.
When it comes to sex, men and women appear to be equal: And with delight he eyes her beauteous form, His breast warm moved by the enticer's charm. He springs upon his feet and her pursues: She laughing flees; to sport with him doth choose. (The Epic of Gilgamesh, Column V) The tragedy Agamemnon is part of trilogy Oresteia, which was written by Aeschylus in about 500 B. C. The play is about tragic fate of Troys conqueror Agamemnon, which was being betrayed by his wife.
This brings about his ultimate downfall and death. In this masterpiece of ancient Greek literature, Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra revenges her husband for sacrificing their daughter to goddess Artemida. Clytemnestra appears to be the woman of great wits. Upon her husbands arrival, she manages to hide her hate toward him. She proves herself able to pretend that shes still madly in love with Agamemnon. Author warns reader to beware of women, whore capable of one thing that men never do to hug person and stub him in the back at the same time.
Despite the fact that Clytemnestra proves to be treacherous and deceitful, it still shows her as being able to reach her goal, by whatever means it might take. She is shown to be even more dangerous than any other Agamemnon's enemy. Back in those times, many thought of revenge as the true meaning of ones existence. An individual was often thought to be worthless when he was unable to cause harm to his enemies.
By the fact of her revenge Clytemnestra proved herself being equal to any man: Ye test me as a woman weak of mind; But I with dauntless heart to you that know Say this, and whether thou dost praise or blame, Is all alike - here Agamemnon lies, My husband, now a corpse, of his right hand, As artist just, the handiwork; so stands (Agamemnon, Part V) As quite a contrast to these two works comes The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, which is a classic piece of Arabic medieval literature. It consists of numerous tales that were composed in the area of Middle East at the time when Islam was being at its strongest. In it, the king of the land between India and China Schriyar, gets dissapointed with his wife, orders to kill her and intends to keep on killing other women, as he believes that theyre not much better than his former wife. But there is one woman Shahrazad, who manages to stay alive by keeping Schriyar in constant suspense with her stories. Schriyar ideas of women are still shared by majority of Muslims because Koran define woman as creature without soul: I believed all women to be naturally lewd; and that they could not resist their inclination. Being of this opinion, it seemed to me to be in men an unaccountable weakness to place any confidence in their fidelity.
This reflection brought on many others; and in short, I thought the best thing I could do was to make myself easy. It cost me some pains indeed, but at last I grew reconciled; and if you will take my advice, you will follow my example. (The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, Part 1) In this book, women are degraded to the lowest status possible. Comparing to two previous works, womens purpose in the world appears to be nothing but to entertain men Such attitude toward women seem to be predominant in non-White cultures in the world, except Natives in North America In my opinion, Islam was able to expand so rapidly in the area of Middle East because its teachings collided with local peoples original worldview ideas. Even in twentieth century, many Arabs thinks that it is very appropriate for women to keep their faces hidden, while out in the public. This, of course, could never happen in European countries because people respect women on intuitive level there. Only in Europe knights used to fight to death, defending their Ladies reputations.
All three works represent a psychological mode of the people among which they were written. The bigger there is a role that women play in society the more developed it is.
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