Power in Gilgamesh and The Odyssey - Essay Example

 Power in Gilgamesh and The Odyssey The theme of power is very important in both the story of Gilgamesh and the story of Odysseus in The Odyssey. The power in Gilgamesh is in the power of Gilgamesh himself, as he displays unchecked power through the tale, but this power is not necessarily used for good. Mostly it is used to bolster himself and his own displays of power, as he uses his status to terrorize the residents of his village and to defeat the god of darkness, just because he wanted adventure, not because he wanted to do good. The gods also display power in this tale. Gods and goddesses are the source of power in The Odyssey as well. The gods and the goddesses in this tale are important, as Athena guides Telemakhos in his journey to find his father, and then helps Odysseus defeat the suitors. Odysseus himself is able to display power as well, as he defeats the suitors, after throwing off his cloak of powerlessness, in that he was previously disguised as a beggar. And this shows another theme in The Odyssey, which is that the power in this tale is often disguised. Therefore, power in these two tales are in the gods and goddesses, and, to a lesser extent, the men themselves. This essay will examine the theme of power by looking at how Gilgamesh used power and how power was used in The Odyssey. Power is displayed in Gilgamesh's case by the way that he uses power. In short, he uses power like a small child would use power, because he was, in essence, a small child. He terrorizes the residents of his town, he throws fit, he is selfish and violent. He uses his extreme size and his status as half-god to do all this to the residents of his village. He also takes advantage of the women who are about to be married. He had a wildness that was representative of nature itself, and this is how he was portrayed for the most part – as he was nature, and nature was him. This is shown in everything that occurs throughout the epic poem. He could also represent the wildness in human nature. Regardless, there is very little about Gilgamesh, at the beginning of the poem, that would be considered to be tame. Later on, after Enkidu is discovered by Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh attempts to display power with him as well. That is to say that Gilgamesh attempts to fight him, but Enkidu will not back down, and the two end up becoming very good friends. As such, Gilgamesh found the one creature - and Enkidu, like Gilgamesh, would not be considered to be entirely human, therefore he would be considered to be a creature- that would be as powerful as himself. The two go off looking for adventure, in that they want to challenge the demon Humbaba. They want to challenge this demon, however, not because they want to defeat evil, but because they want to display their raw power. They want to demonstrate to the demon that they are powerful. They end up defeating the demon, but at great cost, in that it leads to the death of Enkidu and Gilgamesh asking if he is next. In the end, however, Gilgamesh learns that the source of power, despite the fact that he is half-god, and the gods have guided him, is in this world – the lesson is that there is a need to leave a good legacy in this world, because the afterlife is a possible place of suffering. At least Enkidu suffered in the afterlife. The power in Gilgamesh, like the power in The Odyssey, is also in the gods that are in the tale. Shamash is guiding the way of Gilgamesh – Shamash is the sun god. The power balance is when Shamash sets up the epic battle between good and evil – between Shamash, the god of light, and Humbaba, the god of darkness. Ishtar is another goddess in Gilgamesh, and she displays her power by terrorizing people with a bull from the sky that causes the earth to swallow up men. Likewise, the power in The Odyssey comes from Athena, for the most part, because she is who is guiding the journey of young Telemakhos. She has the power to help things along, and this is how the power is represented in this tale. For instance, Odysseus is to have a celebration in his honor, and Athena makes him looking larger and stronger and better in every way (8.20-22). Athena is also the one who, in the meeting with the gods, advocates to help Odysseus find his way home – the gods agree, because Odysseus obviously wants to go home, as he weeps on a beach because of his desire to go home (5.93-95). The gods intervene on Odysseus behalf throughout the tale, and this, too, is how Homer demonstrated power – the power of the gods. This is especially true of the final epic battle between Odysseus and the suitors of Penelope. The gods intervene in this, as well, as they are shown warning the suitors about what is going to happen to them, and the gods condemned them. Odysseus also epitomizes power in this regard, as he first appears powerless as a beggar, but then, when he tears of his beggar's rags, he is able to display the full powerful man that he is. This is somewhat of a theme throughout the tale of Odysseus as well – that is that power is often disguised. Odysseus is disguised as a beggar, and Athena takes on a variety of different disguises. Therefore, there is a cloak of power that permeates throughout the tale. Odysseus shows his power when he defeats the suitors, and Athena displays her power when she helps him do so. Conclusion The power in these two epic tales of two epic men – although Gilgamesh was only half man – was in the gods and goddesses of the tales and in the men themselves. The gods and the goddesses had to guide the men along the way of their journeys, so it cannot be said that the men were powerful without this help. If Athena didn't help Telemakhos and Odysseus, then it is doubtful that they could have overcome the obstacles that they did. If Gilgamesh did not have Shamash, then Gilgamesh probably would not have been able to do what he did, either. That said, there was power in each of these men as well, as they both were strong and iron-willed. References Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, vol. A. London: WW Norton and Company, 2003. Read More