Wednesday, January 30, 2008

BA #1 Utnapishtim's wife

1. Utnapishtim's wife first appears in Book 11, Page 195.

2. Utnapishtim's wife has no other name but her position, wife to "The Distant One". After the great flood, she and he became immortal but were not born Gods. She is caring, thoughtful, and obidient, but seems to be a bad cook as she makes bad loaves of bread.

3. Utnapishtim's wife is like the Goddess Ninsun. They both exibit caring qualities. While Ninsun shows her caring by taking in Enkidu as her son and giving him the pendant, Utnapishtim's wife makes her husband think twice about being a hasty judge of Gigamesh. "Wait," she says, "this man came a ery log way, he endured/ many hardships to get here. Won't you/ give him something for his journey home" (Pg 195)? They both use their wisdom to make a situation better.

4. Utnapishtim's wife is a hero. She is a woman which is not our definition of a hero, but she also follows her moral compass and shows compassion for Gilgamesh when he is tired, overworked, and morose. She may not be brave, risking life, but she is noble and smart because she has learned lessons of life and death herself and tells her husband to tell Gilgamesh, while she civilizes her husband. She is selfless to make the bread for Gilgamesh.

1 comment:

Nicole C said...

I agree that Utnapishtim's wife can be viewed as somewhat of a hero. The reason why i think she could be viewed as is hero is because when Gilgamesh was leaving from their home she asked Utnapishtim if their was anything he could give to Gilgamesh to take back to his land. This gave Utnapishtim the idea to tell Gilgamesh about the underwater plant that makes an old man become a young man again. Utnapishtim's wife's idea of giving Gilgamesh something to take back to his city solved Gilgamesh's fear of dieing temporarily until he loses the plant. Utnapishtim's wife's thoughtfulness of others, and her selflessness makes her somewhat of a hero.