Gilgamesh was an almighty king but longed for a friend and he dreams about that one day he will encounter a trusted companion (10-11). With these feelings between the two men, it draws them together. When they compete in a battle, there is a sense of friendship forming. Especially once they acknowledge one another’s strength and respect for one another; “As one unique your mother bore you, the wild cow of the fold, the goddess Ninsum! High over warriors you are exalted, to be king of the people Enlil made it your destiny!” (16).They seal their new friendship with embracing one another and a kiss.
After reading select parts of The Odyssey, I found that there is really no way to generalize the women in Homer’s Odyssey because they all have their own distinct traits that make each of them great, strong, and powerful women. A very powerful woman is Arete. She is as powerful as the king, Alcinous. Her daughter Nausicaa displays great intelligence in handling Odysseus despite being so young. These women I speak of above are great women in a good sort of way but there are also some very bad women that still have some amazing qualities.
Free as no man who could challenge his awesome power. Gilgamesh also stood as a symbol of unfathomable power; no tribe would dare challenge Uruk as long as Gilgamesh stood on their side, until Enkidu. Enkidu was literally moulded into a man of the wilderness, a creature who could run like the wild do, one who had bountiful stamina and impossible strength a true rival to Gilgamesh. It was fated, ever since the divine hands cast him, that Enkidu and Gilgamesh would struggle in a long engagement until both sides understood their stalemate. “So the mighty brothers fought at first…Then a calm force gently toothed their well-matched spirits” (Tablet II, Column VI, 76-80).
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles or gives me any best place (and raising herself to her full height and her voice to a pitch like rolling thunder, she asked) and aren’t I a woman?” In this passage, author Truth is suggesting that she had never been treated with the same respect a white woman would be treated with. Most, if not all men, believed that women shouldn’t have as many rights as men because “Christ wasn’t a woman”. She simply rebuked that phrase by asking where Christ came from. Well, he came from God and a woman of course!
Overall, the women were upset that their men were never home, thus making an unbalance in their family, leading to an unbalance in society. War not only derives nations, but also the families of the soldiers. Many explanations have raised from the text of Aristophanes play Lysistrata and the theme of Anti-War. “Behind every great man, there is a great woman”, “Brawn vs. Brains”, and “Women, you can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them.” these sayings are loosely based on the play that has occupied our history. The play Lysistrata shows the theme of anti-war through the precise work of symbolism, characters and word choice.
Before Odysseus can even finish asking her to, she is already walking out the door to change Odysseus’ men back from swine. Kalypso represents the opposite of this relationship. When staying on her isle, Odysseus is “compelled” by Kalypso’s spells to lie with her every night. He is unable to leave and completely subjected to Kalypso’s will, a role that the great leader, tactician, and hero Odysseus is not suited for. Kalypso and Kirkê represent opposite extremes of the balance of power in a relationship and leave Odysseus wanting more.
Each role adds a different element and is essential to the telling of the story. Mothers portrayed in this poem are seen as givers of “pity and sorrow” rather than true supporters of their sons and husbands when in war. “She is too wise, /too clear-eyed, sees alternatives too well, /Penelope, Ikarious daughter--/that young bride whom we left behind” (Homer 199 519-22). In this scene Odysseus sees the soul of Agamemnon in Hedes the underworld; Agamemnon was murdered by his own wife Clytemnestra. He tries to warn Odysseus, he says women are no longer faithful.
Allie Dille Mrs. Kangas English 10x Hour 4 October 25, 2010 Clare Boothe Luce, an American playwright, journalist, ambassador, and U.S. Congresswoman once stated, “Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed”. Women have forever been seen as the “weakest link” of society and are rarely given the voice they deserve. Sometimes, women feel as though they must go to extremes to be heard in society due to their lack of power. The women of Salem in The Crucible by Arthur Miller feel as though they must go to great lengths in order to have an influence in their community. The lack of power that women have in Salem sets the stage for hysteria.
Feminist writes Betty Friedan “No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor.” “...women who 'adjust' as housewives, who grow up wanting to be 'just a housewife,' are in as much danger as the millions who walked to their own death in the concentration camps...they ate suffering a slow death of mind and spirit.” “When one begins to think about it, America depends rather heavily on women's passive dependence, their femininity. Femininity, if one still wants to call it that, makes American women a target and a victim of the sexual sell.” “Aging is not 'lost youth' but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” Naomi Woolf “Most urgently, women's identity must be premised upon our "beauty" so that we will remain vulnerable to
For some women, the struggle was never resolved; while others took most of a lifetime. For a few lucky women, they were granted amnesty. The two poems describe women’s feelings of oppression and their battle to deal with the issues of this power imbalance. They also point out the struggle many women face in a male dominated society. The first poem is “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath.