firs t le c tu re n o te s (updated 2015)Why does Gilgamesh still matter? Why does any ancient epic hero still matter? Why doesAchilles or Odysseus still matter? Why does the ancient epic still resonate and inspire people today?An epic hero is an interesting inventionâhe is made of usually many interesting stories that tellus about ourselves in an earlier stage of civilizationâthe epic hero is not just an individual. He explainsto us why many things in our civilization are the way that they are. Epic heroes often work likefoundation myths. They show us how people became the way that they are.The Garden of Eden story is not an epic, but it is a lot like other foundation mythsâit tells usthat people were disobedient when they were in paradise. So that explains why life is so hard and painfulnow; it helps explain why people are wicked and why they do spiteful, vicious things sometimes. It alsosets up a hierarchy so that the Creator is always on top, and man must obey and obey withoutchallenging the Creator or he will suffer, and his woman will suffer even more and have to obey theCreator and the man, and so on. The story sets up an âorderlyâ universe even though we may not thinkit is fairâit is at least an explanation.On one level, Gilgamesh explains to us how to live with loss and to overcome the fear of death,which is a journey toward wisdom, and all of us are still on that same journey. One learns to accept thelimits of being a human being, for even kings must submit to greater powers. No one gets to literally liveforever.At the same time, Gilgamesh begins as a terrible king. So as a foundation myth he also shows uswhat happens to tyrants who hurt their people too much; the people pray for help, and a new hero mayrise who could be equally strong.The people donât get the relief they wanted in the way that they wanted it, but ultimately they doget a better, wiser king. In order for a tyrant to grow wise, his life will be hard and inconceivably painfulin spite of his superhuman strength and size etc.(Speaking of that, did you know that if a cubit is roughly 20", then Gilgameshâs foot would befive feet long? (See p. 3). Every stride would then be about ten feet long. To be in the proportions of ahuman, he would need to be about thirty feet tall! Does that make sense? No. But in an ancient time,size meant power, and power meant privilege and entitlement, so his gigantic size is a way of saying howhe is above everyone else.)So there is a moral that everyone can understandâeven the mightiest have to fail, which seemsbad. But then even the most proud can be humbled, which turns out well, in the end, after many painfultwists. For he becomes mature and wise through suffering. So in the end, the people get what they needfrom their great hero in spite of everything that the hero wants. The people must get what they needfrom the epic hero because the epic belongs to the people as a wholeâit is a foundation for theirnational identity.There is another moral that everyone today can feel the power ofâGilgamesh, as a selfinvolved, self-aggrandizing, tyrant, thinks he is the greatest and takes anything he likes. But thecommon people close by suffer, and the wiser ones with true common sense know better.Gilgameshâs quest, which he imagines will make him great, might mean little or nothing in the biggerpicture. The quest to slay Humbaba, which Gilgamesh imagines will make him âa name eternal!â (20)actually shows us that wiser people around him all know this is a foolish and terrible idea, including evenhis own mother. For she complains to the Sun God Shamash, after learning of the quest, âWhy did youafflict my son Gilgamesh with so restless a spirit?â (24). In other words, she thinks her son is a fool andshe is afraid for him. The great epic hero is a tyrant to his people and a fool to his mother.But even though this epic heroâs tale has many surprises for us, he also seems strangely familiarto us. If you think about various famous celebrities or politicians in the news all the time, I bet you canthink of people who are like Gilgamesh, self-involved, self-aggrandizing, thinking he is the greatest andtaking anything he likes. But the common people close by him suffer, and the wiser ones with truecommon sense know better.But I donât want to ruin the story for those of you who havenât read farther than p. 29.My main point is that an epic hero establishes large patterns for all later kinds of heroes toevolve away from. Epic as a literary invention is more than just a kind of story. It is a genre that enablesa certain kind of imagination. It is different from imagination in the novel and in film, today.for Gilgamesh and The Iliad, from Mikhail Bakhtinâs âEpic and Novelâ in The Dialogic ImaginationDr. Jeffrey Ethan LeeIn Aristotleâs Poetics, the genres are seen as harmonious and whole and complete. Aristotle writesabout tragedy in drama and the epic in poetry. These are genres characterized by a kind of finality that isantithetical to the novel. For the novel is the genre of becoming. The novel as a genre is still formingand open to and pervaded by other genres in a way that the epic and tragedy are not.The ancient epic has at least three distinguishing features versus the novel:(1) A national epic past, a past that belongs to a nation, a people, has a sense of absolutenessabout it. The epic genre itself seems complete even if the words themselves are on clayfragments.The national epic past is full of âfirstsâ and âbestsâ and âgreatests.â It has âfounders,â âpeaktimes,â âbeginnings.âThe epic past is hierarchical; gods and humans have distinct ranks and stations in the cosmos.The epic hero is generally two dimensional; he or she does not need to have great inner depths.(Meanwhile, the novel is characterized by relativity rather than absoluteness. Characters are morenuanced and three-dimensional. They can be rising or falling in society; the characters are notfixed. Novel heroes and heroines are in the process of becoming.)(2) A national tradition is the source for the epic.Epic discourse is always handed down by tradition; the form itself is permeated by tradition.Itâs not about a personal point of view but a commonly held tradition. Tradition in the epic ispious, even sacred. It becomes the basis for a national identity. It excludes alternate points ofview. (It resembles ancient tragedy in this way, for tragedy began as part of the religious festivalto Dionysus.)(Novels, in contrast, draw upon individual experiences. They often include conflicting views,voices, and even multiple languages. Heightening the power of the genre of the novel, the novelas a genre includes more other genres than any other previous literary genre; novels may includeletters, poems, essays, plays, artworks, sketches etc. Personalities, idiosyncrasies, and the voiceand tones of the author may all legitimately compete for attention within the novel.)(3) Epic distance sets the epic world apart from the contemporary worldâit is about a remotetime and from a remote time where singer and audience once lived.The epic was never about âtodayâ even when the performers were themselves in what we callancient times. The epicâs represented world has been shifted into this kind of epic past; itwas always cut off from the present. The tone is generally serious.(In contrast, the novel is rooted in the present, so it cannot ever feel as final or finished as anyepic. It is filled with things and attitudes from the present that have relative values and moreordinary characters who are closer to the readers in terms of social class. It is about âtodayâ evenif it is set in a distant historical time period. The tones can embrace pathos, satire, farce, tragedy,melodrama etc.)With epic distance, memory is the source for the creative impulse; the tradition of the past issacred. There is no sense of relativity of the past, yet.Epic distance creates a powerful sense of completeness; nothing else is needed in this distancedimage.Gilgamesh Study Guide Questions pp. 1-292014Participation in this discussion counts towards your participation grade. Before we talk as awhole class, you can work in groups of four to five people. You can pick any topic you like, but itâs firstcome first serve. When you answer the questions, you should be able to find examples to share with theclass. Make sure that you take notes for yourself! Each group should be able to talk intelligently, citingspecific passages, to the class for 7-10 minutes.1. Brotherhood and friendship are themes that are important in this epic early on. What are thesigns that there is a sense of friendship and/or brotherhood between Gilgamesh and Enkidu? In whatways are they alike, and in what ways are they not alike? Which one is more like an epic hero, in youropinion, and explain why….2. Whatâs wrong with Gilgamesh as a character and as a king? What (if anything) is missing inhim? How do the people feel about him? Do they love him? Respect him? Fear him? Why doesGilgamesh have the right to deflower the virgins even when they are married? Does anyone loveGilgamesh? Who does he pay attention to, if he pays attention to anyone? Right from the beginning,what is good about Gilgamesh?3. Whatâs good and bad about Enkidu? Why does having sex with a prostitute change him, andhow does it change him? What events and/or characters make him more and more human? Is it a goodor a bad thing for him? (You can argue reasonably on both sides of this question.) How do youunderstand Enkidu and his relationship to nature? Does he fit a particular archetype? Why do theanimals leave him after he has sex with a woman?4. The term âCivilizedâ can refer to matters of social organization and/or individual behavior.In The Epic of Gilgamesh, who might and might not be civilized according to these two differentfactors? What role does skilled labor (including sex work) have as a mark of civilization? In what way orin what forms might the epic consider sex civilizing?5. Given that the journey to wisdom is an important theme in the epic, and given that Gilgameshis called wise in the beginning, are there any signs of wisdom in Gilgamesh in the beginning? Is Enkiduwise in any way in the beginning? What would a wise king do? What should a wise friend do for a king?Does either one seem more or less capable of learning or changing in any way?6. Draw a graph on the board that shows the progress of the hero Gilgamesh through time (Xaxis) versus happiness/unhappiness (Y axis, such that above zero is happy and below zero is unhappy).Then do the same thing but this time the Y axis represents worthiness/unworthiness. Plot the majorturning points or significant events so far with two separate lines. When he makes himself happier, is hemore or less worthy? What can you conclude about the relationship between happiness and worthinessfor Gilgamesh so far?7. Make a list of the female characters in Gilgamesh. Write a brief description of each and whatshe does in the story. What general ideas can you infer about the roles of women in ancient Sumeria?8. Given that situational irony means that things are not the way that they are supposed to be,what are some of the instances of situational irony in this epic so far? Is there anything situationallyironic about the dreams of Gilgamesh? Why does Gilgamesh propose the journey to confrontHumbaba? What does Enkidu say in response to his suggestion? Why do the people of Uruk need tocaution Gilgamesh before he sets out? What does this say about their perception of his character?Last Gilg am e s h Study Guide Questions pp. 30-100Participation is based upon your small group work, your freewritings around topics, and your participation in thefull class discussion. We will not have time to cover all of these topics today. So pick just one that really interests you, onethat you can write your HW log about (250-350 ty p e d d o u b le -s p ac e d p ag e s = 10 p ts ). Im p o rtan t: u s ee v id e n c e an d c ite p ag e n u m b e rs fo r q u o te s to s u p p o rt w h ate v e r p o in ts y o u w an t to m ake . Thesehard copies are due next Thurs. We can talk about other points, themes, and try to answer any other questions also.9. In what ways do the gods act like people, and when do they seem most âhumanâ? When dothey seem to care about humans, and when do they seem to not care? In what ways do we see peoplepaying respect to the gods, and how well does this work, if it works at all? For example, what is thesignificance of Gilgamesh and Enkiduâs actions upon slaying Humbaba (pp. 46-47)? See also Tablet VI,when Gilgamesh rejects Ishtarâs advances and she takes her revenge…. Try to think of other examples….10. What potentially foolhardy actions does Gilgamesh take in the epic? What potentiallyfoolhardy actions does Enkidu take? Why is it that when one of the two must die that the gods decidethat Enkidu must die? Is that fair? How does each respect or disrespect the gods?11. In Tablet VII, how does Gilgamesh try to comfort Enkidu? What is the significance of thecurses Enkidu sets upon the hunter and Shamhat? Do these curses demonstrate anything about genderroles and expectations of the time? How does Shamash calm Enkidu (pp. 58-59)? How does Shamashhelp Enkidu to accept his fate? How is life after death depicted in Enkiduâs dream?12. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh nearly goes mad with grief. He sits by the body until it beginsto decay, he puts on the skins of animals, and he searches the wilderness and the underworld for thesecret of immortality. Is this because of his love for Enkidu and his desire to bring him back, or is itbecause Gilgamesh has finally recognized his own mortality and is terrified? Can you think of other epicheroes who visit the lands of the dead? What would it represent to you?13. In Tablet IX, why does Gilgamesh set out to find Uta-Napishti? How does this quest relateto his quest to slay Humbaba? Are these quests similar or very different? How wise or unwise doesGilgamesh seem now compared to how he was at the start? (p. 70) Is it wise to be afraid of death? Whatdoes Shamash have to say in relation to Gilgameshâs undertaking?14. In Tablet X, what is Gilgameshâs strategy upon approaching the tavern-keeper, Shiduri, andUr-shanabi, the boatman of Uta-napishti? What does his strategy say about his character? Is his strategysuccessful? What other approaches might he have taken? How do you visualize the scene that presentsitself to Gilgamesh as he wanders past the end of the world?15. Also in Tablet X, Gilgamesh sees his goal as overcoming sorrow, but Uta-Napishti accuseshim of chasing sorrow. Explain what each means. How, in the eyes of Uta-Napishti, has Gilgameshmade himself the fool rather than the king? Uta-Napishti explains that human lives do not go onforever. What does he say is eternally true?16. In Tablet XI, why is Gilgamesh unwilling to fight Uta-Napishti when he finally confrontshim? What is Gilgameshâs response to the knowledge that he was unable to resist sleeping? Why does hehave this response? Why does Gilgamesh have Ur-Shanabi walk the walls of his city? Have these wallsbeen given special significance as a result of Gilgameshâs journey?17. In Tablet XI, Uta-napishti tells of the great Deluge. What similarities and differences do yousee between the flood story here and the biblical flood story? Why does Ea reprimand Enlil (95)? Whatspecifically is Ea angry with Enlil for, and what would he rather have Enlil done? (95)? What doesGilgamesh learn from this story about the nature of human beings and of the gods? Do you think thereis a sense of divine justice for human beings here?18. At the end of the Standard Version, Gilgamesh appears to have come full circle, walkingagain the walls of his city and speaking of their origin. In what ways has he changed? How much wiser ishe, if he is wiser? What messages or morals do you take from the epic. How could this epic help peopleto understand their own civilization? What kinds of values does it explore? What would this epic inspirepeople to do, if anything?19. Looking over the whole epic, draw a graph on the board that shows the progress of the heroGilgamesh through time (X axis, such that further to the right means further through time) versushappiness/unhappiness (Y axis, such that above zero is happy and below zero is unhappy). Then do thesame thing but this time the Y axis represents worthiness/unworthiness. Plot just the major turningpoints or significant events so far with two separate lines. When he makes himself happier, is he more orless worthy? Is there a relationship between happiness and worthiness? What can you conclude aboutthe progress of Gilgamesh when you see the whole picture?