“No woman here is going to be allowed to walk all over us. Otherwise, as men we’ll be disgraced. We won’t deserve the name” (Heaney, p. 42). Throughout history, women have been treated differently than men. Additionally, the standards to which women were held to also varied with different civilizations. This is very apparent in two early masterpieces of world literature; The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Burial at Thebes.
In The Epic of Gilgamesh, women play a small role. We are introduced to Ishtar, the goddess of love, fertility, and war; Ninsun, the mother of Gilgamesh; Siduri, the goddess of wine; Aruru, the goddess of creation; the wife of Utnapishtim; and Shamhat, the temple prostitute. One can see that these six women have roles in the story, but it must be noted that none of these women are regular townspeople. When Enkidu dies, he has many mourners including a wife at the bottom of this list, but this is the only mention of her. The same goes for Gilgamesh and his wife.
Throughout the poem, women are seen as either gods, mortals with a higher status than most, or objects. Take for instance Shamhat, the temple prostitute. It is said that she can tame a wild man by her sexuality. She is told, “Now use your love-arts. Strip off your robe and lie here naked, with your legs apart. Stir up his lust when he approaches, touch him, excite him, take his breath with your kisses, show him what a woman is. The animals who knew him in the wilderness will be bewildered, and will leave him forever” (Mitchell, p. 78). But after the act is completed, she is just brushed aside and forgotten.
An example from Gilgamesh that demonstrates the point that common women were seen as objects by some can be found at the beginning of the story. “[He] takes the girl from her mother and uses her, the warrior’s daughter, the young man’s bride, he uses her” (Mitchell, p. 72). It should be noted that the only character to display such attitudes towards women seems to be King Gilgamesh, but nonetheless; it shows that this was an attitude or a mindset for men at this time.
Moving on to The Burial at Thebes, one can see that social attitudes have changed a bit. Antigone is prosecuted for going against the king and burying her brother’s body, even though King Creon says that he doesn’t deserve a proper burial because he terrorized the citizens of Thebes. Antigone does what she feels is right, and is determined to ensure that all of her kin retain honor in both life and death.
During this time period, Antigone was viewed as a rebel, a revolutionary. A wonderful example is provided by Antigone’s sister Ismene. She says, “How do you think they see us? How do you think we’d fare if we went against the order? Two women on our own, faced with a death decree – Women, defying Creon? It is not a woman’s place. We’re weak where they are strong. Whether it’s this or worse, we must do as we’re told” (Heaney, p. 10). But Antigone did not care, she felt that she must do what was in her heart, not what others expected of her.
There is a turning point in this story as well. In the beginning, the people of Thebes keep quiet about what Antigone has done, but as the story progresses; they begin to stand up to King Creon and verbally disapprove of his injustice towards her. As she is sentence to death, the chorus proclaims, “Steadfast Antigone, never before did Death open his stone door to one so radiant. You would not live a lie. Vindicated, lauded, age and disease outwitted, you go with head held high” (Heaney, p. 50). This quote shows that the people of Thebes praised her and felt that she was justified in her decision, but shows no sadness or opposition to her pending execution.
Finally, we finally get to see how the townspeople truly feel about Antigone and what she has done. “What, they’re asking, did she do so wrong? What deserves a punishment like this? As far as they’re concerned she should be honored – a woman who rebelled…She was heroic! That’s what’s being said behind closed doors” (Heaney, p. 43). Antigone was stripped of her rights and sentenced to death, yet she still had a power over the people. People applauded her, and treated her as a moral equal, and this shows that women were making progress during this time period.
In TheEpic of Gilgamesh, women are seen either as citizens with a lower status or as gods. In the godly form, women are powerful and have important duties to carry out, such as the creation of mankind and the production of wine. But in the mortal form, they are seen as pleasure objects and do not play many other roles in society. Conversely, in The Burial at Thebes, women are viewed as equals on a moral level. They still do not have the societal status of men, but the citizens of Thebes feel that men and women should be treated equally when it comes to doing what is right. King Creon disagrees until he learns that his wrongdoings will doom the city of Thebes for all time.
These two early masterpieces of world literature illustrate the social attitudes towards women, as well as show their roles in society. Women have always had some type of social roadblock in their paths, but these stories show that since the beginning of time, women have fought for social progress.
