Creon’s Misogynistic Perspective (page 94)

The permeating theme present throughout Sophocles’s Antigone is the clash between allegiance to city and loyalty to family; the two significant characters of the play, Creon and Antigone, each represent one side of the conflict, respectively. By symbolizing their opposing perspectives, the protagonists thereby create a subtheme of male versus female. The specific passage under consideration can be interpreted as a reflection of this secondary subject matter.

The passage is preceded by the imprisonment of Antigone, charged with performing burial rights for her brother Polynices against the prohibitory law set forth by Creon. Creon is here discussing the justification behind her detention to his son, Haemon, who also happens to be Antigone’s betrothed. Creon begins by personifying “Anarchy.” It is important to note, however, that not only is anarchy humanized, but it is feminized. Thus, lawlessness and destruction become, at least in Creon’s view, stereotypically female qualities. Women are associated with wreaking havoc and causing disorder. By contrast, men are characterized as being strong, regimented individuals capable of withstanding the chaotic nature of the feminine sphere. Men are coupled with the city and its disciplined set of laws.

Creon, of course, sees himself as one of these rational men and thereby feels justified in his motivation for punishing Antigone. Submitting to the hubris of being male, Creon desires to destroy any source of female opposition. He even admits that he rather be defeated by another male, rather than fall at the hands of an innately-inferior female. Staunchly set on his misogynistic views, Creon drives away Haemon, who encourages leniency in spite of his father’s growing ego. By the completion of the play, the irony of Creon’s speech reveals itself: while in the process of angering the gods and destroying his city, he shakes the foundation of his house and ultimately falls at the hands of Antigone.

Gilgamesh's Fight Against Nature

Before this passage, Enkidu has doubts about entering the Cedar Forest because he’s frightened of the guardian Huwawa. Gilgamesh consoles Enkidu by telling him that since life is short and will inevitably end, they need to set out on a journey to find fame so they will be remembered. Bitterly knowing that he won’t be able to live forever like the gods, Gilgamesh tries to find fame, thinking that a heroic deed will somehow make him immortal despite a physical death. However, Gilgamesh fails to realize that immortality cannot be justified by surface possessions, like fame or wealth. To Gilgamesh, the most important things in life are fame and the legacy he leaves behind. He becomes so overwhelmed by this search for a legacy that he loses focus on his life and becomes entranced with and scared of the notion of death. This passage differs from Gilgamesh’s views of mortality after the death of his best friend Enkidu. Right now in the passage, Gilgamesh accepts death by acknowledging that the life of man is short. But, after Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh realizes that one day, the same will happen to him, and so he sets out on a journey to find immortality and Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh’s “venture into the Forest” to “cut the Cedar down” is a symbolic fight against nature. It is only natural for all humans to die and Gilgamesh’s journey to cut down the Cedar is parallel to his fight against death and mortality, which is seen later on in the epic.

The Legacy of Enkidu

p. 40 (10 verses): “Because of her you eat the food and drink.... Gilgamesh the king will build a statue / to celebrate the fame of Enkidu.”

These words from Shamash come in response to Enkidu’s grief over his imminent death. The gods, enraged by the acts of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, decide that one of the two must die. They come to the conclusion that Enkidu must be the one to die after committing a most offensive act: searching for and cutting down the tallest cedar tree of the forest once guarded by Huwawa. The actions of Gilgamesh and Enkidu against nature make it clear to the reader that the conflict of human civilization vs. nature is central to the epic, with the gods being the “guardians” of nature.

In loathing and self-pity, Enkidu begins to curse many aspects of human civilization, particularly the hunter and the temple prostitute. The hunter represents the ingenuity of human technology; the peak of human adaptation. Meanwhile, the temple prostitute symbolizes the community that is essential to being a civilized human. Enkidu rationalized that had he never met or slept with the temple prostitute, and had the hunter never found him, that he would have still been alive and happy in nature. However, Shamash is quick to remind Enkidu of all the advantages he gained by becoming civilized. These advantages fall into the separate categories of material and communal. The material advantages Enkidu obtained are due in part to the actions of the temple prostitute: “Because of her you eat the food and drink the palace affords. Because of her you wear the garments suitable for a prince to wear…” (Ferry 40). Enkidu’s inclusion into the human community granted him access to materials and objects that not only provide him with luxurious comfort, but also give him an upper-hand against nature. The communal advantage can be seen in Gilgamesh’s grief: “The grief of Gilgamesh for you will be the cause of woe and wailing in the city, Gilgamesh the king will build a statue to celebrate the fame of Enkidu” (Ferry 40). Gilgamesh’s despair not only cause the city to mourn for Enkidu as well, but Gilgamesh establishes Enkidu’s fame in history by having a statue built in Enkidu’s honor. The emotions that Gilgamesh and the city feel as a whole highlight the communal aspect of being civilized

The human mind is powerful tool but, with knowledge, it becomes the driving force of revolutions. While Enkidu is quick to wish for ignorance, he takes for granted what being part of human civilization has given him: knowledge. That knowledge has given him a new understanding of other people, nature, and of himself. That knowledge allowed him to conquer nature. However, no human being can conquer death.

Nature vs Humanity

pg. 42 "No one comes back whoever enters there... dead chanters and anointers, bearers of ointments."

The vivid description of the House of Darkness portrays the underworld as a motionless and silent place of no return. The immobility within the “House” is further emphasized by the “stillness and dust” that sits on the door and doorknob. The dust that has accumulated is a metaphor for the triumph of nature over mankind. In addition, the underworld is illustrated as dark. The dark symbolizes the lack of hope, depression, and evil. The dead are impotent in the underworld and cannot escape the darkness. Within the “House”, there exists no distinction between the dwellers, not even godlike beings such as kings can defy the mortality of humans. Status is erased by death. This passage shows the reality of mortal humans’ fate that Enkidu envisions in his dream. As the dead decompose, their bodies become part of nature, “the garment that they wear are made of feathers./The food they eat is clay, the drink is dirt.” These lines represent decomposition of the human body, as the human is consumed by the Earth’s soil. Furthermore, the feathers Enkidu was clothed in demonstrates how he has regressed to his former primal state, meaning all humans will become one with nature. Ultimately, nature is victorious in the battle over humans. Enkidu comes to realize that the fame Shamash promises to him is not synonymous with immortality. In the subsequent lines, Enkidu calls Gilgamesh a coward for his fear of mortality and claims that Gilgamesh did not help him. Gilgamesh’s betrayal of their companionship marks the beginning of his process of becoming less civilized.

Like the Cedar Forest but So Much Worse

p.42 (6 verses): “No one comes back who ever enters there. ... dead chanters and anointers, bearers of ointments;”

In this passage Enkidu is on his deathbed. The gods, after meeting in council, have decided that he must be punished for felling the tallest cedar. Gilgasmesh was spared even though he killed the guardian of the cedar forest, Huwawa, but he is suffering along with his companion and listens to the horrifying retelling of the dream he had the night before, a vision of the underworld that awaits Enkidu. Enkidu describes to Gilgamesh “No one comes back who enters there.” This statement echoes the earlier sentiment of Enkidu when Gilgamesh said he wanted to make the journey to the cedar forest. Death is a hopeless journey and Gilgamesh cannot follow his friend there to help him. “The garments that they war are made of feathers. The food they eat is clay, the drink is dirt.” These lines talk about the ultimate loss of humanity. Earlier in the epic when Enkidu transitions from beast to human, there is a strong emphasis placed on the use of technology that separates us from nature. To become human, Enkidu had to be clothed and eat and drink the food that men eat and drink. Death strips away that humanity. In death, Enkidu cannot even return to the animal lifestyle of eating grass and drinking water. He will have to eat the earth itself. “There is no light of any sort at all.” Again, this line echoes the cedar forest adventure. Enkidu and Gilgamesh ventured into the dark, untamed forest to destroy Huwawa. The death of Huwawa represented bringing light and humanity into the forest. Death is a return to that darkness. Despite the effort and victories overcoming nature, death is the inevitable regression back to that state. Enkidu then tells about the Kings and people of high status he saw, but their status did not help them or afford them special treatment. When their humanity is lost, glory and fame mean nothing. After this passage Enkidu accuses Gilgamesh of doing nothing to help save him. This scene is a reversal of the cedar quest. Instead of Gilgamesh having nightmares it is Enkidu. Unlike Enkidu, however, Gilgamesh cannot offer any optimistic words of comfort. He knows that he cannot conquer death like he conquered Huwawa. It is because of this horrible realization that Gilgamesh wants to seek out true immortality to avoid the same fate as his beloved, doomed companion.

Gilgamesh´s desire to live forever

p. 17 (5 verses): “If I should fall, my fame will be secure. ... My fame will be secure to all my sons.”

This is a sentence that is repeated twice already in this page, and is also appearing later on in the book. It shows that there is a great importance in being remembered. In being a part of slaying the demon he has achieved something great and will therefore be talked about and the memory of king Gilgamesh will be carried on through the next generations. It is a way for him to live on, not in human life but in the memory of his sons and further down in the generations. It is not only the sons who will remember him though, but the whole generations they are in, and “all my sons” are just representing all people in the next generations passing his stories down.

I think it is relevant to assume that” living on” is the greatest motivation for Gilgamesh to push himself to these heroic acts since much of the story take on how Gilgamesh´s fear of dying motivate him to go through anything in a search for eternal life. He has control of everything, but dying is something he cannot picture for himself. However, like I mentioned, already at the beginning of the story, where this sentence is found, there is a fear of dying present in Gilgamesh want to be remembered. and have no control of and I think that is where the fear comes from. The fear gets even greater as he, later on in the story, sees how Enkidu dies a painful death. Enkidu´s strength can be compared to Gilgamesh´s and is a reminder that even the strongest one can die. Whit this, the desire to live an eternal life drives him not only to perform memorable achievements, but to go and search for immortality at the edge of the world.

p.42

Before analyzing Enkidu’s dream, which depicts his “journey” into the underworld, it proves imperative to briefly explain what initiated Enkidu’s downfall. To explicate, because Gilgamesh and Enkidu had conquered the Bull of Heaven, defeated Huwawa, and removed the largest cedar tree from the Cedar Forest, the gods resolved one of the two heroes had to perish. The heroes’ insolence towards the gods and hubris, instigate Enkidu’s inescapable fate, his death.

Moving along, this segment of the epic reiterates the theme that dominates The Epic of Gilgamesh,--humanities’ mortality. The first line immediately foreshadows the inevitability of death, yet it also portrays death as the terminus for all humans. To elucidate, Enkidu indicates that “no one comes back [from the House of Darkness.]” Moreover, the author’s diction, “stillness” and “dust,” symbolizes the inescapability from death, and the afterworld as well. The term “stillness,” in this passage, generates a feeling of futility and, therefore, surrender by the dead. The dead comprehend they cannot escape the House of Darkness, so they do not attempt to escape. As a consequence, literally and figuratively, “dust” accumulates on the door and bolt, for they are never utilized. The door, which separates the living from dead, and the bolt ensure the permanence of that division.

Moreover, the author depicts the underworld as lacking any sort of light. Once again, this highlights the futility of struggling to escape death. To explain, light, in this instance, symbolizes hope; however, since light does not exist in the underworld, hope of evading death does not exist. In other words, those alive cannot escape death, and the dead cannot revert to their living state. Also, on a more superficial level, the lack of light may also symbolize an additional aspect of the author’s theme, the undiscriminating nature of death. That is, death comes to all, for it is blind to worldly social status, age and gender. Therefore, in the underworld all are equal. This interpretation is validated by Enkidu’s catalogue of those he encountered in the netherworld. Enkidu references kings, princes, high priests, chanters and anointers. This list illustrates the composition of the underworld, in other words, kings and anointers, who on earth would not live side by side, agonize together in the House of No Return.

Lastly, the concept of the underworld representing a distinct spiritual plane is conveyed by the depiction of the dead’s garments, which were composed of feathers. In various cultures, feathers symbolize the ascension to a distinct spiritual plane, so perhaps the image of plumage sheds some light on Sumerian belief that death is a spiritual evolution to a distinct realm. At the same time, the feathers may symbolize humanity’s metamorphosis back into an animal. In short, while significant motifs, such as the omnipotence of the gods and animalistic aspects of humans, are present, the imagery and diction employed by the author are, more importantly, instruments that establish the overall theme of the epic,--the impermanence of mortals.