Gilgamesh is filled with interaction between the two main characters, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and various women. There are two specific instances which are of interest in this story: Enkidu with the harlot beginning in Part 1 and concluding in Part 3 of the text and Gilgamesh and Ishtar at the beginning of Part 3. In the former, there is a theme of initiation and innocence lost. In the latter, the theme of jealousy and rage play a large role. Both stories are interesting in their portrayal of women in relation to men.

At the beginning of Part 1, Enkidu is awakened to his manhood by the “woman’s art” (14). The whole story of Enkidu and the harlot contains several references that could be directly connected to the creation story of the Christian Bible. Enkidu, for instance, lays with the harlot for “six days and seven nights” (ibid). But, more importantly to the story here is the connection of the creation story with that of the generative process that was a popular motif of the times. During the encounter with the harlot, there is a clear indication of an initiatory process that imparts wisdom to Enkidu. Not only does the wildness of Enkidu become tame as the animal nature is elevated to a new, more human, consciousness, but he is further imparted with a wisdom that makes him like unto a god. The harlot says to him, “‘You are wise, Enkidu, and now you have become like a god’” (15). Very much like the serpent in the garden of Eden with Eve, there is a statement of human sexuality opening up the door between that which is merely animal or unsophisticated in man and that which is god-like. It is a reproductive or generative myth that places the ability to make another in one’s own likeness on the same level as the creative process of a god.

However, examining the details of this initiation, we can see that Enkidu is transformed by this act through the feminine and becomes something more than merely human. The story has already established the near god-like qualities of Gilgamesh in Prologue of the text going so far as to say “two thirds they made him a god and one third man” (13). But here we see that Enkidu is elevated to the same stature as Gilgamesh through this initiation by the harlot.

It is interesting to note that the harlot came from the temple of Ishtar. The temple prostitutes, while certainly an unfortunate choice of words in our own times, were highly revered and sacred in their own right. They held a particular status among the ordinary people of the times. To the common man, these harlots or priestesses of Ishtar played a role as Ishtar. It was not something to be taken lightly or mocked in any way. This role of the harlot in the story of Enkidu is important because it shows that he was not brought out of his wild animal state merely through a sexual encounter, but through the specific and dedicated efforts of Ishtar’s servants or—one might suggest by proxy—of Ishtar herself.

So while Enkidu was transformed from a base creature to human to a god, there was a certain responsibility imparted to him in that transformation. Part of that responsibility was to tame Gilgamesh. There are some sexual overtones to the story between Gilgamesh and Enkidu that provide hints of possible homosexual connection between the two men with the passive role given to Enkidu (15-16). [It could also be said this is merely one reading of this particular translation.] There is certainly a similarity between the friendship of these men and the later description of David and Jonathon in 1 Samuel 18:1. Regardless of this possibility, Enkidu is supposed to be an equal to Gilgamesh and this passive, companion mode of Enkidu could be seen as a direct result of the transformation and elevation of the man by the initiatory process of Ishtar’s sexual cult through the woman of the harlot.

Stealing a line from Spiderman: with great power comes great responsibility. This wisdom and humanity that is given to Enkidu was welcomed at first. But at the end of his life, Enkidu curses the harlot for giving him his humanity. He had to be reminded by a god that the woman had given him life, wisdom, and opportunity. In his understanding that life has both the pleasure and the pain, he recants his curse and blesses the woman (27).

After all is said and done, Enkidu seems to provide a certain amount of balance to the story. He understands that wisdom is both a blessing and a curse, that it requires a great deal more than merely running around catering to the lowest animal nature, and that his transformation was due to the balancing nature of the feminine.

Gilgamesh, on the other hand, seems to provide us with a caricature of power gone mad. We see from the first part of the story that Gilgamesh is a man in whom his passions have gone wild. In contrast to Enkidu who was a wild man on the outside, tamed by a woman’s art to the royalty on the inside, and initiated into the wisdom of the gods, Gilgamesh is royalty on the outside and wild on the inside. He still has a certain wisdom that could be compared to “street smarts” because he knows that he can build better walls and temples, all signs of the outward nature of Gilgamesh. But internally, Gilgamesh is full of turmoil and dreams.

It is interesting to examine Gilgamesh in this light. His dreams are interpreted for him, first, by his mother and then later by Enkidu. But these wild passions inside Gilgamesh cause trouble even among the gods (13). Until the creation of Enkidu, the only manner in which Gilgamesh viewed men was as second best or next in line to his own lusts and desires. In fact they are nameless in the story, not even worth enough to hold any kind of identity to Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh never really learns the lesson either. In the end, it is his scorn of Ishtar that directly results in the death of Enkidu. In Part 3, we see a conversation between Ishtar and Gilgamesh. Ishtar sees the accomplishments of Gilgamesh and wants to shower him with all kinds of gifts. What she does not offer him, ironically enough, is a sense of adventure and manhood that is shared between Gilgamesh and Enkidu all through episode of the Forest Journey.

Gilgamesh rebukes Ishtar by insulting her very nature. When she complains to the gods that she has been insulted, the gods agree with Gilgamesh’s assessment of her, they also agree that she has been insulted in tone if not in manner. They provide her with the Bull of Heaven to avenge her honor (25). Up to this point, Gilgamesh has had the nameless women of his conquests and his mother. Now he is dealing with a woman—even if a goddess—on her own terms.

The story starts out with Ishtar’s very abundant offerings. And then the inevitable happens: “Gilgamesh opened his mouth” (24). The downfall of every man in dealing with a woman is that he inevitably opens his mouth and begins to speak when it would be much more effective just to keep quiet. From here things just go downhill quickly. The second step in any good argument of a relationship is that next inevitable event characterized in this story with, “Ishtar opened her mouth” (25). And the fight was on. The end result of this brawl is that Gilgamesh and Enkidu slaughter the Bull of Heaven and someone has to pay. Being the good friend that he is, Enkidu takes the fall and leaves Gilgamesh all torn up about it.

Throughout the text, both men come into their own through women in some form. Enkidu becomes a man, no more an animal, through the “woman’s art” of the harlot. Through Ishtar, directly or indirectly, Gilgamesh both gains and loses an equal. There is no doubt in reading this story that change was inevitable to both of these men. The lessons learned and the journeys taken were facilitated, hampered, and even destroyed through their interactions with the feminine.

(Assignment for WorldLit: Journal 2. Note: This is merely over “Parts 1-3″ in the text.)