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The Taming of Man by Woman One of the archetypes found in The Epic of Gilgamesh is that of the man tamed by woman. In “The Coming of Enkidu,” Enkidu is wild; in the words of the trapper to his father, “He ranges over the hills with wild beasts and eats grass” (pp 4). When the trapper returns from Uruk and Gilgamesh’s court, he brings a temple harlot to the watering hole where he found Enkidu. The woman then seduces Enkidu, and the wild beasts ran from him, and he lost his animalistic quickness, making Enkidu a Man in truth, not just in form. The woman then taught him how to eat human food and drink from cups. He learned from her how to be wise, and from then on, “the thoughts of a man were in his heart” (5). This ‘Taming of Man’ reminds me of many other stories that are more recent. The most obvious example is Tarzan. The wild-man who is family with the gorillas meets a woman, the two fall in love (or lust), and the savage becomes a civilized Man, a domesticated Man (Homo sapiens domesticus). The archetype can also be seen in the many iterations of fairy tales that have a transformatively cursed man have his curse broken by a woman. Examples of this are “The Beauty and the Beast” and “The Princess and the Frog,” both of which having a woman triggering the reaction that gives the man his Humanity back. In more modern media, the story of the strong and ruthless man who becomes soft and caring for his woman, or a Berserker who will only calm when his woman is near. This archetype is widespread and is very interesting to study.
Works Cited
My references come from a translation that I found online and can be found here http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.htm
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Sanders, N. K. Assyrian International News Agency, Books Online, www.aina.org