The Syntagm of Gilgamesh - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2436 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/07/01 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Gilgamesh Essay Did you like this example? Among the numerous struggles humans undergo within a lifetime, the ultimate struggle of the human experience is to eventually contend with mortality. Kings can obtain as much physical power as they and their subjects have at hand, however even the most powerful of kings are subject to the brutal cycles of the most natural regulators. As solution seekers, humans have a great deal of trouble confronting this inevitable reality. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Syntagm of Gilgamesh" essay for you Create order There are of course, numerous historical paradigms that speak to this timeless struggle. One of these, is as ancient as written stories come, The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem about a king who is characterized by almost all of the qualifications of a hero. The hero is an archetype that appears in nearly every myth, and undergoes general steps throughout, that make the journey about their progression through some external or internal conflict towards some resolution. Specifically, according to Joseph Campbell’s characterization of the monomyth of the hero, there are three necessary stages of the journey. These are departure, trials and temptations, and finally the reintegration into the familiar realm of the hero’s origin (Devinney and Thury (Whomsley) 219). The template laid out by Campbell is followed incredibly closely by many stories and myths whose hero must learn a valuable lesson, thereby teaching the lesson to the reader and fulfilling the functional role of mythology within the society that constructed the myth. The analysis of the differences and similarities of these narratives reveal the commonality to the message conveyed. In Levi Strauss’s analysis of mythology, he makes an analogy to the nature of syntagms and paradigms in linguistics as a method of understanding the structure of mythologies (Devinney and Thury (Kirk) 263). The universal struggle conveyed by the myth is itself a paradigm, while the specific instance of the myth itself serves as a single syntagm of the paradigm. This paper will explore the syntagmatic journey of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, to then integrate this specific narrative to the general paradigm that is being addressed. To achieve this analysis, the characterizations of both figures, their adheren ce to Campbell’s characterization of the heroic monomyth, and the specific struggle with mortality that Gilgamesh endures after Enkidu perishes, must all be thoroughly examined. In the first part of the epic, the reader is exposed to Gilgamesh’s characterization through the words and prayers of the people of Uruk, directed towards the God Aruru, requesting a method of dealing with their harsh and tyrannical ruler, Gilgamesh. As it is written, â€Å"Though he is their shepherd and protectorGilgamesh lets no girl go free to her bride [groom]† (George 4). The citizens of Uruk are complaining about their ruler who is supposed to be protecting them. This first characterization of Gilgamesh is a rather negative one, as it is implied that Gilgamesh is engaging in inordinately tyrannical behavior, even forcing young newly wed women to sleep with him. It is through this request that Gilgamesh’s parallel is introduced, Enkidu, who is created by the goddess Aruru to appease the qualms of the citizens of Uruk, so that a challenger of worthy capabilities can put Gilgamesh in his place and hopefully achieve a more protected society. So Aruru creates this wild man: â€Å"Coated in hair like the god of the animals† (George 5). It is important to consider Enkidu’s physical characterizations. He is very hairy, and wild in nature. He is one with the animals and â€Å"knows not a people, nor even a country† (George 5). This emphasis on Enkidu’s untamed nature becomes significant as the development of the two characters progresses. As Enkidu’s story progresses, his departure from his own familiar realm is achieved by his succumbing to his temptation of lust, as a hunter who notices that Enkidu is undoing his traps, plans to entrap Enkidu by seducing him with a prostitute. The hunter tells the prostitute, â€Å"Uncradle your bosom, bare your sex, let him take in your charmshe will see you, and will approach you† (George 7). The woman does just this and successfully beds Enkidu for six days and seven nights. This experiences transforms Enkidu, as is evident by the rejection of Enkidu afterward by his animal companions. According to Campbell’s monomyth, Enkidu is accomplishing departure from his animalistic world to a civilized one, largely guided by a powerful female role, referred to commonly within the monomyth template, as the anima (Devinney and Thury 219). Enkidu then learns of the existence of Gilgamesh who is ruling over Uruk unnecessarily harshly, and goes to the city to fight Gilgame sh in an epic fight that literally shakes the whole city (George 16). Finally, their battle comes to an end and the two find a mutual respect for each other. In fact the text even goes as far as to say â€Å"They kissed each other and formed a friendship† (George 17). The unification of these two characters prompts the beginning of their epic journey together. They seek adventure and self-magnification through victories in their conquests. First, Enkidu and Gilgamesh agree to travel to the Forest of Cedar trees to fight the notorious godly guardian of the trees, Humbaba. Their long journey leads them to their battle with Humbaba who is overcome by the two mighty figures and Enkidu eventually convinces Gilgamesh to end Humbaba’s life. He says to Gilgamesh, â€Å"finish him, slay him, do away with his power† (George 43). Gilgamesh agrees and carries out this task as Enkidu eggs him on. It is in this scene that it becomes very evident of the enabling nature of the relationship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh. In their arrival back in Uruk, Gilgamesh’s physical characteristics tempt the lust of Ishtar, a goddess. Gilgamesh however, rejects her advances explaining that he is aware of â€Å"the fates suffered by her many former conque sts† (George 47). The knowledge not to give in to lustful temptations can be understood as a trial in its own regard, and this can also be understood through the lens of Campbell’s hero and Carl Jung’s additional focus on the female anima shaping the journey of the hero (Devinney Thury 222). The role of this temptress goddess is a familiar one to the monomyth and indeed does play a large role in the shaping of the rest of Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s journey. For, in anger of his rejection, Ishtar releases the Bull of Heaven, who comes down to earth and as he snorts, â€Å"a pit opened up, one hundred men of Uruk fell down it† (George 51). After the bull does this twice, Enkidu manages to grab hold of it and the two actually manage to defeat this bull. This scene is particularly powerful in that Enkidu and Gilgamesh are both saving the town of Uruk from death, but also achieving their self magnification by defeating such a powerful being. The accomplishments of the two speaks to the seemingly limitless ability of the two men to handle external conflicts. They seem to be able to overcome whatever struggle they encounter. It is not until the next part of the epic, that the power and abilities of Gilgamesh and Enkidu are brought into question, causing Gilgamesh to c ontend with the truest conflict of the epic, his own mortality. In the next part of the poem, Enkidu relays to Gilgamesh certain disturbing dreams that he has been having. In this dream, Enkidu reveals â€Å"The gods Anu, Enlil, Ea and celestial Shamash held assembly, Anu spokebecause they slew the Bull of Heaven, and slew Humbababetween these two let one of them dielet Enkidu die, but let not Gilgamesh die!† (George 55). Sure enough, as time progresses, Enkidu gets sicker and more miserable and eventually, he dies. Gilgamesh is really affected by the death of Enkidu. He mourns and makes the whole town of Uruk mourn with him but what really gets to Gilgamesh, is that Enkidu, such a powerful being was subject to death, and this implies the possibility that Gilgamesh cannot escape this end as well. Gilgamesh states â€Å"I shall die, and shall I not then be as Enkidu?† (George 70). This confrontation with mortality is the first we see of Gilgamesh’s real worry and weakness. It begins to become clear that the heroic feats of Gi lgamesh and Enkidu served the purpose to characterize these figures as triumphant in almost all realms. They are both of the most desirable, admired, and fiercest men, truly representative of the furthest limitations of the power humans (or even part god humans) can obtain. It is this fulfillment of the superficial characteristics of the hero that make the latter parts of the epic so powerful. Once Gilgamesh has defeated his most challenging adversary’s and watched his closest friend die, he is faced with his own mortality, the one thing he encounters that is out of his control. Of course, this is not something Gilgamesh outright accepts, as is evident through the next part of the epic, where Gilgamesh desperately goes on a journey seeking immortality. The journey of Gilgamesh proceeds, and he finds himself at the sea-shore where he meets a tavern-keeper. He tells his story of triumphs with Enkidu and the tavern keeper inquires, â€Å"If you and Enkidu were the ones who slewHumbabaand slew the Bullwhy are your cheeks so hollow, your face so sunken?† George 77). The notable changes to Gilgamesh’s appearance are important here, as they speak to Gilgamesh’s true transformation after Enkidu dies. The tavern keeper and Gilgamesh talk and eventually, Gilgamesh asks her how to arrive at the â€Å"road to Uta-napishti† (George 78). After a long journey, Gilgamesh actually is able to make it to Uta-napishti, despite this being an almost impossible task. When he arrives, Uta-napishti is curious as well why Gilgamesh looks so defeated. â€Å"Why are your cheeks so hollow, your face so sunken† (George 83). Gilgamesh explains that he is crushed because of the death of his friend, in fact he puts it as â€Å"t he doom of mortals overtook him† (George 84). This is addressing the immediate point. Gilgamesh has actually been forced to confront his own mortality, completely out of his broad control. Despite Uta-napushti’s wise words about the nature and role of death, Gilgamesh presses him further and asks how he has achieved this feat of immortality. Uta-napishti explains his story. This story resembles the biblical story of Noah’s ark, as Uta-napishti is told by the gods to build a huge boat for himself and his family so that he may survive an otherwise completely decimating flood. The result of this is the God Enlil, granting Uta-napishti and his wife immortality, as it says â€Å"In the past Uta-napishti was a mortal man, but now he and his wife shall become like us gods!† (George 95). Uta-napishti then tells Gilgamesh that if he wants to achieve immortality he should endure a test. â€Å"For six days and seven nights, come, do without slumber† (George 95). What is particularly interesting about this task is that it does not involve achieving some large feat of physical strength or courage like Gilgamesh’s previous triumphs. Rather, it is, like death, an inevitable and unavoidable aspect of life that humans must passively endure. In fact, â€Å"As soon as Gilgamesh squatted down on his haunches, sleepalready breathed over himâ₠¬  (George 96). One might pause at this point in some kind of confusion, as this task does not immediately seem as intense as the other feats Gilgamesh has accomplished throughout his journey. This is precisely why this task is chosen, to juxtapose all that Gilgamesh is capable of, to his utter limitations as a physically bound being. Upon waking Gilgamesh after seven days, Uta-napishti banishes Gilgamesh, but tells him of a secret plant, that can make him young again. Gilgamesh, escorted by the boatman Ur-shanabi recovers the plant and decides he will take it back to Uruk. During his trip home however, Gilgamesh bathes in a body of water and sets the plant down. It is then that â€Å"Of the plant’s fragrance, a snake caught scent, came up, and bore the plant off.† (George 99). The snake then sheds its skin to a younger version of itself, just as the plant is intended to do. The explanation for why snakes shed their skin here is quite interesting but what is more attention grabbing, is the aspect of chance, and the trivialness of this simple action of the snake, that dooms Gilgamesh to a mortal fate. Finally, Gilgamesh returns home, fulfilling the last aspect of Campbell’s hero’s journey, reintegration into his familiar realm and society, despite his seeming failures. Gilgamesh is defeated, not by something much stronger, and quicker than him, but of natural events outside of his control. Namely, a wild animal stealing his plant, his own need for sleep and his own inevitable mortality. The scene with the snake is so significant because the plant, and consequently Gilgamesh’s chances of rejuvenation, are simply taken from Gilgamesh after he endures such long and daring journeys. As such, this is truly symbolic of Gilgamesh’s whole journey and the lessons he learns. No matter the feats he accomplishes, the strength he acquires, he is bound by his physical limitations. With the epic at a close, Gilgamesh appears as if he ultimately fails. This abrupt ending sits a little uneasy, as the characterization of Gilgamesh has been so heroic and triumphant. However, there is no better way to end this epic than the squashing of Gilgamesh’s final attempts at his unattainable goal, by a simple action of a tricky snake. The reader should und erstand that if Gilgamesh were triumphant in his goals, he would not be relatable to human beings. In fact, it is his limitations that make Gilgamesh truly the hero of this epic. Gilgamesh, is afterall two thirds god and only one third human. The reader can only relate to the hero in Gilgamesh that is mortal, limited and human. This syntagm of the hero’s journey expands the paradigm of Campbell’s characterization of the hero. That is, instead of achieving heroic status through feats of strength and will, Gilgamesh’s heroism is accomplished through the ultimate reconciliation of his own limitations. It is in this way that the categorical distinction of the hero class is broadened, and that the function of this myth is fulfilled. This epic sways from the typical narrative of mythological stories, as it teaches the reader that throughout all the characterizations of god-like humans modelling the life to live, and setting the template for the hero’s journey, it is only through acceptance of human limitations that the true human hero emerges.

Essay Financial Management Challenges - 1125 Words

Financial Management Challenges David Meszler BUS 650 Managerial Finance Prof. Kevin Kuznia July 29, 2013 To understand the challenges that face a financial manager today it is important to understand the general characteristics of market structures and the impact of market liquidity, competitiveness, and efficiency on financial managers. Clarifying market structures will show the basic constructs that financial managers work under. With the basic understanding of market structures and how they influence financial managers or how financial managers influence their given market structures we will identify two problems that are faced in current markets chosen from two Proquest articles, the first problem discussed will be†¦show more content†¦A monopoly is recognized by one company with no competition with the company setting the price. Our text points out an important effect of markets in that price is set, this is important for financial managers (Byrd, Hickman, amp; McPherson, 2013). Now that we have a basic understanding of market structures we can understand how they influence price and financial managers. The price of a product will be derived from what a buyer is willing to pay for that product keeping in mind a complete cycle for everyone involved allowing for ongoing, continuous buying, selling, and consumption which keeps the economy working. The ease in which an organization can turn assets (those that are bought and sold) into cash is known as liquidity. A financial manager must take into consideration the kind of market structure they are in and with that the price of entering the market, the control of price and possible impact of other organizations involved in the same market. The impact of the other organizations in both price and the quantity of products produced in the same market is known as competition. The ease in which the market structure operates with the correct ratios of supply, demand, and price is the market efficiency. 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Barack Obama`S Speech Analysis Free Essays

INTRODUCTION The aim of this paper is to examine the strategies of President Barack Obama, and its ideological component, also why Barack Obama use exact words and how strong is the influence. The topic has been studied before by Juraj Horvath (2010),Jana Langrova(2010) and Junling Wang(2010). Therefore, the goal of the conducted research paper is to find out which of the political are used more often in the speech of Barack Obama, and what does it mean. We will write a custom essay sample on Barack Obama`S Speech Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now The enabling objectives to get the research goal are the following: ) To read and analyze the secondary sources on the research topic 2) To collect the empirical data 3) To implement the necessary research method 4) To create a table, showing the most frequent terms. The hypothesis is that convinced political terms are used more often in the speech of Barack Obama than other terms. The research methods of research applied in the study: Library research: the study of the secondary sources on the research theme. Quantitative empirical research method: corpus-based quantitative research. The main research method applied in the study was quantitative frequency analysis. Chapter 1 is devoted to the secondary sources analysis on the research topic. Chapter 2 explains the research methodology applied in the study. Chapter 3 presents the research results and discussion on finding. Appendix contains the table presenting the most frequently used terms. Analysis of Secondary Sources (The Literature Review) Chapter I presents the literature connected with analysis of Barack Obama`s speeches. The power and influence of Barack Obama speeches are discussed in this text; also his expressed ideology and its manipulations are mentioned then. Opinions and thoughts of Juraj Horvath â€Å"Critical Discourse Analysis of Obama`s Political Discourse† and Jana Langrova â€Å"Ideology in Obama`s Prague Speech in the Mirror of Discourse Analysis† (2010) are presented and compared in Chapter I. Juraj Horvath used quantitative method to write his analysis, and when he counted all the words, what he were interested in, he expressed the ideas, which are very remarkable. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ new†, which characterizes the strategy and ideas of the newly sworn president and his administration†, this extract is about Barack Obama`s often used word â€Å"new†. Juraj Horvath`s opinion about the use of this word is very interesting. He considers that the fact of using the word â€Å"new†, so often as Barack Obama does, shows his ideological aspects and promptitude for the innovations. Jana Langrova looked for the rhyme, speed and phonetic features of Barack Obama`s speech, but her conclusion and thoughts are very similair to Juraj Horvath. Jana Langrova considered that his speech employs rhyme, repetition and stress. He also stresses the word â€Å"new† in his speeches very often, and Jana Langrova noticed it. â€Å"There is new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to built†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ,-these are Barack Obama`s words which were analyzed by two people. To summarize, Chapter I deals with the secondary sources concerned with previous analysis of the speeches of Barack Obama. Methodology This Chapter II will deal with the methodology used in this research. First the research method will be presented and then the research procedure will be described step by step. There are many methods to analyze the text, but theme of chosen paper will be analyzed by quantitative method. Quantitative research is used generally in social sciences such as political science. Qualitative methods construct information just on the particular cases studied, and any more main conclusions are only hypotheses. Quantitative methods may be used to verify, which hypotheses are true. Advocates of quantitative methods dispute that only by use of such methods can the social sciences become truly scientific, also advocates of qualitative methods argue that quantitative methods tend to obscure the reality of the public phenomena under the study, because they abandon the non-measurable issues, which could be the most valuable. In this paper the author was used to gather quantitative data —to deal with information connected with numbers and anything that is measurable. Statistics, tables and graphs will be presented as the results of these methods in appendix. The following chapter will be devoted to giving the results. Findings and Discussion The world of linguistics has been affected he and stimulated by Barack Obama`s individuality. Many new words have been created. Obamania, is linking with the passion and obsession he has been accepted and favored by many. Barack Obama`s ideology and philosophy have been referred to as one of the most confusing and difficult ideologies to analyze. In the speech of Barack Obama the strong religious content ideas can be found, for example: 1) â€Å"Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. † 2) â€Å"This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. † 3) â€Å"†¦on the horizon and God’s grase upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations. † 4) â€Å"†¦the God – given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. † That fact that he also uses the direct and indirect speeches from Bible can all help Barack Obama to win the supporting of audience. The fact, which was very interesting to find out was that Barack Obama uses the words â€Å"we†, â€Å"Americans†, â€Å"each of us†, â€Å"all†, â€Å"our† very often to his speech(1), and from the psychological point of view it is made to create a close relationship between the president an his honorable audience. ( From Barack Obama`s inaugural speech quantitative analysis) In order to arrive at a more quantitative result of this analysis, a keyword analysis of the most frequently used words and nuances in Obama`s speech gave the following findings. His speech consisted of 2403 words, and the pronoun â€Å"we† – was repeated 62 times. It was the most frequently used word by Barack Obama,for example: 1) â€Å"†¦we must work together†¦Ã¢â‚¬  2) â€Å"†¦we are bound by shared values†¦Ã¢â‚¬  3) â€Å"†¦we will seek to include all nuclear weapons†¦Ã¢â‚¬  4) â€Å"†¦we believe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  5) â€Å"†¦we cannot succeed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  6) â€Å"†¦we know the path†¦Ã¢â‚¬  7) â€Å"†¦we have to insist†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Also it is important to mention that it was very interesting to found that Barack Obama uses biblical language and quotations, non-traditional speech, and his position shows his liberal stand of him, what could be found in each speech of Barack Obama. Finally, the most important part, what I have found in his speeches is that Obama want to create a new nation which will be free from the war or other bad influence, and also he tries to get away from the old partisan divisions and looks for to be perceived as being above ideology. His thoughts and ideology about the better future without any bad elements in it show the hidden meaning of his ideas and promisses, which is logically followed from his ideas – â€Å"new† is always better, and for him the best nation is new = free nation. How to cite Barack Obama`S Speech Analysis, Essay examples