History 8 Gilgamesh questions

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Power of the King is absolute

1. How does Gilgamesh use the power of the king?

2. What do the people do?

Man vs. Nature

3. Why does Enkidu lose the ability to understand and roam with the animals?

The Cedar Forest

4. What does this section tell us about man's relationship with nature?

5.Should Gilgamesh and Enkidu spare the demon or kill it? Why?

6..What does the Demon represent?

Conflict between political rule and temple rule: ie church vs state

7. Who is Ishtar?

8. what does she represent?

9. What does Gilgamesh represent?

10. What is the relationship of religion or the temple and the state or the king?

Quest for immortality

11. Despite all of Gilgamesh's power, he is unable to prevent Enkidu's death, and the narrative changes direction. How can one describe Gilgamesh as a hero in the last half of the work?

Love As a Motivating Force

12.How do the gods behave and relate to humans?

13.How do the humans relate to each other?

The Inevitability of Death: The Flood.

14. Why do the gods bring on the Flood? Is any reason given?

15. What does it tell us about the nature of history and the relation of the gods to humanity?

16. What has Gilgamesh achieved at the end of the poem?