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> 1. Sex is viewed as a civilizing force. It brings Enkidu in to city life after being a wild man living among animals for example. I partly disagree. Sex is
by idoubtit 5y ago
> 1. Sex is viewed as a civilizing force. It brings Enkidu in to city life after being a wild man living among animals for example.
I partly disagree.
Sex is what cut Enkidu from its wildlife friends, but it was not enough to bring him to the city life. After he spent a week soaring in sex, the animals would't recognize him as one of them, that's all.
IIRC, to enter the community of humans, once rejected by the animals, he had to stop being naked and to drink beer. The final touch was to defend the herds from predators. Then he was civilized enough to go to the city.
- AlanYx 5y agoThere's an underlying theme of the value of domesticity in the text, which I think runs parallel to the theme of civilization. It's probably not a coincidence, but rather by design, that Siduri (the alewife) runs an inn (inns were associated to prostitution in that era). Siduri's urging Gilgamesh to abandon his quest in favour of indulging in domestic pleasures is, in some sense, a mirror to the domesticating of Enkidu.* And both of these are linked to some of the broader themes of the value of civilization. (* And interestingly, Siduri first sees Gilgamesh as a possible thief, because's he's so dirty from his voyage, similar to how Enkidu was first seen as a wild man.)
- dartharva 5y agoI interpreted that almost all of Enkidu's civilization can be attributed to Shamhat. She doesn't just endow him with sex; she also literally taught him the ways and nuances of the human world (iirc) and guided him till he met Gilgamesh.