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6 pages/≈1650 words
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MLA
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History
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Research Paper
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Literal and Metaphorical Perspective in Biblical Stories of David and The Gilgamesh Epic

Research Paper Instructions:

The project: The goal of the first paper is to get you thinking for yourselves about primary evidence, the actual material from the ancient world, without resorting to anyone else’s opinion, well-informed or otherwise. Do not look for or cite ANY sources. DO NOT LOOK FOR HELP ON THE INTERNET. Instead, you must read carefully, make interpretive observations in response to these instructions, and develop an argument solely from the primary evidence of the texts. This course addresses “ancient Israel” as a people from long ago, belonging to a world with far different notions of life. One goal of the course is to help you understand better that difference between them and us. To this end, I offer you a combination of biblical and Mesopotamian evidence that relates to gender and conceptions of sexuality, especially in relationships between men. In the Bible, David describes his love for Jonathan as “wonderful to me more than the love of women” (2 Samuel 1:26). The Gilgamesh Epic, perhaps the best-known tale from ancient Babylon, has the heroic king dream of a companion who is symbolized by an axe. He tells his mother(!), “When I saw it, I rejoiced. I loved it like a wife and caressed it” (Penn I 32-34). Both stories present two warriors who find in each other a special match that is more intimate than the bond between husband and wife, a male-female bond that has a sexual aspect. Your specific task is to explain these two similar texts: 2 Sam 1:26 and Gilgamesh Penn I 32-34. Everything else is context, and crucial, yet these short statements are your ultimate focus. As you read these two texts and the associated material around them, you will naturally compare them, but I do not want you to be satisfied with “either/or.” Together, they share something, even as you may distinguish them. This project is intended to provoke you to think about ancient Israel and its Bible as part of a larger world. In this case, we find two totally unrelated tales and texts that both invoke the same comparison of the male-female bond to describe a bond between men, with neither shock-value nor hesitation. I want you to tell me what is going on. How would you locate this tradition in relation to the modern notion of homosexuality? And how do you understand each text and context to develop the tradition distinctly? The research Although everyone prepares a paper differently, your research should incorporate the following elements: 1. Examine closely the two particular texts with the references to love: 2 Samuel 1:26 in the context of the whole lament (1:19-27); and Gilgamesh Penn I 32-34 in the context of the dream he relates to his mother (I 24-36). In each case, work toward understanding what exactly the words mean; that is, what kind of love is described, with what application of the potentially sexual image. How do you relate the literal and the metaphorical in each case? In order to answer even this specific question you will need to take into account the use of each image in the framework I observe. What other details in each text provide clues, further insight, or bounds that help you define the image of love and women? 2. Build a picture of the relationship between the two men, as depicted in the extended narratives about them. In the Bible, read the preceding texts that describe the bond between David and Jonathan: 1 Samuel 18-20, 31; and for Gilgamesh, the whole Penn tablet. In both cases, context could lead you further than these texts, but I want to keep you from wandering too far afield. What else do you learn about the relationships between each pair of men that may contribute to your reading of the core texts that describe the bonds? 3. Work to characterize each set of evidence as literature. In both cases, you have more limited types (poem of lament and dream report) in a larger literary framework. What kind of writing is this, in each case? Use whatever categories strike you as most appropriate, but be careful to let each be something ancient, not belonging to contemporary genres. How does the type of literature guide the way you should interpret the appearance of this imagery? 4. Finally, look at the biblical and Mesopotamian examples together. What do they have in common that helps you construct a sense of how categories with a potential sexual aspect could be applied to certain relationships between men? Likewise, what is distinct about the two examples? Together, offer some conclusion about how to use this evidence to answer questions about homosexuality (or “being gay”) in antiquity. At every stage, BE PRECISE about specific evidence in your texts and the reasoning that allows you to draw conclusions from that evidence. Cite the verses or lines that you want us to consider at each stage of your argument, using the following format: Bible examples: 1 Samuel 18 (whole chapter); 2 Samuel 1:19-27 (section); 2 Samuel 1:26 (one verse). Gilgamesh examples: Penn column III (“column” of text as a whole); Penn IV 154-163 (section); Penn VI 214 (single line). Writing the paper The paper is to be 6 PAGES LONG, double spaced. You may organize it as you prefer, but make sure to include the four categories of research just described. I have asked for an overall interpretation of the situation, so you should begin by setting up the problem and your approach, if not your answer, and conclude with what you finally decided. Space is valuable, so do not waste it by recounting the stories we already know. Organize the observations from your research according to the logical steps that lead you toward a conclusion. What, in the end, will you say about how these texts apply potentially sexual imagery for a relationship between men? And how does this illuminate the question of homosexuality in antiquity? Do not use up space with your own ruminations on homosexuality in general. I want to know what you can conclude from this specific evidence. For this project, you are an interpreter of literature and of culture. NOTE: For Gilgamesh, use Daniel Fleming and Sara Milstein, The Buried Foundation of the Gilgamesh Epic (Brill 2010), pp.125-30, available online through Bobst. (The translation of the Penn tablet was mine!)

Research Paper Sample Content Preview:
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David and Gilgamesh
In the Biblical stories of David and The Gilgamesh Epic, the two heroes in both narrations are portrayed as having a strong relationship with their male companion. In the Gilgamesh epic, Gilgamesh has several dreams, and he tells his mother, a goddess, about them to help him interpret the mysteries. Different images are used in the dream to represent various people and situations in real life. An example is an axe being used symbolically in the second dream to represent the companion that Gilgamesh will come to love (Penn I 32–34). Hence, when the dreams come to pass, Gilgamesh and Enkidu become rivals and, later on, inseparable friends. Love is therefore something that grew between the two companions. In the same manner, in the story of David in the Bible, David and Jonathan developed a strong love for one another. As a result, when Jonathan dies, David describes their love as being more wonderful than the love of a woman (2 Samuel 1:26). Accordgdingly, although the two texts are from two different times, it is clear that the two heroes have a unique kind of relationship with their male companion that could depict various forms of love depending on one interpretation.
1 The relationship between the literal and metaphorical perspective in each case
In the case of David and Jonathan's love, it is clear that their relationship was more than just a platonic friendship. In the Bible, the phrase "more wonderful than that of a woman" indicates that David and Jonathan's love for each other was like that which a man has for a woman. Also, the word "wonderful" could mean that their relationship was good, but nothing sexual was involved. However, when their love is compared to that of a woman, a sexual aspect is introduced. On the other hand, the choice of words and phrases used in the Gilgamesh Epic suggests that a sexual relationship existed between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. In the first dream, phrases such as "having the ability to bend over the star as a man would do to a woman" indicate that their relationship was not just platonic companionship (Penn I 32–34). In the second dream, Gilgamesh says that he saw an axe and was glad. In this context, the axe is used symbolically to depict a man who would greatly help Gilgamesh. Besides, Gilgamesh also says that in the dream, he saw the axe, loved it like a woman, and even wore it by his side. Through the choice of words, such as loving it like a woman, one can tell that the kind of love that a man would give a woman is what Gilgamesh and Enkidu shared.
Furthermore, the use of words such as "caressing the axe" in a literal manner would mean that the relationship they had was sexual. The fact that the axe was a representation of Enkidu, and Gilgamesh says that he gladly caressed it depicts a form of an intimate relationship. Although Gilgamesh is shown having sexual relations with women at the beginning of the narration, it is clear that with Enkidu, something new would grow that would be used to tame him (Penn I 32–34). Also, the implication of using imagery, such as the caressing of the axe, is that it shows that the relationship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh would involve various sexual acts. Besides, because in b...
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