The Depiction of Females in Ancient Epics, Term Paper Example

In 1985, cartoonist Alison Bechdel wrote a comic strip which featured two women talking about the way women are typically depicted in movies. In the conversation they discuss the fact that female characters are often included simply to move the action or story along for the male characters. This has since become known as the “Bechdel Test,” which asks whether a movie has at least two female characters, and if so, whether these two characters talk to each other about something besides the male characters (Anders, 2014). The point, of course, is that many contemporary films fail this so-called Bechdel Test, just as works of fiction throughout history would also fail the same test. This does not mean that women are always depicted in the same way throughout history; it simply means that their various depictions are almost always viewed through the lens of the male perspective. This is particularly evident in the stories of the ancient epic tradition, where the female characters, no matter how much they might differ from each other in significant ways, are almost always there simply to serve the needs or goals of the male characters.

Numerous examples of how female characters are represented in epic traditions can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh. The central character is Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk, who sets out on an epic quest. The other central character, Enkidu, is also a male. These are the two characters in the tale who are the most fully-developed people, and it is no coincidence that they are both male. There are a number of notable female characters in the story, but from the very beginning their only purposes for being included are to do and say things for or about the male characters. The first of these female characters is Araru, who is responsible for creating Enkidu as a friend and companion for Gilgamesh. Araru is the goddess of creation, but her only important function in the tale is to serve the needs of Gilgamesh, and to serve the needs of the gods who wanted her to help them get Gilgamesh to leave Uruk.

The next female character is the harlot who is sent to retrieve Enkidu from his life in the wild outside of the city. This character is clearly very different from Araru, as one is a goddess and one is a lowly prostitute. In both cases, however, these characters are included solely for the purposes of assisting the main male characters in starting on their quest. Moreover, neither of these two female characters is depicted in the best possible light, nor does either one represent the role of a typical female. Instead, both are idealized and exaggerated versions of female archetypes. This trend continues when Gilgamesh meets another goddess name Ishtar. She is the goddess of love, and one might expect she would possess such great powers that she would be superior to Gilgamesh.  Instead she falls in love with him, and is greatly angered when he ultimately refuses her advances. She is the archetype of the “woman scorned,” and she sets out to destroy Gilgamesh, though her plan fails in the end.

A similar set of female roles can be found in the epic tales of One Thousand and One Nights. Although the lengthy list of stories contained in this epic do not always include central female characters, the framing story of the Sultan and his succession of wives demonstrates how women are often depicted either as virginal or as adulterous, lustful whores.  As the framing story begins, Shahrayar, the sultan, is setting off for a visit to his brother when he suddenly finds out that his wife is sleeping with one of his slaves. Shahrayar reacts to this by taking out his sword and killing his wife. He is then so determined not to ever have to endure something like that again that he decides he is going to marry a series of virgins that he will execute the morning after each wedding. Almost as soon as the story has begun the reader has been confronted with two different female archetypes, the virgin and the adulterer. Never mind the fact that Shahrayaris a serial murderer; that is both acceptable and expected in this literary tradition. When the sultan meets Scheherazade, she is able to outwit him and avoid being murdered by telling him a series of tales that distract him from murdering her. Even when a presumably smart female character is introduced, her sole purpose is to please the sultan or be put to death.

There are examples of ancient literature where female characters are both strong and play central roles, such as the title character in Sophocles’ Antigone. The fact that the work is named for a female is somewhat unusual, and there is no question that Antigone is a powerful female character.  It is also interesting to see her played against her sister Ismene, who does not possess similar strength of will or character. Although Antigone meets her demise in the end, it is ultimately her choice to defy the overbearing Creon rather than give in to him. She may still have ended up subjected to the whims of a male character, but at least Antigone is depicted as noble, while Creon is the true tragic figure who loses everything because of his failure to see what is really important.

As these and other examples show, females in literary traditions are often depicted according to a set of archetypes, from maternal to virginal to licentious. And even when some female characters, such as that of Antigone, are depicted in ways that do not conform to these archetypes and stereotypes, they are still ultimately to the whims and desires of the male characters. This is true even of Antigone, whose death was important mostly because of the way it affected Creon. Despite the range of different female characters in these tales, none are truly representative of real women, nor are they important to the story just by themselves. They are, in the end, illusions of femininity based on the perspectives of the males who feature in the stories, and the males who wrote them.

Works Cited

Anders, Charlie. ‘Why The Bechdel Test Is More Important Than You Realize’. io9. N.p., 2014. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.

Puchner, Martin, ed. The Norton Anthology Of World Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. Print.