Epic Of Gilgamesh Analysis
Title: Gilgamesh; an Epic Open to Different Adaptations and Interpretations
Name: Meltem
Date: November 20, 2013
According to Timothy Carnahan, the epic of Gilgamesh is a very old epic dated from somewhere between 2750 and 2500 BCE and was written on clay tablets, which were found in the Ancient Sumeria, (Carnahan, Epic of Gilgamesh). This means that the language in which it was written was ancient as well. In this paper it will be argued that the epic of Gilgamesh is open for both adaptation and interpretation by comparing the versions of this epic by Yusef Komunyakaa and by Stephen Mitchell.
First the meanings of the words adaptation and interpretation will be given. According to Macmillan Dictionary adaptation means: “A film, …show more content…
It is not a bad thing to adapt a story into the way you interpreted it. As long as the moral of the story remains the same. Komunyakaa has done a great job having interpreted it in his own way. When I read his version after I had read Mitchell’s version of Gilgamesh, I did not get the sense that something different was happening. The tone in which Komunyakaa writes resembles to the tone in which Mitchell writes, which is Gilgamesh being lost in his thoughts, not knowing what to do. In Komunyakaa’s play the lines “I need? I am? I am lost.” (Komunyakaa, p. 538) shows the confusion of Gilgamesh. In Mitchell’s book the lines “My beloved friend has turned into clay – my beloved Enkidu has turned into clay. And won’t I too lie down in the dirt like him, and never rise again?” (Mitchell, p. 168) show also the confusion of Gilgamesh. He does not know what to do or what to …show more content…
In both versions a kind of poetic style is used. For example when Siduri says to Gilgamesh in the theatrical adaptation: “If you are Gilgamesh, the slayer of evil, why is silence in your eyes?”, (Komunyakaa, p.538). Silence in your eyes is a kind of a rhetorical device, a metaphor, which is used a lot in poetical language. An example of the Mitchell version of Gilgamesh is: ”Why are your cheeks so hollow and your features so ravaged? Why is your face frost-chilled, and burnt by the desert sun? Why is there so much grief in your heart? Why are you worn out and ready to collapse, like someone who has been on a long, hard journey?”, (Mitchell, p. 166). Burnt by the desert sun is also a kind of rhetorical
Name: Meltem
Date: November 20, 2013
According to Timothy Carnahan, the epic of Gilgamesh is a very old epic dated from somewhere between 2750 and 2500 BCE and was written on clay tablets, which were found in the Ancient Sumeria, (Carnahan, Epic of Gilgamesh). This means that the language in which it was written was ancient as well. In this paper it will be argued that the epic of Gilgamesh is open for both adaptation and interpretation by comparing the versions of this epic by Yusef Komunyakaa and by Stephen Mitchell.
First the meanings of the words adaptation and interpretation will be given. According to Macmillan Dictionary adaptation means: “A film, …show more content…
It is not a bad thing to adapt a story into the way you interpreted it. As long as the moral of the story remains the same. Komunyakaa has done a great job having interpreted it in his own way. When I read his version after I had read Mitchell’s version of Gilgamesh, I did not get the sense that something different was happening. The tone in which Komunyakaa writes resembles to the tone in which Mitchell writes, which is Gilgamesh being lost in his thoughts, not knowing what to do. In Komunyakaa’s play the lines “I need? I am? I am lost.” (Komunyakaa, p. 538) shows the confusion of Gilgamesh. In Mitchell’s book the lines “My beloved friend has turned into clay – my beloved Enkidu has turned into clay. And won’t I too lie down in the dirt like him, and never rise again?” (Mitchell, p. 168) show also the confusion of Gilgamesh. He does not know what to do or what to …show more content…
In both versions a kind of poetic style is used. For example when Siduri says to Gilgamesh in the theatrical adaptation: “If you are Gilgamesh, the slayer of evil, why is silence in your eyes?”, (Komunyakaa, p.538). Silence in your eyes is a kind of a rhetorical device, a metaphor, which is used a lot in poetical language. An example of the Mitchell version of Gilgamesh is: ”Why are your cheeks so hollow and your features so ravaged? Why is your face frost-chilled, and burnt by the desert sun? Why is there so much grief in your heart? Why are you worn out and ready to collapse, like someone who has been on a long, hard journey?”, (Mitchell, p. 166). Burnt by the desert sun is also a kind of rhetorical