Assignment Details ENG 231 – 1003 FALL 2022
2. What is the role of women that demonstrates what is respected and expected of them vs. what is devalued culturally in the female characters in at least three of the readings? Refer to specific characters like Ishtar, Ninsun, Siduri, and/or Shamhat in The Epic of Gilgamesh; Penelope, Athena, Circe, and/or Calypso in The Odyssey, Antigone and Ismene in Antigone; and/or even the female characters who must uphold a social protocol and duties of the courtly life in The Pillow Book.
3. How is the theme of duty conveyed through the characters in at least three of the readings when you consider the depiction of gods/God depicted in the ancient literature as divine vs. flawed and the type of devotion or defiance expressed to them by the characters?
(Note: Consider how Krishna’s portrayal in the Bhagavad-Gita is quite the opposite of the gods like Athena, Poseidon, Calypso, Circe, !no, Hermes, Zeus, and Heracles in The Odysseyor even the gods/goddesses, such as Anu, Aruru, Ea, Siduri, Tammuz, Enlil, Ereshkigal, Ishtar, Ninsun, and Shamash in The Epic of Gilgameshin how they interact with humans. Moreover, in The Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna learns about duty. The path to God comes with the right action, loving devotion to God, and the way of knowledge.
