The understanding of religious texts could be through the incorporation of stylistic devices and other components to understand the message being put across. The integration of literature understanding of religious texts is especially important for scholarly and research purposes. The two instances seek to understand the themes, symbols, and characteristics in connection with famous stories and mythologies. The bible is a religious text for the Christian faithful, and it has some of the stories that align with the practices and features identified with popular mythologies. The religious text has famous stories such as the Garden of Eden, Noah and the Ark, Wars by Kings, and the story of Jesus Christ. Conversely, the Epic of Gilgamesh remains a significant mythological reference since it mixes diverse stylistic devices and literature components. The mythology has helped guide the analysis of religious and non-religious texts. In the scholarly and research context, proper evaluation of these religious stories will require the incorporation of diverse approaches evident with the primary mythologies. This paper will identify all themes, symbols, metaphors, and patterns identified in the story of the Garden of Eden and Noah’s Ark. The paper will utilize the mythology of the Epic of Gilgamesh as a guide. Further, the paper will evaluate the most significant literary devices and lastly analyze the idea of Joseph Campbell about the phenomenon of recurrent mythological themes.
Bible Text and the Epic of Gilgamesh Overview
The bible texts utilized in this analysis, which have similar features as mythology, are the story of the Garden of Eden and Noah and Ark. The story of the Garden of Aden focuses on the beginning of creation as per Christian Faithful. God placed a man and woman in the garden to eat and enjoy what it could provide, but with the warning, human beings should not touch the “middle fruit.” However, the woman was lied to by the serpent to each the fruit in the process; they angered God and had to be expelled from the garden.
On the other hand, the story of Noah and the Ark revolves around his agreement with God to place all animals in the Ark as part of preventing them from floods. The Supreme Being arrived at a decision when it was clear his people had violated their agreement; thus, He was forced to destroy the earth using floods. Noah is at the center of the agreement with God to place his family and pairs of all animals in the Ark in preparation for floods.
Conversely, the Epic of Gilgamesh is a popular mythology that covers the story of Gilgamesh (hero King of Uruk) and half-wild friend Enkidu. The story entails dangerous quests and adventures, where Gilgamesh attempt to uncover the secret of immortality after the death of his friend. Mythology continues being widely applied and evaluated because it applies symbols, themes, and other stylistic popular among literature lovers (West and West). The story will help guide the analysis of the biblical stories of Noah and the Ark and Garden of Eden.
Stylistic Devices and Literature Components: Noah and the Ark
The story of Noah and the Ark is an example of great mythology that integrates themes, symbols, and other characterizations evident in the ancient stories. Firstly, the story’s primary theme is the protection of life through the construction of an ark. Noah, as the primary character converses with God concerning directing all pairs of animals in the Ark in the preparation of floods. Myths entail humans or other characters speaking with God/Supernatural being an effort to engage in a practice that would save the rest of the occupants. God in the story was not happy with the actions of human beings on earth; thus, He resolved to destroy it and save Noah, his family, and pairs of animals. Similarly, Utnapishtim is tasked by god Enki to construct a giant ship by the name Preserver of Life in preparation for a giant flood that was to wipe out all life (Inman). The theme of protecting life is evident in both Noah and the Ark and the Epic of Gilgamesh, with floods being a symbol of destruction.
The theme of trust was also evident in the story as the Supreme Beings selected to utilize one person to fulfill their wish. The gods trusted these individuals based on the existing relationship and their unique characteristics from the rest of the pack. For instance, Noah was faithful to God, and he followed his teaching, unlike the rest of the human beings. Accordingly, there was the establishment of a strong relationship that was not evident with the rest of human beings. This fact is evident with Utnapishtim, who was the only survivor of the great floods that destroyed humanity. Besides, the pattern of events in both the story of Noah and the Epic of Gilgamesh were similar. In the case of the former, God was first angry with humanity before deciding to ask Noah to construct the Ark that will accommodate his family, property and pairs of all world animals. Next, Godsend rainfall that rained heavily, with floods destroying humanity. Myths follow a series of steps before a character attains a goal, especially when gods support the act. As part of the theme, Myths utilize an impossible task to show a character’s power and distinguish them from the rest. In this scenario, it is impossible for a person to construct a boat that could cover the entire animals of the world, including some human beings. However, a symbol like floods has the power to destroy humanity even in modern stories. The other primary symbol obvious in the story is the combination of heaven, earth, and water. Heaven is where the instructions were coming from, with the Ark representing the remaining safe part of the earth. The floods were an indicator of life and death, with the latter being more pronounced.
Stylistic Devices and Literature Components: Garden of Eden
The story of the Garden of Aden is another good example of a biblical myth that engrosses symbols, themes, patterns, and metaphors that align with the concept of evidence in traditional myths.
The primary symbols in the Garden of Eden include the serpent, the fruit, and nakedness. The serpent in the story signifies the factors that contribute to immorality or misfortunes that accompany human beings. Adam and Eve were living their best lives before the emergence of the snake. The animal was responsible for lying to Eve about eating the fruit in the middle tree. Similarly, a serpent was responsible for drinking the herb in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In both scenarios, the serpent symbolizes the misfortunes that accompany the characters. A serpent in real life is a feared animal whose contact with humans is limited. But in both scenarios, the serpents symbolize an issue that contributes to the misfortunes of a character. The next visible symbol in the story of the Garden of Aden was the subject of the middle tree. The object symbolizes a sin since Adam and Eve experience problems after eating the fruit from the tree. God warned the characters from eating the fruit, which in reality means engaging in sin. The defiance of this directive was evident with the symbol of nakedness. The bible, in this scenario stipulates that the defiance of the directive of God or gods contributes to the outcome of nakedness. Symbols are the powerful stylistic device in the case of the story of the Garden of Eden.
Themes are also helpful in understanding the –presentations in the Garden of Aden, as it is with the cases of other popular mythologies. The first theme of the story is engagement in sin. Adam and Eve engaged in sin, which forced them to be ejected from the garden. Accordingly, human beings have been engaging in the identification of the solution to the subject of sin. Similarly, Gilgamesh spends a significant period examining the subject of immorality, especially with the death of his friend. The character has to undergo diverse tribulations to determine the concept of immortality and the possible solution.
The other theme is the power of a woman. In the Garden of Eden, the woman is the most significant individual as discovering sin and other problems revolve around the character. The woman is the person that encounters the serpent and receives instructions about the middle tree. The conversation between the woman and the serpent lied to the former coercing man to take the fruit. For the case of the epic of Gilgamesh, the power of a woman focuses on her skill of interpreting dreams. The mythical symbol requires immense power, which is only possible with a woman.
Metaphor is also pronounced in the Garden of Eden, like the case of majorities of metaphors. The stylistic devices are used to explain the good and the bad as part of discovering a human being. Adam and Eve were enjoying good life before they engaged in sin by eating the fruit of the middle tree. The mythology of Gilgamesh also looks into a metaphor that is clear with the limits of ambition, power, and piety. The story also covers the issue of man’s inhumanity to fellow human beings.
Most Significant Stylistic Devices
The most significant stylistic devices evident with the case of the Garden of Aden and Noah and the Ark are the subjects of supernatural powers, the symbols of sin, and the metaphor of life and death. The presence of supernatural powers is evident in the above bible stories and traditional myths. The prevalence of supernatural powers is because they are absent in the modern world. The idea of myths is to show how certain individuals could deal with a certain aspect of their lives that beats logic. For instance, Noah could construct a large ark without the help of the rest of human beings, which is baffling because of the sheer size of the boat. In all the biblical cases, the characters were directly conversing with God, which is unique even in the modern world. Characters in the epic of Gilgamesh also could speak to supreme beings directly.
The symbol of sin is the other feature that is common in mythologies is the subject of sin/immorality. In most instances, either protagonist or antagonist engages in immoral behavior that pushes them to destruction or change. Separately, the metaphor of life and death is another feature that is evident in myths as it is the case of the bible stories and the myth of Gilgamesh.
Campbell and the Concept of Mythology
Campbell argued that we human beings operate in individual’s myth. The process focuses on the meaning of life and the importance of discovering who we are. Accordingly, the idea of Campbell, “Every myth is psychologically symbolic. Its narratives and images are to be read, therefore, not literally, but as metaphors” manifests with the idea of the meaning of life. The fact that there is the placement of the meaning of life in myths supports the idea that it is more logical than history, which is mere journalism. I support the idea of Campbell that myth is psychologically symbolic. Accordingly, its narratives and image must be understood as metaphors. Despite myths appearing as a narrative out of touch, their principles are more logical since they expand an individual’s thinking and help discover who they are. Campbell is progressive in his thoughts on what constitutes life and factors that could be logical merely because of being imaginative.
Works Cited
Inman, Jared C. “An Analysis of Ancient Near Eastern Flood Texts.” (2000).
West, Martin Litchfield, and Morris West. Indo-European poetry and myth. Oxford University Press, 2007.
write