The Epic of Gilgamesh Analysis

This analysis examines how the theme of hybridity is manifested in postcolonial literature in two postcolonial literary works, The Tempest and The Epic of Gilgamesh. PoCo Analysis of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Acts I & II of The Tempest. Post-colonialism is a term used to describe how the imperial process impacted native cultures from the time of colonization until the present day (Williamsen, 2011). Additionally, it is a process of examining and analyzing colonization and the aftermath of colonial oppression or analyzing the literature that emerged from the time of contact with the colonizer and the colonized to the present day (Williamsen, 2011). The postcolonial era in many countries has been associated with various themes that surround different occurrences in this period and among them is the theme of globalization, hybridity, language, diaspora, assimilation, and civilization among others.

Another element that The Tempest shows is that interracial marriages, especially between the whites and Black people is something that would not be imagined during the colonial era. In William Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, the postcolonial theme of hybridity manifests itself through the marital relationships in this community. The play shows Alonzo’s daughter telling her father that she is in love with an African Prince from Tunis. Initially, Alonzo is shocked to hear that his daughter wants to marry a person from another culture and opposes this union and warns Claribel’s fiancée that he should never do anything to his daughter. Additionally, Prospero reminds Caliban that he was uneducated and that now he has educated him his language, he is privileged to have him and should be thankful.

Furthermore, Gilgamesh has been an unruly leader who kills his fellowmen, rapes women, and takes what he thinks is right for him. However, in this epic, his spirit is incomplete and he is up to search for what can quest his spiritual completeness. Though Gilgamesh serves as the colonizer in this case, the author uses his reforms to show that maybe, the culture of the white man influenced Gilgamesh to change his way (Williamsen, 2011). In their colonization, the Europeans used different approaches to convince the natives that they wanted to bring them civilization and to achieve this, they used prayer and the bible as their weapons. They preached that God can forgive if they repent and abandon their evil ways and that God would make peace with them.

The use of this theme in postcolonial literature is appropriate because of the many things that have occurred, primarily due to globalization. Bhabha (2015) argues that the use of hybridity in literature is necessary because English is no longer English language. For instance, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the use of names of locations as well as their meaning shows that English has allowed the use of South Asian words and location and explores the culture of the people affected by more than one culture. With these respect, hybridity in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Tempest is an illustration of what happened in post-colonialism bizarre the juxtapositions of the modern life. By looking through the lens of hybridity in postcolonial literature, based on The Tempest and The Epic of Gilgamesh, the audience gets a real picture of what happened in this period and how it has influenced people’s way of living as well as the global relationships that have established in the post-colonialism.