What Enkidu, Medea and Othello Have in Common

The characters of Enkidu, Medea, and Othello all have something in common. They are different. They can all be described as barbarians. Enkidu would be considered a barbarian because the character is a wild person. Medea is a barbarian because she is from Colchis, which was a place considered by the Greeks to be the edge of the earth and the land of barbarians. Othello is a barbarian because he is a racial and cultural outsider in Venice. In all three works, their differentness is integral to the story. By the conclusion, all three of these characters are transformed.

Enkidu, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, is a wild man. He is burly, has a hairy chest and has been raised by animals. He looks as wild as the wilderness that he is from. It is important to the story that Enkidu become civilized to become Gilgamesh’s counterpoint. While Enkidu is still wild, the hunter and his father plan to make him more man than beast so that he will stop freeing the animals from their traps. The father says to the son, “Tell Gilgamesh of the mightiness-man. He will give you Shamhat the harlot, ...