What happened Ishtar?

             This particular Goddess is protrayed with a different perspective in each new story. Sometimes, she is protrayed as the most innocent, when evidently, the Epic of Gilgamesh shows she is a revenge-seeking, sex-hungry spoiled brat. When Ishtar descends to the Underworld, she is protrayed as serious and selfless.

             The article about Ishtar's Descent, by Andrea Deagon, reminded me of our human lifestyle. Ishtar's marriage symbolized what we are in front of everyone; the role we play in society, our physical world. The Descent reminds me more of the spiritual world where you are not expected to play any roles. You are alone and you become selfless. When Ishtar is asked to strip everything she had, in my perspective, she is symbolizing "taking off" the responsibilities, her images, the relationships and the connection to the physical world. This is her journey alone.

                 The drastic change seems to have happened in Ishtar's Decent. Ishtar probably thought she was ready for the transition, but in reality she was not. She did become selfless but maybe the fear of losing everything changed her to how she is portrayed in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Maybe Ishtar was physically ready to give up everything, but was not mentally prepared. She still wanted to be connected to the physical world,  she did not want to lose anything or anyone, she did not want to be alone. Maybe this is why she used her father to get revenge from Gilgamesh. Ishtar did not like Gilgamesh's refusal to her proposal because that meant she lost another person. Ishtar would do anything to get rid of her fear.

                Within the article, the author writes how one actor/dancer has to put aside his/her own image and transform into something genuinely new, so the audience can temporarily escape from their world. If the image is not what the audience is yearning for, then the actor has not fulfilled its job and the audience will not receive the desired result. This shows the grand impact an image can make. What we think of Ishtar can make a real difference, just like how we talked about viewing Shamhat or the two best friends as homosexuals. Most of us have the perspective of Ishtar as a power-hungry and spoiled brat without knowing how she came to be that way. 

              One important saying that everyone should remember is not to judge a book by its cover. Why do you think first impressions are so important? People tend to judge the person how they first see them. Ishtar becomes a victim of judgement the same way. We know she is seductive, power-hungry and controlling, but now we also know why. I don't think anyone would act this way if they were normal. Ishtar acts this way because of a certain fear. Maybe if we tried to "step into others shoes", we could see the big picture of what is actually going on.