Guilt The Most Hated Fruit of the Knowledge Tree - Essay Example

?Guilt – The Most Hated Fruit of the Knowledge Tree “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adaptthe world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man” – George Bernard Shaw. The “unreasonable” mans greatest asset is his knowledge. The tree of knowledge bears many fruits like fame, guilt, ambition, honesty, success and incapability. Guilt is the most hated feeling amongst all. When a person has knowledge and is not capable of making a difference through it, they become helpless cynics or terrorists. A knowledgeable person’s guilt drives them to unimaginable extremes. But, guilt does not always need to be such a hated feeling. Knowledgeable people should stop hating guilt fearing the suffering it causes. In fact the guilt of Abraham Lincoln relieved a complete community from slavery. Mark Antony’s guilt changed the history of Rome. Guilt is like a two way sword. It can make a knowledgeable person go mad or make him accomplish an impossible feat easily. Guilt should be used as a motivational force to eliminate the shortcomings in one’s personality and to serve the mankind selflessly. Numerous volumes have been written exploring the feeling of guilt in literature. Two prominent works which stands out till day among them are Ama Ata Aidoo’s play named “Anowa” and the Mesopotamian legend “the Epic of Gilgamesh”. Guilt makes a sharp witted, selfless girl go insane in the former play and it transforms a reckless and ambitious king into a sensible, satisfied person in the second legend. Both the stories have guilt as the base feeling, but the characters handle guilt’s pressure in a different way in both the works. In “Anowa” a small village girl grows up to question the traditional beliefs of her clan. Ama Ata Aidoo’s play is an excellent literary piece exploring the history of a nation as a whole. The author expresses herself through the character of Anowa. The girl speaks and questions on behalf of all other females who ask the same question within themselves. Set in the backdrop of Ghana, the story is not completely historical, but is linked closely to the political developments in the area. The play starts with a prologue which says "less than thirty years, when the lord of our houses has signed that piece of paper, the bond of 1844 they call it binding us to the white men....” Anowa wonders why their class is enslaved to the white people if their values are so great. Her young mind perceives there is something terribly wrong with the ethnic systems tying them strongly to poverty. As a strict humanitarian, she is resolved to change the same by her own means. She selects her own husband something considered a taboo in that age and sets forward to create a life of her own. She indulges him to trade skin and the other treasures of the jungle to the foreigners. She becomes rich and lives a dream life. But, the richness which she once craved for so much creates a deep barrier between the husband and the wife. Anowa’s first blow comes when the husband whom she literally created starts indulging in slave trade, which she strongly opposes. The second blow comes when this conflict makes her husband Kofi Ako ban her from taking part in business actively. The gap between the pair deepens day by day until Kofi Ako finally lists his own sacrifices, his impotency and commits suicide. The guilt that she had tortured the most important person in her life beyond tolerance makes Anowa go mad and resort into a childlike state (Behrent, 97). Had she been a bit emotionally stronger, she would have spotted the problem earlier and avoided such grave consequences. Else she could have started her life afresh, with the abundant wealth helping the slave’s lives get better. But, her guilt consumes her completely killing the inner fire and spirit in her. The Epic of Gilgamesh talks about a similar situation. Gilgamesh is a demigod. He befriends Enkidu the very man who was created to challenge Gilgamesh’s power and reign. He seduces the wild Enkidu roaming in the forests using a temple harlot named Shamhat, makes him a civilized man, befriends him and go through various adventures with him. Together they kill Humbaba a monstrous figure protecting the Cedar forests in Lebanon and Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, earning the wrath of the Gods. Enkidu dies bearing the tortures for his friends’ mistakes leaving Gilgamesh filled with guilt. Gilgamesh too roams the forests in complete insanity for some days, but decides to achieve immortality to put an end to mankind’s suffering. He takes up a perilous journey to meet the only immortal man on earth Utnapishtim, to learn the secret of living forever. He understands it was a gift bestowed upon Utnapishtim by the Gods as a remorse for eliminating the whole mankind during the great floods and there is no way he can achieve the same. However, the distressed king is shown a secret weed which will keep him young till death as a reward for his herculean efforts. But he loses it to a snake. The most fascinating part of the epic is this verse where Gilgamesh views his own countries’ splendour: And so they travelled until they reached Uruk. There Gilgamesh the king said to the boatmen: “Study the brickwork, study the fortification; Climb the ancient staircase to the terrace; study how it is made; from the terrace see the planted and fallow trees, the pond and orchards. One league is the inner city, another league is orchards; still another the fields beyond; over there is the precinct of the temple…, Three leagues and the temple precinct of Ishtar.” Measure Uruk, the city of Gilgamesh - Tablet XI ("Important Quotation Explained", 2012) Gilgamesh is taken aback by the enormity of his own handiwork, and understands there is nothing more left to conquer, suffer or enjoy in this world. Life which seemed like a total disaster suddenly seems a most successful one within a wink of an eye. Gilgamesh overcomes his guilt at this moment and understands he was simply a doll in the hands of fate and resolves to fare as a much better, kind king from then on so that he can live in the minds of his countrymen forever. Happiness always eludes humankind because we do not realize it when it is happening. There is no point in regretting about anything because it was all we have had wanted at one time in our life. The ‘it’ might refer to fame, success, money or anything. The bitter truth is that we get to understand ‘it’ is not so important only after it is too late. Then we wonder why the hell we spend all our effort and time chasing these illusions. The price each person gives to achieve their ambition is very high. Looking back at life everybody starts feeling guilty at one point or another. It is this crossroad which makes or breaks a person. Guilt handled with maturity makes a person rectify his/her mistakes like Gilgamesh. On the other hand, the unbearable torture of guilt can make a person lose control completely like Anowa, especially when he/she realize what irreparable damage he/she have done to their loved ones. However, any person with mental maturity will choose the path of Gilgamesh letting Guilt motivate them to become better people. Breaking down or committing suicide is easy. It takes greater strength to overcome the guilt and grief. Conclusion “Sin, guilt, neurosis; they are one and the same, the fruit of the tree of knowledge” said an unknown scholar. Every knowledgeable person will wonder how blissful it would have been to be completely ignorant at least once in their life. But there is no point in blaming guilt completely. It is one of the many hardships everybody has to come across in life. The journey of Gilgamesh will take him through fire breathing monsters, golden forests and the land of death. Every person has to work hard for happy life, enjoy luxuries, and face betrayal and bad health in their life cycle. Overcoming guilt is one major part of the challenge which can earn so many extra points in the game of life making any person a much powerful and better player. The only requirement is that the person should be ready to play the second innings instead of resorting back like Anowa. Works Cited Behrent, Megan. Ama Ata Aidoo: Anowa. African Postcolonial Literature in English. Brown University, 1997. Web. 18 Nov 2012. "Important Quotation Explained". The Epic of Gilgamesh. Sparknotes. 2012. Web. 18 Nov 2012. Read More