In many cultures, wind has acquired its own personal identity. Through stories, the wind was given supernatural power to be used by the gods to influence or punish Earth's heroes. The supernatural power of wind is found in works from around the world, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and Hong Gildong. In these and many other stories, the wind plays the role of God. Although the wind possesses supernatural powers, it is the way the heroes of these works confront the wind that brings them closer to true divinity; heaven or hell. The heroes of these works either follow a path of justice, like Hong Gildong, or a path of godlessness, like Gilgamesh. It depends on the characters' actions towards the gods and their loyalty to the spiritual elements on Earth whether they will be punished by the supernatural or protected by it. In the works of Gilgamesh and Hong Gildong, the wind has three functions; a supernatural guide to the spiritual world, protector of the righteous and punisher of the ungodly. Through these acts of justice, the supernatural wind entity is able to expose the heroes to a greater entity, either the gods or God himself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First of all, as seen in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the wind seems to play the role of punisher. The characters in The Epic of Gilgamesh believed they could live on Earth without recognizing the power of the divine. Even though these characters knew they were born of gods, they believed themselves to be just as divine. Gilgamesh and Ekidu set out on their journey not to become gods but rather to claim the domain of divinity for themselves. When they turn against their gods, their punishment awaits them. In order to assert their domination over the divine, the “heroes” set out to steal the gods, but a being of divinity stands in their way. When Gilgamesh and Ekidu decide to fight Humbaba, the divine guardian of the enchanted forest, they are unaware of the supernatural forces that will rise against them and foreshadow the troubles to come. Before their meeting with Humbaba, Ekidu said: “we will capture Humbaba, we will kill him, we will throw his corpse on the battlefield. And the next morning we will see a good sign from the Sun God” (George 31). Ekidu and Gilgamesh believe themselves to be as strong as the gods and favored over all men. The crime they are prepared to commit is not only murderous but it is heresy. Humbaba is a supernatural being who follows the orders of the gods and recognizes their presence as well as the supernatural. Instead of living as Humbaba does, Ekidu and Gilgamesh wish to annihilate the supernatural being and ignore the power of the gods as greater than their own. Although the Sun God honors his charges by sending the thirteen winds against Humbaba, this act does not become a protection for the heroes but rather seals their punishment. Even though Ekidu and Gilgamesh thought they were beyond the power of the supernatural, when they fought Humbaba, it seemed they had met their match. Before the heroes could be killed by the protector of the divine, Shamash, the Sun God, "raised against Humbaba the mighty violent wind: south wind, north wind, east wind and west wind, explosion, counter- explosion, typhoon, hurricane and Storm, devil's wind, frost wind, gale and tornado: thirteen winds arose and Humbaba's face darkened - he could not charge forward, he could not retreat" ( George 42). So the heroes, Ekidu and Gilgamesh, killed a being who had served the gods for many years. The heroes' infidelity towards the gods is represented by the winds. Asthe winds that whipped Humbaba and paralyzed him, Ekidu and Gilgamesh's disloyalty and contempt for the gods rendered the gods useless. While the wind acted as Ekidu and Gilgamesh's protector in this case, it foreshadows the turmoil and desolation that will pass through them and their home due to their lack of spirituality. By killing a divine creature, the gods exact a harsher punishment than just the wind for the heroes. Shamash honors Ekidu and Gilgamesh as having been worthy of divinity; However, the rest of the gods having seen the intentions of the "heroes" to go against their rule plan a harsh reality for the two men using the supernatural elements, such as the wind, on Earth. The first supernatural event to wreak havoc in the lives of Ekidu and Gilgamesh is when the Bull of Heaven comes to destroy the city. It was through Gilgamesh's refusal to become the lover of a goddess that this event occurred. Gilgamesh not only refuses to accept Ishtar as a goddess but also as a lover. When Ishtar proposes to him, he rejects her with contempt, saying that she is a terrible lover and not worth it. It seems like he thinks he's too good for her. After the rejection, Ishtar asks her father to send the Bull of Heaven to the heroes. As the bull entered the city of Uruk, “the Bull of Heaven sniffed an open pit, and a hundred men of Uruk fell into it. The second time he sniffed, a pit opened and two hundred men from Uruk fell into it” (George 51). After the Bull destroyed half the city, Ekidu and Gilgamesh were able to massacre it. The gods, seeing that their supernatural creature has been killed by the heretics, become even more enraged. The dishonor of Ekidu and Gilgamesh does not end there, for when Ishtar arrives on the scene, Ekidu says: "If I had caught you too, I would have treated you the same way, I would have draped you arms in guts” (George 52). Once again, it is the heroes' refusal to serve the gods that rejects the course of their lives. Due to Ekidu and Gilgamesh's belief that they belong to the gods, Ekidu dies a horrible death, a sign that even he cannot escape the fate of man. Ekidu's separation from Gilgamesh is representative of the heroes' separation from spirituality and the divine. Once Gilgamesh's equal dies, he decides that he must become one of the gods because he is above humans. However, when Gilgamesh attempts to become immortal, he is unable to do so and loses his only chance. If he had honored the gods, his journey to immortality could have been protected and aided by the supernatural instead of being thwarted. Gilgamesh thought he could become divine without commitment or recognition, but instead he is punished by the supernatural again and again. The punishments of the supernatural do not end in the Epic of Gilgamesh; once again, we can see the wind blowing against individuals who deny the laws of the divine in Dante's Inferno. Inferno's entire body of work concerns divine punishment through the supernatural powers of the spiritual world. However, the wind has appeared in the second circle of hell. Sinners who have committed the sin of lust are scourged and struck by the wind, preventing them from finding peace and rest. Strong winds symbolize the restlessness of a person guided by the desire for carnal pleasures. Lust could be for man, for power, or even for immortality, like the heroes Ekidu and Gilgamesh. Sinners are constantly blown about by the merciless winds of unquenchable desire as punishment for their transgressions. As Dante observed the sinners in their turmoil, the wind “roared like a storm-tossed sea, when belligerent winds attacked it from both sides. The storminfernal, eternal in its rage, sweeps and chases the spirits with its breath: it whirls them, whips them with punishment” (Dante 110). The infernal winds that never rest rush the spirits, whirl them around and strike them, molest them. When Dante sees these sinners, he sympathizes with them, but fails to recognize the power of the divine until he goes further into Hell. It seems that the wind is not an obvious supernatural entity considered a punishment. Neither Dante, nor Ekidu, nor Gilgamesh were capable of recognizing that the punishment of the wind foreshadowed ultimate suffering. These sinners like Gilgamesh did not recognize or repent of their actions against the divine, therefore the winds will strike and smite them for eternity. Then, the wind plays a role as a spiritual guide in the history of Hong Gildong. In Hong Gildong's story, Hong's struggle with his identity only fuels his search for the divine. He says: Of all things created by Heaven, the human being is the most precious. So it is the luckiest thing to be born as a human in this world. And to be born a human, it is the luckiest thing to be born a man. And being born a man, it's the luckiest thing to be born in the capital. In addition to these three fortunes, I inherited your Lordship's abundant spirit and strength, and grew up to be a robust man... Yet all my life I had to bear within myself this sorrow which prevents me from raising my eyes to Heaven. with pride. (Kang 5). Even though Hong feels like he is now disconnected from his family, his loyalty still belongs to them, as does the loyalty of the divine. Hong's quest for power within his family leads him on a path of scholarship. When the High Minister refused Hong the status of son, "he devoted himself to the study of military treatises, notably the Six Teachings and the Three Summaries, and to the mastery of astrology, geomancy and the magical arts of invisibility and metamorphosis. He assimilated all this knowledge so well in his mind that no task was impossible for him” (Kang 11). This includes his study of religion and the supernatural. In his quest for divinity, Hong is able to conquer the power of the wind. When faced with death, he is able to use the wind to his advantage and punish the man who was sent to kill him. When the man arrives at Hong's cottage, Hong had already created a spell bound by the spirit of the wind. Hong using his powers, "released his witchcraft and attached the south direction trigram to the north direction, the water trigram from the north direction to the south direction, the thunder trigram from the east direction to west direction, lake trigram from west direction to east direction, sky trigram from northwest direction to southeast direction, wind trigram from southeast direction to northwest direction , the trigram of the mountains from the northeast direction to the southwest direction, and the land trigram from the southwest direction to the northeast direction” (Kang 16). but he is also able to use it to his own advantage through his devotion to the divine and spirituality. Hong was able to transform and use the supernatural to protect himself through his own dedication to the divine. life thanks to the protection of the winds, but he is also able to bring into his room the others who had plotted against him and his family. With the help of the wind, he also murdered those who opposed him. Hong's loyalty to the divine allowed him to prove his loyalty to his family and nation. After leaving his family, Hong is able to continue working alongside the wind to punish those who go toagainst divine laws. The wind works to carry Hong Gildong and has helped hide Hong from those who oppose him. When Hong finally dies, he receives a gift from the divine. He becomes young again and ends up flying into the sky. Because of his devotion to the supernatural, Hong draws closer to true divinity and finds the resting place of his journey in heaven. While in Hong Gildong the wind acts as a guide to the divine, in The Golden Ass the wind plays the role of protector of the virtuous. The story of The Golden Ass is full of magic and the supernatural, but it is the story of the book of Cupid and Psyche that truly represents a pure relationship between man and the divine. In The Golden Ass, the story of Cupid and Psyche teaches how the wind can act as a savior. It is the wind that carries Psyche to her lover, Cupid. As she stands on the crest of a mountain, the wind named Zephyr "carrying her gently with its quiet breath up the slope of the high rock, he let her flow gently and placed her on the flowering turf within the valley which was expanding." below” (Apuleius 76). It is in this flowery valley that she meets the divine being, Cupid. The love and devotion that Psyche has for Cupid is pure and presents the ideal walk with spirituality; not being able to see the divine but yet believing in it. Cupid ends up changing his life for the better, but his evil sisters, representative of religious doubt, cause Psyche to lose her connection with the divine. Cupid warns her about her cruel and evil sisters, but she is too curious and too easily influenced to disobey his orders and ultimately sever the ties between them. The persuasion of his sisters represents the freedom they, like Gilgamesh, wished to have from the supernatural and divine. When the sisters persuade Psyche, they say: Remember the Pythian oracle which declared you destined to marry a terrible and terrible monster. The inhabitants of this valley say that your husband is a terrible and monstrous serpent, who feeds you for a moment with delicacies in order to devour you little by little. Follow our advice. Take a lamp and a sharp knife; hide them so that your husband does not discover them, and when he is sound asleep, slip out of bed, take out your lamp, and see for yourself whether what they say is true or false. If this is the case, do not hesitate to cut off the monster's head and thus regain your freedom. (Apuleius 86) The words of her sisters tempted Psyche as the serpent tempted Eve. Psyche, unable to resist, has betrayed her devotion and promise to the divine and watches Cupid wound him with the burning wax. When Psyche accidentally hurts Cupid and ruins their relationship, Cupid's mother tests his devotion to the gods. To prove her devotion to Cupid, an element of the divine, Psyche must complete a list of tasks for the goddess Venus. However, she did not achieve them alone. While going to speak with Venus, Psyche comes across a pile of corn and decides to clean it. Through this action of separating the grains, his pious nature also contributed to honoring the other gods. Saint Ceres, whose temple it was, finding her so religiously employed, spoke to her thus: “O Psyche, truly worthy of our pity, although I cannot protect you from the frowns of Venus, yet I can t learn the best way to soothe your discontent. Go then and voluntarily abandon yourself to your lady and sovereign, and try through modesty and submission to obtain her forgiveness, and perhaps her favor will restore to you the husband you lost” (Apuleius 95). Although it appears that Psyche will still face her punishment for infidelity, the powers of the supernatural protect her because of her devotion and piety. After seeing the first task given to Venus, Psyche thinksthat she will never see her husband again. The grains it was supposed to separate had to be mixed. Entering the first grain separation task, magical ants came to Psyche's aid. Venus asked Psyche that her next task was to retrieve a sample of the Golden Fleece. Psyche obediently followed her goddess' instructions, but it was the river god who came to her aid. Through the murmurings of the reeds of the river, the god said: "O sorely tried maiden, do not tempt the dangerous flood, nor venture among the dread rams on the other side, for as long as they are under the influence of the rising sun, they burn with cruel rage to destroy mortals with their sharp horns or their coarse teeth. But when the midday sun has driven the cattle into the shade and the serene spirit of the flood has lulled them to sleep, then you will be able to cross in safety, and you will find the woolly gold clinging to the bushes and trunks of the trees. (Apuleius 99). Following his instructions, Psyche returned to Venus with an arm full of golden fleece. The last task Venus gave Psyche was to travel to the Underworld to recover Proserpina's beauty. Psyche knew this task would kill her but she went willingly. When she looks into the beauty box, her body falls into a coma. It is Cupid who resurrects her and finally gives her immortality. Her selfless actions throughout her duties as a human are Christ-like, dying for her loved ones but nevertheless returning as a savior. Through these tasks, Psyche is not only able to find redemption in faith, but she is also able to become an element of the divine due to her purity and devotion to the divine, much like Hong Gildong. Both characters were pure of heart and were able to rise to godhood with the help of wind and supernatural elements during their time on earth. However, not all the characters in these works followed the straight and narrow path. We see punishment by the supernatural wind again in The Golden Ass. Because of Psyche's connection to the divine, the gods, she is able to escape death by jumping off the cliff and is carried by the wind, Zephyr, to the safety of her lover's home. However, Psyche's sisters were greedy and tried to find their way to divine grace. The sisters, having ruined their sister's relationship with the divine, now believe they control the supernatural. They believe that with Psyche's lack of devotion to Cupid, they now have a chance of being loved by the deity. The sisters rejoice that their sister's act of heresy has condemned her to a life of sacred religion. With this idea, each of the sisters climbed the sacred mountain of Cupid and called on Zephyr to carry them to divinity. Each sister took a leap of faith, but none of the sisters were sustained by Zephyr's power. The sisters wanted a perfect life, but because of their imperfections and wickedness, they fail to find it even in death. On learning of Psyche's betrayal, the following events occurred: There, although the wind was blowing in a completely different direction, but yet obsessed with blind hope, [the elder sister] cried out: “Receive me, Cupid , a wife worthy of you, and you, Zephyr, bear with your mistress', and with a great leap she threw herself over. But even in death she did not reach the place she sought: for falling from one rock to another, she was torn limb from limb, and she died offering the birds a banquet of her flesh mutilated, as she so well deserved. of prey and wild beasts. The second revenge did not take long to follow. For Psyche, during her wanderings, arrived in another city, where her second sister also lived. She also was not.