Supernatural Powers and how Their Effects on Genders in Literature

Introduction

Supernatural powers have always been discussed in the literature. Moreover, the supernatural powers have influenced a number of themes in various literature writings with respect to gender. Be it romance, war, fiction, fantasy, religion or theology, every genre in literature has discussed supernatural powers and has even introduced and characterizes various gender based stereotypes on the basis of the supernatural powers. Some of the writings that can be used to further highlight the use of supernatural forces in literature include Othello, The epic of Gilgamesh, Old Testament: Genesis, The Canterbury tales and Metamorphoses.

Discussion

All of the above mentioned writings explains and perceives the supernatural powers in very different way. Some have explained powers as a spiritual force that is uncontrollable and is able to achieve several miracles that are humanly not possible. Some have explained them to be powers that although can be learned or controlled; however are used to achieve goals that cannot be achieved by ordinary humans. Others have simply mentioned a few of the very normal and casual activities and relate them with the supernatural aspects.

The epic of Gilgamesh, Old Testament: Genesis and The Canterbury tales are the three best examples to quote for highlighting the relationship between spirituality and the supernatural. Moreover, the male gender is known to be more commonly related with the supernatural powers. For instance, in “The epic of Gilgamesh”, the leading character Gilgamesh, is shown to be one-third human and two-thirds god. The story progress with the attempts made by Gilgamesh to achieve Immortality and explains that the Gods rejected his plea for eternal life. The later events show of Gilgamesh's hopes that supernatural powers might provide him what he seeks (Abusch, pp. 152). However, he finds that being two-thirds god will not prevent him from dying. Hence, the story explains the God element in Gilgamesh as supernatural.

The Old Testament: Genesis is a very distinct example of how the supernatural forces are perceived. Genesis has declared God as the most powerful and authoritative supernatural entity and explains several of the miracles he is able to achieve so effortlessly. These include the creation of the giant universe, curses being doled, floods caused by the divine wrath and several other astonishing and unexplainable events that only a supernatural entity such as God can execute (Brueggemann, pp.58). In addition, the Testament has also mentioned and ...