Demonstrate that The Thousand and One Nights is as good as or better than The Epic of Gilgamesh

In 1835, India was ruled by England, and Thomas Macaulay argued that students there

should be taught only English. Although he admits not to have read anything non-European, he

nevertheless maintains that any one piece of European literature can favorably compete with all

of Indian literature. For your second essay, disagree with Macaulay and demonstrate that

one work of Indian literature from Unit 2 or one work of Arabic literature from Unit 3 is at

least as good as a work from Europe in Unit 1. One of the following could work as an option:

1. Demonstrate that The Thousand and One Nights is as good as or better than The Epic of Gilgamesh (though it's not strictly
   European) in one or more ways.
2. Demonstrate that Sakuntala is better than or as good as Antigone in one or more ways.

(Keep in mind, you’ll need to argue more than just enjoyability. For example, you might

argue that the struggle of Sakuntala is greater than that of Antigone, thus making her a

stronger hero, thus making the Indian work better than the European work.)

1. Compare the message about love in “The Red Lotus of Chastity” against the ideas of love in some of the European love poems
   (sonnets or other shorter poems on love, including Behn, Shakespeare, Petrarch, Michelangelo, and Sappho) to show that Indian
   ideas of love are as good as or better than those of Europeans.

4.Analyze both Valmiki’s Ramayana and The Epic of Gilgamesh to show that form and plot

are comparable between these two epics.

Choose one prompt (or something like one of these prompts) and respond in kind. For this paper,

Sample Solution