Essay Sample on Epic of Gilgamesh

In various literary works significant transitions in a heros character become vivid as the story develops. This is clear as depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh with the hero of the story, Gilgamesh. In this narrative told as a poem, the reader gets sneak peeks of the kind of person Gilgamesh is and what his purposes and goals are. Gilgamesh is seen to act in numerous different ways. The narrative depicts him as an overbearing ruler who is hated by his subjects, a strong and courageous fighter, and a depressed man deflated and at the end of it all a man who appears to be satisfied with his life accomplishments. All through the changes, the narrative shows the reader how Gilgameshs attitude towards life changes. The goals that he has set for his own life also change dramatically, and it is from the same goals that the reader witnesses Gilgameshs change from being a ruthless and shallow leader to being a content introspective man.

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The epic starts with the men of Uruk portraying Gilgamesh as an excessively forceful ruler. "'Gilgamesh leaves no son to his father; day and night his outrageousness continues unrestrained; And he is the shepherd of Uruk, the enclosure; He is their shepherd, and yet he oppresses them. Strong, handsome, and wise. . . Gilgamesh leaves no virgin to her lover.'"(p.18, Line 23-27)) The residents have high regards of him, yet they despise his sexual and physical hostility, so they argue to the divine beings to mitigate some of their problems. The divine beings make plans to make an equivalent for Gilgamesh to tame him and keep him in line. This equivalent, Enkidu, immediately affects Gilgamesh. When they initially meet, both having at no other time met another man with equal stature, they fight. "They grappled with each other, snorting like bulls; they shattered the doorpost that the wall shook."(p.32, lines 15-18) In giving Gilgamesh a real fight, Enkidu in a split second changes him; having his equivalent gives Gilgamesh a feeling of respect for the other man. These two men battling each different makes a serious mess. However they both wind up without enmity toward the other.

Enkidu goes through an earth shattering experience with Shamhat, the sanctuary prostitute. For reasons that are never clarified, when Enkidu has completed his epic seven-day love session with Shamhat, he realizes that he cannot keep up with animals any more. He has lost something physically, yet he has picked up something rationally: "Enkidu was diminished, his running was not as before. But then he drew himself up, for his understanding had broadened" (1.183-184).

Also, a portion of this expanding brain is that he needs a companion. This demonstrates an improvement far from his solitary existence as he builds up the requirement for human fellowshipfurthermore an advancement toward masculinity. Alongside his other human characteristics, Enkidu has additionally picked up a sound dosage of testosterone-implanted arrogance: "I will challenge [Gilgamesh] Let me shout out in Uruk: 'I am the mighty one!' Lead me in and I will change the order of things; he whose strength is mightiest is the one born in the wilderness!"(1.200-204). and this way he challenges Gilgamesh to A duel, Enkidu is offended by what he finds out about Gilgamesh's doings, so he goes to Uruk. When he arrives, Gilgamesh is going to compel his way into a ladies wedding chamber. Enkidu ventures into the entryway and hinders his passage. The two men wrestle savagely for quite a while and Gilgamesh at last wins. After that, they get to be companions and begin searching for an experience to share. Gilgamesh very first step towards being human begins here after meeting an equal who is the first to threaten his authority. Through this person, he begins to see all the things that he could be and yet is not at the moment.

It is this friendship that prompts to the following stride in Gilgamesh's transition. Gilgamesh and Enkidu choose to steal trees from a far off cedar forest which is illegal to mortals. An alarming devil named Humbaba, the dedicated servant of Enlil, the lord of earth, the wind, and air, protects it. The two friends make the dangerous trip to the timberland, and, standing next to each other, battle with the creature the roaring of Humbaba was like that of a storm cyclone his mouth was full of blasphemy, his breath like hot wind (line 12). With help from Shamash the sun god, they execute him. At that point, they chop down the taboo trees, mold the tallest into a huge gate, make the rest into a pontoon, and buoy on it back to Uruk. Upon their arrival, Ishtar, the goddess of affection, is overcome with sexual desire for Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh rejects her. Angry, the goddess asks her dad, Anu, the divine force of the sky, to send the Bull of Heaven to rebuff him. The bull descends from the sky, carrying with him seven years of starvation. Gilgamesh and Enkidu overpower the bull and slaughter it. The divine beings meet in council and concur that one of the two companions must be punished for their mistakes, and they conclude that Enkidu should die. He is taken sick, suffers tremendously, and shares his dreams of the underworld with Gilgamesh. When he at last dies, Gilgamesh is devastated by the loss of his friend. The resolve to murder Humbaba, a creature, and hireling of the divine beings, was Gilgameshs. "We must prove ourselves more powerful than he," he tells Enkidu. Gilgamesh has never fizzled at anything before and does not by any stretch of the imagination know the significance of fear, or death. Notwithstanding Enkidu's warnings and requests for Gilgamesh to alter his opinion. He was, however, protective of Enkidu through the fight, a sign of a strong bond.

Gilgamesh mourns deeply over his dead companion, he laments to himself and to the citys elders remembering how together with Enkidu they have overthrown Humbaba and killed the heavenly bulls among other adventures. He promises himself that he will make all his followers to join him in mourning his friend. He wandered all over his land uttering lamentations I shall die, and shall not I be then as Enkidubecause I fear death do I wander over the country". All along, he has attached to his friend's Body and keeps it until it stinks. He only gives up Enkidu's body to the earth when maggots start consuming the body Earth has snatched him away.(p. 8, line 1). He has a desire to evade death, and he remembers that an ancestor of his was immortal. He sets out on a journey to find out from his ancestor the key to immortality. His ancestor tells him not to be so interested in immortality because men were not meant to live forever. Gilgamesh is, however, surprised that his ancestor looks like a normal man as opposed to his expectations of him finding a hero look alike preparing for battle.Utanapishti who is the ancestor tells him off and gives him a test of staying a week without sleep, but Gilgamesh does not pass the test. He instructs his ferryman to dress Gilgamesh like a king and transport him back to the land of Uruk. He is given the plant of immortality but in his carelessness loses it and regrets having looked for his ancestor in vain. Gilgamesh is distraught and goes back to Uruk a changed man even in his leadership methods. His rule is just coming from inspiration from the friendship he had with Enkidu until he met his death.

The issues with divine beings and challenges against the beasts were constantly solved together keeping in mind the end goal to hear one out another and get the best choice. Enkidu, being compared with a shield and protector for Gilgamesh, and to ax as a partner, was the person who satisfied the life of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh genuinely suffered from Enkidu's demise which demonstrates that these two could be legitimately called perfect partners. Gilgamesh says "an evil fate has robbed me" (line 94), as though he lost a precious individual in his life. Despite the fact that Gilgamesh endures and feels irate, he recognizes destiny and his defencelessness. He feels a gigantic void inside; he lost an equivalent to himself, an accomplice, a sibling. Nothing can fill this place in his heart. Gilgamesh is left to ponder through whatever remains of his life being melancholy and lonely.

Works Cited

T, George A. Epic Gilagamesh. 1st ed.,