Enkidu's Death Analysis

Gilgamesh, a poem retold by Herbert Mason, is a tale of a king who seeks a life of immortality, which is marked by his ignorance and selfish desires, and his quest to outsmart death. This story of a king named Gilgamesh, and his inability to accept the inevitability of death, which makes him ignorant and selfish. Gilgamesh shows that friendship is essential for everybody. Enkidu a wild man, created by the gods in the grasslands who would eventually become each other's companion. Enkidu was one-third human and two-thirds beast, he was created to mirror Gilgamesh’s character. Gilgamesh learns that death is an inescapable fact of human life. How does Enkidu’s death affect Gilgamesh’s look on the rest of his life? Through Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is walking through the desert alone. He is bored of being alone. He has never been alone during his life because he was a king. Gilgamesh had everything given to him and if he had asked for something, he would get it. Therefore, he is a selfish man and only thought of himself and what would affect him. He started to think about Enkidu and death. Gilgamesh was thinking of the ways he could get his friend back and restore his happiness. But, “To bring Enkidu back to life/ To end his bitterness/ His fear of death” (Mason 55). He does not just feel grief because his friend is dead, he feels grief thinking that he, himself will die. He can’t accept the fact that one day, he will die. Gilgamesh wants to be remembered and looked up to. He has lived his life in luxury and bathed in riches as a king. For him to die and be forgotten by Uruk, is the biggest fear he has underlying his fear of death. Gilgamesh is slowly overcoming his fear of death. Through Enkidu’s death, he is slowly surpassing his fear and overlooking it. He realizes that death is inevitable and cannot be avoided. Gilgamesh is still selfish, only thinking of himself. He acts as if he was the only one to experience a death of a