The Suffering In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh was written as a reminder to the people that the mortality of man should never change, because it is what defines humanity. However, in the world of The Epic of Gilgamesh, this does not seem to deter any who wish to break the cycle of life. Gilgamesh, distraught by the death of his companion, Enkidu, is overcome with the obsession of obtaining immortality, and goes along a journey to attain it. While on the journey of obtaining immortality, he faces many difficulties and warnings that should deter him away from doing so.

Hubristic to Humble Great leaders embody a paradox. They develop strength and wisdom through failure and ignorance. The activist Gandhi recognizes this contradiction, noting that both strength and weakness and wisdom and folly are close companions: “it is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” Gilgamesh proves this truth in The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Herbert Mason.

The Epic of Gilgamesh conveys numerous themes. Among those are the inevitability of death, the eminence of the gods, and strikingly the importance of love as an impetus. Love, defined in a consummate sense is intimacy, passion, and commitment. These traits are exemplified in Gilgamesh and Enkidu's relationship, and they are also implied between Enkidu and Sham hat. Despite the violent and abrasive nature of the happenings of this text, love is displayed blatantly throughout.

The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. Based on my reading of The Epic of Gilgamesh, I found that influence of the leader in the Ancient Near East, was pivotal in order for the society to function. The Mesopotamian society had three major factors; economics, politics, and a system of values. All of these factors were intertwined, where one factor has influence on all the others. So when someone like Gilgamesh relies on his ability to lead only with authority, the society begins to divide.

The Epic of Gilgamesh shows and describe the journey of a successful hero. Throughout his quest, Gilgamesh goes through a departure, initiation, and a return stage. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu sets out to go on the heroic journey to defeat Humbaba he experiences the first departure stage. The initiation stage occurred when Enkidu died and Gilgamesh started the second heroic journey searching for immortality. Gilgamesh search for immortality was beyond the initiation stage he searched for it through every quest and journey he encountered.

In ancient societies, literature often reflected the things that were most important to them. Somethings that no outside force can steal or take away. Ideas such as religion, history, and family. Literature also exhibited culture. What was written, such as trade, laws, and epics demonstrated order and harmony in ancient civilizations.

“The Return” Reading Questions In order to get the pity from the gods, Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh is tempted by sleep constantly, so the Faraway devises a plan to make a visual representation of Gilgamesh’s progress. Everyday of the test, Utnapishtim’s wife bakes a loaf of bread and puts a mark beside Gilgamesh’s head to measure the time. At the end, Gilgamesh is awoken and from looking at the bread, he realizes that he has been asleep.

The epic poem “Epic of Gilgamesh” is about a hero’s journey. First, one should know that Gilgamesh was once a selfish king that ruled over Uruk. When his best friend Enkidu dies, he realizes that he is mortal, so he goes on a journey to look for immortality (Sandars). In my opinion, heroes should always show loyalty and show respect to all classes of people. If the hero doesn’t show respect in the beginning, he will grow and will later on show much more respect.

As the Epic of Gilgamesh reached its conclusion an alternative ending from the account of Utnapishtim who is a Mesopotamian version of the later biblical Noah tells the story of the gods becoming angry because humans are breeding wildly and sleep is no longer possible due to the “babel”. Therefore the gods agree to exterminate mankind. The Sumerian Enki who is the god of the waters warns Gilgamesh in a dream to ‘tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despise worldly goods and save your soul alive. Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat. “ Gilgamesh did exactly that and endured the world flooding for 6 days.

In comparison, it’s always observed on how different scholars find the similarity of especially marital settings, characters, and as well as the wanderings of the mythological world. Different events within the life of these characters cover broadly a huge range of epic encounters that are heroic. The character, emotional and psychological development of Gilgamesh can be borrowed especially from the ancient heroic perspectives of mortality and death while comparing with Achilles. Mesopotamian civilization has had several phases in which hero Gilgamesh has been in existence, however having similar attributes. One of the earliest stories of Gilgamesh is developed from Sumerian texts, one of the most influential and well-known poems (Michelakis & Pantelis 2007).

Without a prior ordinary world, Gilgamesh was born one third human and two third god. The goddesses made Gilgamesh strong and near perfect in order to become the King of Uruk. Gilgamesh impresses his people with his unusual abilities and strengthens by predicting the coming flood and building a magnificent wall around Uruk. However, Gilgamesh was not a kind king, he used his status immorally to rape any women he liked. Gilgamesh had a lot of powers, but he was not wise as he was not content with what he had, and attempted to live forever.