Utnapishtim's The Return: The Epic Of Gilgamesh

“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. Earlier in the reading, Utnapishtim compares sleep to death, “The sleeping and the dead, how alike they are, they are like a painted death.” (Sandars 28) Gilgamesh endured his first test that did not require physical strength to exemplify that Gilgamesh was not prepared for everlasting life, his fear of death was not enough.

The Faraway instructs Gilgamesh to bathe himself, rip away the animal skins he clothed himself in, and reveal his true beauty. The diction throughout this section helps the reader understand that Gilgamesh’s bath represents a cleansing of sins. For example, “ There he shall wash his long hair clean as snow in the water, he shall throw off his skins and let the sea carry them away, and the beauty of his body shall be shown, the fillet on his forehead shall be renewed, and he shall be given clothes to cover his nakedness.” (Sandars 31). Through the bath, Gilgamesh will be renewed. Before, Siduri gives her symbolism behind bathing, “Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man.” (26) Both definitions behind the ceremonial bathing mean a rebirth of something