The Epic of Gilgamesh - Book Report/Review Example

The Epic of Gilgamesh Is Gilgamesh initially portrayed as a good king? Why or why not? Initially, Gilgamesh is not portrayed as a good king. He utilizes his qualities to mistreat his subject. The king is being considered as the greatest of all men with both his flaws and virtues being oversized. Before Enkidu arrives as a counterweight to the energies of the king, the king exhaust his subjects with forced labor, ceaseless battles and arbitrary exercises of power (Sandars, 1972, pg, 3). Beautiful to behold, the king selfishly utilizes his appetite to rape any woman that he desires, whether she is the daughter of a noble, the wife of a warrior or a bride on her wedding day. Why is Enk idu created? The creation of Enkidu by the gods was a reaction to the Gilgamesh for being contemptuous of the gods. The gods brought Enkidu to the world to serve as a counterpoint to the king. Unlike Gilgamesh who is one third man and two thirds gods, Enkidu is fashioned from clay by the gods. He begins as a wild man, crude and unrefined and raised by animals (Sandars, 1972, pg 4&5). The purpose of creating Enkidu was to humble the king which he did even though at the end the king sought a way to weaken his competitor by using the best prostitute in Uruk. What role do the gods/goddesses play? When and why do they interact with humans? The gods in the epic of Gilgamesh, comes off as very powerful and affects the human life any time they choose. There exist examples in the book in which the gods try to influence life in a certain manner. For instance, when the subjects complain about the oppression in the hands of the king, the gods decide to create Enkidu as an equal to the king. Later on when the king and Enkidu face Humbaba, it’s the god Shamash who intervenes to help defeat the monster (Sandars, 1972, pg, 3, 39, 42& 96). The gods interact with the human any time they wish and more so when the people have problems to be solved by the gods. Thinking of traditional gender roles, which characters are masculine? Which are feminine? Remember, gender isn’t about biological sex, but the roles each society assigns to the sexes. The question about gender in the book is quite challenging. For some of the male characters in the story, maleness seems to be tied to harm and destruction as depicted by Enkidu and Gilgamesh. Men are seen as being wild, unkind or pretty harsh. On the other hand, some of the female characters seem to have a nurturing and civilizing influences for example the prostitute who civilizes Enkidu as well as the wife of Utnapishtim who does not want Gilgamesh to be empty handed when he leaves. Women too are not all peace lovers (Sandars, 1972, pg 2, 42). For instance, Ishtar turned past lovers into lobbies and animals to have Gilgamesh killed. What is Gilgamesh’s attitude toward death? Does it change? Before fighting Humbaba, Gilgamesh was conceited and arrogant. He was only interested in challenges and power yet he did not believe that death was a permanent consequence. This was shown when he ensured his subjects were able to construct a wall around his kingdom. His attitude changes when he becomes aware about the consequence of death after losing his equal. Gilgamesh is bitter when he realized that it is only the gods who can live forever (Sandars, 1972, pg 70, 72 &84). What caused the flood? Is this story familiar to you? The actual reasons as to why the gods conspired to flood and destroy the people in the world are not explained. However, Utnapishtim, the hero of the floods gains immortality when he is informed earlier of an upcoming deluge by one of the gods, Enlil. He builds rafts sails and is saved at the end. The only reason that supports the happening is because mankind is overpopulating the earth while at the same time interfering with the recreation of the earth by the gods. People were created as slaves for the gods so that they can tend the earth (Sandars, 1972 pg 87). However, they were going against the will of the gods and the reason why the gods send floods to destroy them. The story is familiar to me as it reminds of the story from the bible in which God send floods to destroy mankind but asked Noah to build an ark to save animals and individual who respected God. What do you think the author felt were the most important characteristics of a good king? What do you think he saw as the meaning of life? What does The Epic of Gilgamesh say about human nature, the role of law, and cultural identity in ancient Mesopotamia? The author felt that the most significant characteristic of a good king is having wisdom and knowledge that will help control the subject. Harming and mistreatment of the subject by the king as well as raping women only depicted the negative side of the king. The author states that the man’s fate is to die and that people should be able to utilize their time on earth to cherish what they have and to worry less about issues that they do not have control over (Sandars, pg, 72). The author believed that death was inevitable and that human being should do greater things and help one another while still alive. The powerful people in the society made laws and expected their subjects to do as they thought. The king utilized his power to oppress the people until the gods intervened. The greatest lesson that the king learns is that death is inescapable fact for human life. Mesopotamian theology gives an impression of an afterlife even though it offers scant comfort when the author reveals that the dead spend their time as being dead (Sandars, 1972,pg 69 . Reference Sandars, N. (1972). The epic of Gilgamesh. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Read More