Character of Gilgamesh - Book Report/Review Example

Gilgamesh is the oldest epic known to man. It was "on clay tablets which were deciphered in the last century" (Lindermans). It is the story of a great hero who seeks to find many answers that some still seek today. The story follows the antics of Gilgamesh and his literary foil, Enkidu as they seek fame, glory, and ultimately everlasting life. Throughout the epic poem, Gilgamesh goes through a significant change of character that allows him to evolve, and by the end of the story Gilgamesh has grown into the true hero he was destined to be.

One passage that demonstrates Gilgamesh's change of character can be seen at the end of the epic. It reads, "The people of the city, great and small, are not silent; they lift up the lament, all men of flesh and blood life up their lament. Fate has spoken; like a hooked fish he lies stretched on the bed, like a gazelle that is caught in a noose"(Gilgamesh).I find this passage interesting for many reasons. First of all it shows how public opinion of Gilgamesh has changed greatly since the opening of the story, and in that change in opinion we can also begin to see the change in Gilgamesh's character.

At the beginning of the story people were crying to the gods to punish Gilgamesh, now " the people of the city great and small"(Gilgamesh) are all mourning the death of their leader.The use of Endiku also shows a major change in Gilgamesh's character. Once Enkidu enters the story we never here of Gilgamesh and any more women again. Endiku is exactly what the people of Uruk asked for, a person to tame and calm Gilgamesh. I think this is an important theme that runs through the story. It shows how Endiku, a wild man, shows Gilgamesh, a civilized man, the wild lands that no man has explored.

It also shows the strength of friendship between the two, so strong that it was even paralleled to the love of a man and a women. No longer do we see the lustful and ravaged character of Gilgamesh, here we truly begin to see Gilgamesh's heroic character come to formation. With the help of his literary foil of Endiku, Gilgamesh is able to evolve into the hero he is meant to be. Gilgamesh's character greatly changed in part to his reaction with Endiku, and he eventually grew into a more heroic and respected individual than he was at the beginning of the epic poem.

The trust of this friendship offers another change to Gilgamesh's character. No long only thinking for himself, Gilgamesh is now greatly concerned with the fate of his friend, and begins to love Endiku. The harsh ruler we see at the start of the poem has faded away into a strong lover, the original model of the masculine lover in literature. It is also through Endiku that Gilgamesh must face and confront his own morality. Before Endiku's death, Gilgamesh acted almost without thinking, and left nothing back.

He acted like he would never die, and that was how he carried out everything he did. However, when Endiky died, another change happened inside of Gilgamesh. With the death of his friend, he had to confront his own mortaility. Gilgamesh "is distraught with grief and denial of death. First he keeps the body of Enkidu for a week, until the body became wormy. Then, he had him buried and wandered out from Uruk into the wilderness as a wild hunter, dressed in animal skins. Gilgamesh despairs for the loss of Enkidu, but also for his own death, which he now understands must come some day.

Seeking to avoid death, Gilgamesh looks for Utnapishtim, the only human being who was granted eternal life by the gods. He wants to learn the secret of how to avoid death"(Thompson). It is at this turning point in the story we see another change, and the change in what Gilgamesh wishes to accomplish in life. His old direction of just trying to rule with power now changed to a personal quest for immortality. As written in on the tablets, "Gilgamesh allows his life to