Nature of the People Who Produced the Epic of Gilgamesh - Essay Example

The Epic of Gilgamesh Presented Epic of Gilgamesh Section I Introduction The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest storiesthat had been written on clay tablets. Gilgamesh was a famous king who ruled Uruk in Babylonia near the Euphrates River in the northern part of Iraq. The oldest surviving story about Gilgamesh dates back to the year 2000 B.C and was written on clay tablets in the language of the Sumerians. The stories were written inform of poems in wedge shaped tablets. The library that protected the stones was however destroyed in 612B.C by the Persians and the tablets were entirely damaged. The story is an exciting story, which brings out many themes and nature of the ancient kingdoms and the subjects of Gilgamesh. The first tablet (All tablets have been summarized from Carnahan, (1998) version) The first tablet talks much about the nature and mightiness of Gilgamesh. The tablet discusses the wondrous works of Gilgamesh such as building a great city that had high walls, and amazing masonry works. Gilgamesh nature in the tablet is presented as half-supernatural and half human. Since the people feared him greatly, he oppressed them greatly although he was very young. After the people cried to their gods, a rival to Gilgamesh who was very strong (Enkindu) was delivered to save them. He was however distracted by a harlot forcing him to loose all his power and so he could not defend his people. Enkindu embraces civilization and neglects his mission to save the people. The second tablet The second tablet explains the conversion of Enkindu to modernization and the oppressive nature of Gilgamesh. After the Harlot introduced Enkindu to the civilization, they later met with Gilgamesh in a great party. Gilgamesh portrays his cruelty by declaring that he should be the first to have sex with all newly wed brides. This forces both of them to fight after which they embrace and become friends. They are later to take difficult task by fighting the demon Humbaba who Enkindu describes as horrible. The Third Tablet The third tablet portrays the love that the people still had in Gilgamesh. They tried to prevent him from going to fight Humbaba but after insisting, they gave up and set Enkindu as his bodyguard. For the first time, there was a reference to God Shamash, whom Gilgamesh’s mother requested to protect her son, of which the god responded positively. Once again, Enkindu’s fear in this undertaking is portrayed. The fourth tablet The fourth tablet describes the 6 days journey to the cedar forest to fight the demon. The weakness and fear in Gilgamesh is portrayed through constant prayers to god Shamesh who responds with several dreams. In all the dreams, Enkindu interprets that god Shamesh was handing them a success in the fight but by the end, Gilgamesh is terribly fearful and they had a great fight with Enkindu when he tried to turn back due to fear. The demon Humbaba appears due to this commotion. The fifth tablet It begins with the real task when Gilgamesh and Enkindu start to cut down the trees forcing the demon to intervene. Surprisingly, the demon instead of fighting back incites a conflict between Gilgamesh as a king and Enkindu as a “nobody”. They both fight and defeat Humbaba with the help of Shamesh. Gilgamesh cuts off Humbaba’s head despite his pleading for mercy and Humbaba leaves a curse on Enkindu for insisting his killing. The sixth tablet Gilgamesh becomes very famous and goddess Ishtar offers to become his lover. He strongly refuses this offer due to the adulterous nature of the goddess. This forces Ishtar to seek revenge on Gilgamesh. Anu allows her daughter to unleash the deadly bull of heaven to the people of Uruk and many are killed due to its breadth alone. Again, Gilgamesh and Enkindu combined their forces, killed the bull, and threatened Ishtar with death. The seventh tablet Enkindu dreamt that he was being punished by death for killing the demon and the bull of heaven; after a consultation by the gods recommended him as the one to pay for all the mistakes. He therefore curses the gods, the harlot who introduced him to civilization and the cedar gate. He is comforted that he has as well enjoyed the fruits of civilization. He dies after 12 days in great suffering. The eighth tablet Gilgamesh mourned his friend Enkindu greatly and orders all creation to follow suit. He further made a monument in memories of his friend Enkindu. The ninth tablet Gilgamesh panics a lot after his friend’s death after realizing that he also has to die and lives a reckless life. He embarks on a great journey to such for eternal life and goes to look for Utnapishtim and his wife. The two were the only humans that the gods had granted eternal life. They lived at the mouth of all rivers and were the only survivors of the great flood. Gilgamesh after a dream went to mount Mashu where two scorpions requested him to leave his mission but to no avail. He later enters the land of darkness for twelve leagues and then emerged in a very beautiful garden where each tree beared very expensive stones. The tenth tablet Siduri who was very frightened by the looks of Gilgamesh locks him outside the tavern at the ocean. After identifying himself, he is directed to Urshanabi who works for Utnapishtim, but due to his arrogance and violence, he destroys the only stones that could have helped him in the journey. After crossing the waters of death, Gilgamesh is heart broken to be told that death is a destiny for all humans and eternal life was not an option. The eleventh tablet Gilgamesh is baffled after realizing that the old man he was talking to was the real Utnapishtim who gives him the secret of immortality. After being given the conditions required to attain immortality, Gilgamesh fails to fulfill by sleeping for six days and seven nights. He was still given another secret to immortality by Utnapishtim, but doubted its effectiveness. The story then ends where it had all begun when Gilgamesh looked and was happy with the great city masonry after realizing that he journeyed in vain. Section II Theme of each tablet The theme of the first tablet is to portray the might, and the beauty of Gilgamesh himself. As Sanders (pg 61) argues out Gilgamesh was a very beautiful figure. The theme of adultery comes into play also through Enkindu and the harlot. The purpose of this tablet was to describe Uruk kingdom, the king and the way people related with the king and the gods. In the second tablet, the cruel nature of the king and the sufferings that the people of Uruk had undergone under Gilgamesh comes out. Declaration of sleeping with every newly wedded wife is a good example (Hooker, 1996). The violent nature of Gilgamesh is portrayed after they broke into a fight with Enkindu. The role of this tablet in the journey was to prepare and portray the sufferings and difficult life of Gilgamesh. The third tablet shows the determination and the courage that Gilgamesh had by insisting to fight Humbaba. This was aimed at destroying the evils that tormented his people (Sanders, pg 71).the role of this tablet was to portray the protective nature of the king to his people as well as defining the environmental locality of this kingdom. The intervention of gods in the people’s daily lives is brought out in this tablet as Gilgamesh prayed. His weakness is also evident in the fourth tablet. The role of the tablet was to prepare Gilgamesh for tougher undertakings that would follow this. The fifth tablet shows the ruthlessness that the kings would deal with their enemies. The intervention of gods to prevent evil is portrayed as Enkindu urges Gilgamesh to chop off the head before the gods arrive (Hooker 1996). The role of this tablet is to set forth the determination and conquering impact of Gilgamesh in later adventures. The sixth tablet brings out the theme of revenge and liberation. As the people celebrate due to the slaying of the demon, many perished after Ishtar released the bull of heaven in a revenge mission (Hooker, 1996). Prevalence of adultery in the kingdom is also brought out. The role of this tablet is to show the power of the gods on people. The seventh tablet portrays a feeling of responsibility. Enkindu had to pay for encouraging the killing of the demon and for leaving his mission to civilization. The aspect of immortality is also clear as Enkindu dies. The role of this tablet was to prepare Gilgamesh in the sense that whatever he would do after this was pure vanity and he was immortal as well. The eighth tablet shows the betrayal that the people suffered under Enkindu. Although the Gods had sent Enkindu to defeat Gilgamesh, the latter cries in mourning due to loss of a friend. The role of this tablet was to inform that death was a part of life and immortality was impossible. The ninth tablet has a theme of utopia and determination. Gilgamesh was determined to be immortal and he was to do anything possible to achieve this. The role of this tablet was to bring out the difficult process that Gilgamesh would undergo but just in vanity. The tenth tablet portrays the arrogance and the intimidation that kings had on their subjects. Due to this arrogance, self-destruction is the result as Gilgamesh breaks the important stones that could have aided him to find Utnapishtim. This tablet role of this tablet is to highlight the difficulty that he had to suffer in amending his anger and arrogance. The eleventh tablet gives an account of the impossibilities of attaining immortality. Though he was given two trials by Utnapishtim, both of them failed due to his arrogance. The role of this tablet was to show how he had to toil through vanities and go back to the starting point having gained nothing. Characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh In tablet one, Gilgamesh and Enkindu are the main characters. They have been used to shape the struggles and describing the life that the people of Uruk live. They have been used to develop the plot. In the second tablet, Humbaba, Enkindu and Gilgamesh come into play. The fight for supremacy, which brings out the cruelty in Gilgamesh, is evident in this tablet. The result is vengeance for the violence. In the third tablet, the characters Gilgamesh, Elders, Enkindu, Humbaba and Gilgamesh’s mother are introduced. They portray the link between family, kingdom, and the gods. The clash between Gilgamesh and Humbaba is a fight of superiority, which results into punishment by the gods. The fourth tablet has the characters Gilgamesh, Enkindu, Humbaba, Shamesh, and Ninsun. The tablet characters portray the importance of gods in attaining success in the battles against the enemies of the people. The sixth tablet presents Gilgamesh, Enkindu, Ishtar, and Anu. It presents a duel between the people and the gods and the fatality it brings to the people as vengeance. The seventh tablet presents Gilgamesh, Enkindu, Shamash and Shamhat. The fight between the gods and Enkindu and the severity of their punishment leads to vengeance and death. The eighth tablet presents Gilgamesh and the mourning of loosing his friend. It connects well to the theme of betrayal to the people of Uruk. The ninth tablet has Gilgamesh and the scorpions. Their meeting may symbolize the painful journey that lay ahead of Gilgamesh as they urged him to turn away from the mission. The tenth tablet presents Gilgamesh, Siduri and Urshanabi their meeting helps to explain the arrogance and intimidation that the kings have on their subjects. This led to Gilgamesh doing extra work that was very dangerous in achieving his goal of seeking immortality. The eleventh tablet presents, Utnapishtim and his wife, Gilgamesh, and Urshanabi. The meeting of Utnapishtim and Gilgamesh in trying to achieve immortality makes Gilgamesh realizes that he had done too much for nothing and so he went back and was contented by the work that he had done before in making a beautiful city. Overall theme As Smith (vol. 28, pg 2), the main theme of the epic of Gilgamesh is that a triumph and success comes at a great cost. In each of the tablets, there was a tough experience that Gilgamesh had to under go to succeed. In the worst cases, this cost him dearly when he lost his rival turned friend Enkindu. That completely wrecked him although he did not give up. At the end, he discovers that he had labored in vain since death was a destiny and returns back to his people and connects with them in a communal life again. Nature of the people who produced the Epic For the people who produced the epic, nature, environment and the gods have a big connection and one cannot remove one from the other. The demon living in the great forest where Enkindu was sent by the gods, and the floods sent by the gods are the best examples to indicate this phenomenon (Smith, vol. 28 pg 2). The people were therefore very religious and believed in gods in delivering them from their troubles. This explains why the gods sent Enkindu after the people suffered under Gilgamesh (Hooker, 1996). These people feared Gilgamesh since it was proclaimed that he was half god and human. This proves their deep-rooted religion. Work cited. Carnahan, Wolf. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” 1998 http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab1.htm 22nd Sept. 2010 Hooker, Richard. “Gilgamesh” 1996. Mesopotamia http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HTM 22nd Sept. 2010 Sanders, Nancy. The Epic of Gilgamesh New York, U.S.A. Penguin Group Publishers 1972 Smith, Franklin “All Journeys Lead Home The Saga of Gilgamesh and the Progress of a Reluctant Actor” Callaloo.28.3 (2005) 545-551 Read More