Gilgamesh the Immortal One - Essay Example

Gilgamesh the Immortal One Revised Draft Final Draft The story of Gilgamesh is a story that becomes familiar to all people as. It is a story of a fearless king, two thirds god and one third human. It is a story of immorality, hedonism and then finally the realities of life. This epic poem is best explained when looking at the three different character phases Gilgamesh went through. First, we see Gilgamesh as a fearless immortal being. He goes on a journey to find himself. He later takes what is only known to him and becomes a heathen slaying all who go against him in his path. He forgets that his supernatural powers cause him to think he is immortal. He wants to be immortal so badly that he is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that state. Then he is met by a human figure whom is not aware of his own potentials as a human. They create a unique friendship and bond. This human figure aids him in realizing his existence as a human and not only as a god. Finally, when losing his new friend, humility begins to set in and the truth of his immorality is faced. Gilgamesh goes on a quest for everlasting life to get his dear friend back. The quest is similar to this thing we call life here on earth! Gilgamesh is happy with his kingly status. He realizes that he is more god than human and possesses supernatural powers. The story begins with Gilgamesh of Uruk. He is known as the greatest king on the earth. He is also known to be the strongest King-god who ever existed. The people who belong to Gilgamesh are everything but happy. They express their concerns in regards to his abusiveness. He abuses his powers and sleeps with women before their husbands do. In order to help solve this situation, the goddess of creation Aruru creates the wild-man Enkidu who is made human by Shamhat, a temple prostitute. Enkidu is known as Gilgamesh’s counter part. “When he sees her he will draw near to her and his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him.” (Carnahan) Enkidu and Gilgamesh become friends and go off on a journey of the inner soul. The quest that he goes on at first is for his own honor. He wants to go and create a monument for himself. He wants to be elevated to the highest point that he can be. It is not about others at this point. It is only about him. His journey is for his own selfish gain. “I have not established my name stamped on bricks as my destiny decreed; therefore I will go to the country where the cedars are cut. I will set up my name in the place where the names of famous men are written, and where no man’s name is written yet, I will raise a monument to the gods”( Assyrian International News Agency). Still believing that he is essentially immortal, Gilgamesh proceeds to destroy all that is in front of him. He eventually destroys the Bull of Heaven to avenge the rejected sexual advances made to him by Anu’s daughter the goddess Ishtar. She later returns to heaven and asks her father, the sky-god if she can destroy Gilgamesh and his city. “Father let me have the Bull of Heaven, To kill Gilgamesh and his city. For if you do not grant me the bull of heaven I will pull down the gates of Hell itself, Crush the doorposts and flatten the door, And I will let the dead leave And let the dead roam the earth And they shall eat the living. The dead will overwhelm all the living!”(Richard Hooker) Unfortunately Enkidu was punished for Gilgamesh’s bout of anger. Though it was Gilgamesh who killed the Bull of Heaven, Enkidu is punished. Gilgamesh then delivers a lamentation for Enkidu, offering gifts to the many gods in order that they may walk beside Enkidu in the netherworld. He seeks everlasting life now that his dear friend is gone. He has realized the toll death has taken and understands now that he too can die. “O woe! What do I do now, where do I go now? Death has devoured my body. Death dwells in my body. Wherever I go, wherever I look, there stands death” (Richard Hooker). He is in such despair and enters a long state of depression in which he does not bathe, nor shave nor does he care for himself the way he should. He decides that he cannot live unless he has eternal life. Gilgamesh proceeds to the underworld where he learns about his destiny. In order to get to the underworld, he must cross the waters of death. This is a place where no mortals have gone before. It is there that he traverses the land of the dying and is able to get a glimpse of what death is really all about. At the end of the poem we see Enkidu but we are not sure if it is truly him coming to life or just a ghost. Gilgamesh asks Utnapishtim about death. Utnapishtim was an old man who had achieved everlasting life. Utnapishtim proceeds to speak of the great flood as interpreted by him. He said Enlil, the god of the earth granted him and his family everlasting life because he followed the command he had given to them. He was to build a boat and in that boat he would be safe. Utnapistim offers Gilgamesh the opportunity to gain everlasting life but only if he refrains from sleeping six days and seven nights. Ironically Gilgamesh immediately falls asleep. He is later granted an opportunity to restore his youth and that too does not seem to be his destiny. Gilgamesh eventually accepts his fate and says “already the thief in the night has hold of my limbs, death inhabits my room; wherever my foot rests, there I find death” (Martin Olivier) He eventually goes back, finishes his rules and dies in a tomb. Gilgamesh’s life mirrors that of many of us. We all have a destiny. Gilgamesh’s destiny was not to have everlasting life but it was to be the King and eventually die. He learned however to value life once his best friend was sent away to the underworld. We set ourselves on a stage where acting is expected. We feel immortal. When crossing the street we think to ourselves “that car can’t hurt me.” When flying in a plane, thousands upon thousands of miles up in the air we hope and pray and in a way believe that the planes that crashed before us had “bad luck” and there is no way it could happen to us. We live a life where immorality is set within our hearths, souls and very minds. We hear news on the Television about a shooting, or a rape and we think to ourselves “that would never, or could never happen to us because we are “wholly” or “strong”. But when turning the corner, cancer strikes again in the not so distant family member we once knew. Immorality is at the brink of disaster when it comes to humans. We are all predisposed to die in some way shape or form. We were created, like Gilgamesh, human and divine but what we must not forget is that our divinity comes from someone much more powerful than ourselves. And our humanness is what we cling to in order to make use of this fallen, desperate, saddened and uncompromisable world that we live in. Gilgamesh was a great worrier, he was a great king. He was all powerful and his knowledge exceeded his soul and desire for friendship. What he learned in the end was of greater value and was in no comparison to the great powers he possessed. . Work Cited 1. "Epic of Gilgamesh." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 17 Apr 2008, 21:44 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 Apr 2008 . 2. “Gilgamesh.” Mesopotamia. 6 June 1999, © 1996 Richard Hooker , 20 Apr 2008 http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HTM 3. “Gilgamesh” Academy for Ancient Text y June 2001 C.E. Wolf Carnahan, 20 April 2008 http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab1.htm 4. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” Assyrian International News Agency 4 May 2008 Books online. http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.htm 5. Martin S Oliver, “The Heroic pattern in the Epic of Gilgamesh,” Unpublished essay, 2002. http://martinolivier.com/other/hero.pdf Gilgamesh the Immortal one Draft 1 The story of Gilgamesh is a story that becomes familiar to all people as we take the time to sit down and read it. It is a story of a fearless worrier, two thirds god and one third human. It is a story of immorality, hedonism and then finally the realities of life. This epic can be taken apart in three ways. First, we see Gilgamesh as a fearless immortal being. He goes on a journey to find himself. He later takes what is only known to him and becomes a heathen slaying all who go against him in his path. He forgets that his supernatural powers cause him to think he is immortal. He wants to be immortal so badly that he is willing to do what it takes to achieve that state. Then he is met by a human figure whom is not aware of his own potentials as a human creating a unique friendship and bond. This human figure aids him in realizing his existence as a human and not only as a fearless god. Finally, when losing his new friend, humility sets in and the reality of immoralities are faced. Gilgamesh goes on a quest for everlasting life to get his dear friend back. Gilgamesh prides himself in being a fearless worrier. He knows that he is more god than human and possesses supernatural powers. The story begins with Gilgamesh of Uruk. He is known as the greatest king on the earth. He is also known to be the strongest King-god who ever existed. The people who belong to Gilgamesh are everything but happy. They express their concerns with his abusive nature. He abuses his powers and sleeps with women before their husbands do. The goddess of creation Aruru create the wile-man Enkidu who is civilized by Shamhat, a temple prostitute. Enkidu and Gilgamesh become friends and go off on a journey of the inner soul. Still believing that he is essentially immortal, Gilgamesh proceeds to destroy all that is in front of him. He eventually destroys the “Bull of Heaven” to avenge the rejected sexual advances made to him by Anu’s daughter the goddess Ishtar. Unfortunately Enkidu was punished for Gilgamesh’s bout of anger. Gilgamesh then delivers a lamentation for Enkidu, offering gifts to the many gods in order that they may walk beside Enkidu in the nertherworld. He seeks everlasting life now that his dear friend is gone. He has realized the toll death has taken and understands now that he too can die. At the end of the poem we see Enkidu but we are not sure if it is truly him coming to life or just a ghost. Gilgamesh’s life mirrors that of many of us. We set ourselves on a stage where acting is expected. We feel immortal. When crossing the street with think to ourselves “that car can’t hurt me.” When flying in a playing, thousands upon thousands of miles up in the air we hope and pray and in a way believe that the planes that crashed before us had “bad luck” and there is no way it could happen to us. We live a life where immorality is set within our hearths, souls and very minds. We hear news on the Television about a shooting, or a rape and we think to ourselves “that would never, or could never happen to us because we are “wholly” or “strong”. But when turning the corner, cancer strikes again in the not so distant family member we once knew. Immorality is at the brink of disaster when it comes to humans. We are all predisposed to die in some shape or form. We were created, like Gilgamesh, human and divine but what we must not forget is that our divinity comes from someone much more powerful than ourselves. And our humanness is what we, humans cling on to in order to make use of this fallen, desperate, saddened and uncompromisable world that we live in. Gilgamesh was a great worrier, he was a great king. He was all powerful and his knowledge exceeded his soul and desire for friendship. What he learned in the end was of greater value than all the powers he possessed. Work Cited "Epic of Gilgamesh." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 17 Apr 2008, 21:44 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 Apr 2008 . Read More