themes
hereos campion-
Enkidu is Gilgamesh’s dearest companion, his equal, his soul-mate. Everything that they do, they do together. That is why Gilgamesh was so upset when Enkidu died. they both have different characteristics. When you put them togother they balance eachother out and helpt eachother out. “He turned to Enkidu who leaned against his shoulder and looked into his eyes and saw himself in the other, just as Enkidu saw himself in Gilgamesh. In the silence of the people they began to laugh and clutched each other in their breathless exaltation.” (pg. 24, Gilgamesh) In every hero story, the hero always has a partner in crime. like Shrek and donkey, scooby do and shaggy, batman and robin, winnie the poo and piglet.
The common flood story:
Utnapishtim’s story about the flood is very similar to and parallel to the story of Noah’s Arc. The gods decided to send a great flood down on men because men were searching to be like the gods; searching for immortality and defying their natural or human conditions. For this, the gods see it fit to remind men of their place on Earth, and that’s when they send the floods. Utnapishtim is warned about the flood by Ea, though, because he is a man not desiring immortality. Therefore, when the flood is over and Utnapishtim and his family survive the flood in a giant boat built by Utnapishtim for the duration of the flood, the gods “choose” him to be like the gods and make him immortal merely because he had no desire of it in the first place.“The war god touched my forehead; he blessed my family and said: before this you were just a man, but now you and your wife shall be like gods. You shall live in the distance at the rivers’ mouth, at the source. I allowed myself to be taken far way from all that I had seen. Sometimes even in love we yearn to leave mankind. Only the loneliness of the Only One who never acts like gods is bearable.” (pg. 79, Gilgamesh)
Love:
These two characters are just like soul mates. They actually are though. they are so in love, as friends though. Just like how i love my bestfriends. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh is so upset, he feels there is no reason to live anymore. just like if when of my best friends would die, i would be in so much agony and i would probably feel the same as gilgamesh.“Don’t be afraid, said Gilgamesh. We are together. There is nothing we should fear.” (pg. 28, Gilgamesh)
Pessimistic and optimistic:
“I think compassion is our God’s pure act which burns forever, and be it in Heaven or in Hell doesn’t matter for me; because Hell is the everlasting gift of His presence to the lonely heart who is longing amidst perishing phantoms and doesn’t care to find any immortality if not in the pure loneliness of the Holy One, this loneliness which he enjoys forever inside and outside of His creation. It is enough for one who loves to find his Only One singled in Himself. And that is the cup of immortality!” (pg. 74, 75, Gilgamesh)
Loss of innocence:
When the hunter tells the boy to go and visit gilgamesh and tell him to send a prostitue to sleep with enkidu, he does. The prostitute saduces Enkidu and sleeps with him. at that point that is when Enkidu losses his innocence.“He became bitter in his tone again: because of her. She made me see things as a man, and a man sees death in things. That is what it is to be a man. You’ll know when you have lost the strength to see the way you once did.” (pg. 49, Gilgamesh)
Gods relationship with mortals:
The gods intervene two major times in Gilgamesh. Once when Ishtar and Anu send the Bull of Heaven down on Earth and after Gilgamesh, and another time when the gods send a great flood down on the mortals “But a little hunger will replace their arrogance with new desire. Then Anu acceded to her wish. The Bull of Heaven descended to the earth and killed at once three hundred men, and then attacked King Gilgamesh.” (pg. 45, Gilgamesh)
Legacy:
“He looked at the walls, awed at the heights his people achieved and for a moment-just a moment- all that lay behind him passed from view.” (pg. 92, Gilgamesh)