Comparison Of Human Nature In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Although I found the story of “Gilgamesh” to be somewhat strange it contained several familiar elements that are prevalent in many heroic tales from the past and present. One familiar element was what some people refer to as the “under-dog” factor. Gilgamesh and Enkidu embarked upon the most grueling and epic journey of their lives just to find the vicious giant named Humbaba. The way that Humbaba was described in the story made you feel like there is no way possible he can be defeated. This makes the audience want to side with the lesser opponents because you can relate

One of the most fascinating pieces of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh, deals with and explores many of the problems humans have wrestled with for thousands of years. Even though the text does not explicitly answer any of the questions it poses, it gives clues that point to the answers. One of these questions, the dilemma of whether to act based solely on a person’s intuition or act based on reason and advice, occurs regularly in the text. Throughout The Epic of Gilgamesh, characters have success and failure when they act based on either their intuition or using reason, but the epic clearly points out, through examples, that acting based on reason instead of intuition constitutes more success in all facets of life.

In ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’, the protagonist fails to fulfill the demands and responsibilities the gods’ and people of Ancient Sumerian society have bestowed upon him. The duties of a Sumerian king are to honor and best represent the Gods ‘ virtues and principles through his ruling actions over the inhabitants of the kingdom.

Further analysis of the poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, described the characteristic of king Gilgamesh from the beginning, middle, and end. Throughout the poem, there are immature and petrified moments of Gilgamesh, but more importantly he learned to grow as he explore his journey. Friendship, love, and fear appears to be essential in this poem. Why are those terms relevant ? and how does it connect with the trait of Gilgamesh ?, let’s continue to find out the truth about Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh is not a completely flawed character; he possesses, and obtains through his adventures, many positive qualities or virtues. For example, he is courageous. This virtue is evident during his battle with Humbaba. This forest giant is a fearsome adversary, aided by the gods, with a considerable size and strength advantage. Defeat of Humbaba takes the combined efforts of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. To succeed, Gilgamesh had to gain the courage to undergo this task. Enkidu rallies his friend by saying, “O Gilgamesh, remember now your boasts in Uruk. Forward, attacks, son of Uruk, there is nothing to fear.” (Sandars 20) With this, Gilgamesh’s “courage railed” (Sandars 20). He defeats and eventually kills Humbaba for which he is subsequently praised.

     At first, Gilgamesh is a controlling and arrogant king, who thinks only of himself. He constantly works the men, building enormous walls surrounding the

As the epic starts, Gilgamesh is portrayed as a self-centered, self-admiring leader who believes that he is the only individual that can lead the city of Uruk. Gilgamesh believes that he is a god-like figure and often refers to himself as one. He believes that he is above everyone else in the city of Uruk. For example, in the epic there is a scene where Gilgamesh enters the city of Uruk, the epic describes the scene as; “He entered the city of Uruk-the-Town-Square, and a crowd gathered around. He came to a halt in the street of Uruk-the Town-Square, all gathered about, the people discussed him” (15). This quote is a good example of how Gilgamesh expected those around him to respect and look up to him as a god-like figure. He did not lead the city of Uruk humbly; he wasn’t a leader who strived to feel like a normal citizen of the city. Instead, Gilgamesh felt that he was entitled to more privileges than the average person. Early on in the epic, Gilgamesh is described as a “tall, magnificent and terrible, who opened passes in the mountains, who dug wells on the slopes of the uplands, and crosses the ocean, the wide sea to the sunrise” (2). This demonstrates how selfish Gilgamesh truly was, and how all

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a very popular epic that is difficult to understand at first, which is why there is different translations of the same book. Although Foster and Sander’s translations have a lot of similar words and the stories are basically the same, there are also a lot of differences between the two. One of which is more straightforward and easier to understand, whereas the other is more of an in depth thoughtful read for the reader. Both translations differences have their own particular reasons for doing so, and add to the depiction of the story. I feel like the translation in the Anthology is a more complex read, whereas Sander’s translation is much easier to understand.

(1) The black demon saw a beautiful woman and out of all the nobel women. He picked the one that was about the be married. He kidnapped her on her wedding night. It shows that the black demon does things impulsively. He does not care of the consequences. It shows that since he is a demon. He does not fear the consequences of men. When he saw her he could not longer live without her. When he kidnap her. He locked her in box showing that he does not trust the women he kidnap with other men. It also means he wants to keep her pure. She was kidnap on her wedding night so she did not have sex yet so the demon believed she was pure. The untainted virgin that has not been violated by men was his and his only. When he traveled he took her out of the box and wanted to sleep beside her. It shows when he his comfortable. He would sleep better beside her. The women was the demon's most prized possession. It is like comparing the women to a boy's secret toy. When a boy is around someone he would hide his secret toy from everyone. When the boy is alone he would take it and worship it. This meaning is similar to Metamorphoses when Apollo wanted Daphne. Even though she refused him. He impulsively try to rape her. She was turned into a tree, but he still tried to rape the tree. Another text with the similar meaning is in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Any women Gilgamesh desired he would take married or not. Since he was part god and king. He did not care of consequence like the demon.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the greatest surviving epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia. The original author is unknown, since the epic was passed on orally for many generations during the second millennium B.C.E before being written down in clay tablets. However, the definitive fragmented revision of the epic is accredited to Sin-leqi-unninni, a Babylonian priest and scholar. The Epic of Gilgamesh follows Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality, remarking the question of what it means to be human. The story starts with King Gilgamesh of Uruk in Southern Mesopotamia, an arrogant and oppressive ruler who is two thirds divine and one third human. The citizens of Uruk, tired of Gilgamesh’s behavior, plead the Gods to stop him. In response, the Gods fabricate Enkidu to confront Gilgamesh, but before he does that, he needs to become civilized first. In the act of turning into a civilized man, Enkidu, like all human beings, loses his innocence, as well as his deep connection with nature.

Perhaps one of the main reasons the Epic of Gilgamesh is so popular and has lasted such a long time, is because it offers insight into the human concerns of people four thousand years ago, many of which are still relevant today. Some of these human concerns found in the book that are still applicable today include: the fear and concerns people have in relation to death, overwhelming desires to be immortal, and the impact a friendship has on a person’s life. It does not take a great deal of insight into The Epic of Gilgamesh for a person to locate these themes in the story, and even less introspection to relate to them.

The son of a king and a goddess, a ruler of the realm- Uruk himself, Gilgamesh the protagonist, understands valor, glory, pride, and arrogance. Even his name means “the offspring is a hero.” No one in Southern Mesopotamia that is as great as Gilgamesh. He is “perfection in height, ideally handsome,” and strong like a wild bull. He is an undefeated demi-god completely in his prime. However, the Gilgamesh finds himself facing his biggest adversary, his mortality.

Furthermore, by agreeing to bet his life on the success of his quest, Gilgamesh reveals the desire for being remembered by humans which are specified in the statement, “I must set my hand to cutting a cedar tree, I must establish eternal fame” (II. 189-190). Being famous is not a necessity, but a want. It’s just the nature of human to not be satisfied with anything that we have. Something deep inside us always desires for more. Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk, instead of creating the reputation of a kind, considerate, generous king, he decided to slay a tremendous monster and tried to impress others instead. It’s the most common mistake that we humans always make. We tend to be so busy impressing others and striving for their cheers with such frequency, that we forget to be ourselves and think before we act.We often feel self-conscious and inferior to ourselves after we experience failure, which we fail to tolerate. Impressing others and having the ought to be seen in a positive perspective is what makes us compete against one another which might not always be morally right. Sometimes it’s better to be the best together rather than ruining relationships due to the consequence of proving to the world that you’re finessed.

Gilgamesh or the Epic of Gilgamesh is and primary historical source and is one of the world’s oldest stories, which provides a tremendous amount of insight into ancient Sumerian culture, beliefs, and gender roles. Even though the story is considered a work of fiction, there are some sources that say the Gilgamesh is based on an actual historical figure, the fifth king of Uruk. The themes presented in Gilgamesh love, death, the bonds between people, and religion are timeless aspects of human nature and may be one of the reasons that the story has stood more than the test of time and has managed to captivate readers in every epoch since it was deciphered. There is very little that is known about ancient Sumerian culture due to the length of time that it took to decipher the cuneiform writing and the fact that most of the writings were done on clay tablets, which are subject to the elements and decay more rapidly than more modern writings that were done on parchment or paper. The Epic of Gilgamesh began as an oral tradition and was transcribed by many people onto clay tablets in an effort to preserve the story for future generations. The debate over whether the tale is Sumerian or a Babylonian myth is minor when one considers the richness of information that the story holds.

An epics purpose is to promote or instruct values and traditions from the culture of the epics origin. There is a method to determine if a story leads to the direction of “epic” according to J.B. Hainsworth. Hainsworth states there are certain elements that deem a story the title of “epic” which are: The emergence of a certain idea of heroic action, the great scale in which the story is to portray the qualities of the mind of the hero, the relation between the hero and his deeds to the cosmic order, and the story’s general relevance to the world to keep the tale alive. Various epics can support Hainsworth's claim. Breaking the requirements down can evidently prove that these aspects are what make a story an “epic.”