Greed In Gilgamesh

In this poem, one is able to learn that, all human beings are destined to die. As much as we might strongly desire to live forever, the inevitable truth is that, death in inevitable and all will die. Gilgamesh thought, because he was half man and half god that he is immortal, but to his surprise, only gods are immortal, but all human beings are destined to die someday. If human beings were given a choice to become immortal, everyone would go for it, just as Gilgamesh feared death and wished that he were immortal. Gilgamesh embarked on a journey in search for eternal life, only to come back facing the truth that he will never have eternal life. Siduri tells him that, “You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man, they allotted him death, but life they

Greed is the desire for material wealth, or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. For

Greed can be a powerful motivating force, evident through the positive impact it had on Industrialization in America during the Gilded Age. During this time new inventions became plentiful, but where there were new inventions there also had to be new businesses to back these inventions up and allow them to be successful. Wealthy business owners were able to help in this regard. They already had the capacity to help facilitate the creation of these new inventions, but it did not stop there. This is where greed came in. Greed is the intense and selfish desire for wealth, and it was this that empowered the rich during this time to expand upon their already successful businesses to become even more rich and powerful than they were before. This led to a surge of businesses in the country, and it was all due to greed. It was this desire for more that led to an increase in productivity in the country that helped with the spread of technology throughout it which made it more enticing for immigrants coming to America.

     Gilgamesh sets out on his journey for immortality, leaving his kingdom and people behind to fend for themselves. He starts to become self-seeking just as he had before. He spends every waking moment searching for immortality only to benefit himself. The whole purpose of the journey itself is so that Gilgamesh can gain immortality for himself and be remembered forever. He doesn’t realize that his people are off on there own with no king to control the empire. Even when

Greed takes over many peoples lives today and it seems that the world revolves around money, wealth and other things and it controls many peoples lives. For example, the four children that own walmart made over 29 Billion dollars a year for owning walmart but they pay their 1.4 million workers so little that they can’t support themselfs. This example should really be addressed because even though they make so much money a year that they could just burn most of it and still be rich when their workers struggle to make a living. On the other hand Walmart started from nothing and grew to where it is.

With the start of recorded storytelling in The Epic of Gilgamesh societies have defined themselves through their writings. Their beliefs, what they hold in high esteem, and what they regard as evil or barbaric, all of it is contained within the stories they’ve told. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first, telling of the king of Uruk from around 2100 BCE, in Mesopotamia. Later the first two books of the Old Testament, Genesis and Exodus, are presumed to have been written around 600 BCE near Babylon. Then Thucydides of Athens begins to record history in a more modern format, in the late 400s, BCE. Finally, Plato recreates conversations of his mentor — Socrates, also of Athens — in the early 300s BCE. These writings span several civilizations and a vast segment of early recorded human history. The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Old Testament, the writings of Thucydides, and the writings of Plato all reflect distinct ideals of civility in their respective cultures. Over time they show a transition from valuing power to valuing wisdom, cooperation, and government.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh’s pursuit for immortality is marked by ignorance and selfish desire. Desire and ignorance, as The Buddha-karita of Asvaghosha suggests, pollutes man’s judgment resulting in his inability to break the cycle of birth and death. At the core of Gilgamesh’s desire resides his inability to accept the inevitability of death, making his rationality behind the pursuit of immortality ignorant and selfish. Implicitly, Gilgamesh’s corrupt desire for immortality conveys that Gilgamesh does not mature as a character.

Greed is undeniably a characteristic of being human. Even two hundred thousand years ago, when the first examples of modern humans were in a competition for food and survival, they naturally had to be greedy in order to survive and contribute to the gene pool in order for further generations to evolve and adapt. Darwin proved this with his theory of evolution stating that the species that are better adapted to the environment would be able to spend less time looking for food and more time mating (contributing to the gene pool), while the species who are not as well adapted would die off. The play “Macbeth” and the motion picture based on the book “A Simple Plan” display these themes of greed profusely as the main characters from each are affected by the same characteristic that had previously allowed for human survival. Macbeth in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and Hank in the film “A Simple Plan” are both affected by greed as they both turn into murders who backstab their friends, they both ruin their relationship with their wives, and they both end up destroying their lives.

Greed: the intense and selfish desire for something, greed is something that can control someone's actions or personality. In the story “The Crucibles” Rev Parris let his greed take over his mind and other choices during this period of time.

Greed is a selfish excessive desire for more of something than what is necessary or required. Greed within America has gradually escalated over the years hence people have become corrupt with selfish ideas to obtain power, resources, and money without limits. In the past there has been instances of greed displayed by our country by which I mean The Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was brought about by “Taxation Without Representation” american colonists believed. Britain taxed unfairly to pay off damages that they had sustained during the French and Indian war. American colonists were approximately drinking 1.2 million pounds of tea per year, britain realized this and made even more money by imposing taxes onto the american colonies not

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh has to go through a series of hardship to obtain immortality. Gilgamesh’s determination to find immortality is impacted by the death of his best companion, Enkidu. At the end of Gilgamesh’s quest, he learns the destined fate of mortals (which is...?). Gilgamesh’s character development is shown throughout the story; he changes from an invincible, fearless king to a king who has accept his mortality and sees his own limitations. Although the quest of Gilgamesh seems to focus on gaining immortality, it works as a bridge to help Gilgamesh accept his mortality and to understand that immortality is not achieved by the length of life, but by the stories that’s pass on.

Another example of greed is Grendel’s bloodlust. His love for violence and murder is never satisfied and he doesn’t care about anything else. It relates to modern life because greed is everywhere. People are greedy with money, food, clothes etc. Society today is all about putting oneself before

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.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was mostly divine but shared minimal characteristics of a god. Such characteristics were bold physical structures and the strength of a wild bull which he inherited from his mother, Ninsun, the cow goddess. Everything else such as his characteristics, mentality, and actions mirrors ours, humans which makes him more like us than a god. His actions portray the burden of the flawed human nature that we all carry such as being aggressive, competitive, and running away from our fears.

Another characteristic of an epic fulfilled by The Epic of Gilgamesh, is that the hero of the story goes on a journey in search of immortality. This is seen in many epics of the ancient world (Kramer 8). After the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh realizes that one day, he too will die. From the beginning of the story, it can be seen that Gilgamesh has an obsession with fame, reputation, and the revolt of mortal man against the law of separation and death (Wolff 694). Tablets IX, X, and XI are all dedicated to this journey for everlasting life. Hoping to learn the secret of immortality, Gilgamesh makes a long and difficult journey in search of Utnapishtim, the one human being who has obtained it. Although several people told him along the way that he would not succeed in gaining eternal life, he didn’t let that stop him. When he finally finds Utnapishtim, he tells him there is no way for Gilgamesh to have what he has. He also reveals to