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Review Of ' The Epic Of Gilgamesh '

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Saif Alkaabi Rebecca Williams HY 101-104 20/10/2014 The Epic of Gilgamesh Introduction The Epic of Gilgamesh is the story about Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk and Enkidu, their friendship, how Enkidu dies, how Gilgamesh mourns the death of his friend and finally he understands enlightened truth . Most of this story is narrated from Gilgamesh’s point of view. The story is set in Mesopotamia and the portrayal of Gilgamesh is ironical. He is described as a king of immense vigor and strength who is not benevolent with his subjects. He befriends Enkidu who is of equal valor. They embark on different conquests together after which Enkidu gets dreams with message of his impending death . Enkidu subsequently dies with illness . With the death of his friend Enkidu, Gilgamesh is shattered and also becomes obsessed with his own life and so he embarks on a quest to find Utnapishtim, who is bestowed with immortality by the Gods. He believes that he would get eternal life from Utnapishtim, who had received eternal life from the Gods . The story’s theme throughout is related to how man evolves through various incidents in his life and finally realizes that immortality for a human lies in doing good work for others but not in the conquest of death. The entire story revolves around how Gilgamesh, obsessed by life yearns for eternal life and how it eludes him even though he undertakes dangerous quests to find it . The thesis statement is that humans can attain immortality by

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