The Bully In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Two understand how the gods influenced our hero, Gilgamesh, one must first look at the various ways the gods meddled into his life. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a tale of a half-mortal man whose quest to break his own boredom turns into a tale of friendship, immortality, and kingship. However, his tale would not have been able to happen if it was not for the influence of the various Sumerian deities. After the people of Uruk complained to the gods about Gilgamesh’s child-like behavior, the goddess Aruru creates the man that will become Gilgamesh’s closest friend, Enkidu. Enkidu was created as an equal to the king so that Gilgamesh would have a way to occupy his time. Unfortunately, after the two friends defeated the giant Humbaba, a terrible demon creature, the god Enlil becomes enraged, but despite Enlil’s best effort, he is unable to punish the two.

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.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu form a wonderful brotherly relationship with one another. And they mirror one another in many ways. Both men are alike in the sense they need to be tamed in order to rule over, or to coexist with civilized people. Enkidu is tamed by the prostitute Shemat and in return will tame Gilgamesh. The way the Gods created them, they are individuals with immense physical abilities. However even though they have similarities, they also have differences, as friends normally do. Gilgamesh is a man of noble stature living having lived his life amongst civilization. Enkidu is a wild man raised by animals and lives the way they do. The Gods created both men to be amazing in stature. Both are powerful but Enkidu’s power is derived by his strength. Whereas Gilgamesh has both strength and knowledge from growing up in civilization. He is also the boldest

Gilgamesh's friend Enkidu runs wild until he sleeps with a harlot, after which the wild beasts which were once his friends reject him, suggesting that femininity is also a source of male disempowerment. Although Aruru is the source of both the life of Gilgamesh and his beloved companion Enkidu, the two friends create a society between themselves that is essentially masculine. This masculine relationship is the most positive force in the epic. Gilgamesh is known for his sexual prowess amongst women, but his feelings for Enkidu run much deeper and are more profound. He is said to be drawn to Enkidu "as though to a woman" but no relationship Gilgamesh has with women parallels the one he has with Enkidu (2).

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu helps act as a catalyst for the transformation of Gilgamesh’s character from an undefeatable god-like brute into a complex thinker. In the eyes of Gilgamesh, he is unstoppable and is willing to challenge death itself so long as he is remembered as a hero by his subjects. With Enkidu’s help, Gilgamesh learns to become a better person as a ruler, not as a better warrior. Although not blood related, Enkidu was like a brother to Gilgamesh and the duo shared an inseparable bond. Throughout the epic, Enkidu teaches Gilgamesh that he is not unstoppable, being stubborn will not stop him from dying, and that there are no easy solutions to life.

For a while everything is fine in Enkidu's life until one day a trapper sees Enkidu and notices that Enkidu is preventing the trapper from catching any game. So to his father and the father send the trapper to Gilgamesh to get a harlot to trap Enkidu. And how does she trap Enkidu? By using her womanly powers, sex, and these powers Enkidu cannot resist. When Enkidu tries to return to his home in the forest, roaming with the animals, the animals reject Enkidu. The wild beasts reject Enkidu when he has been with a woman, as if being with a woman is contaminating: "When next he comes down to drink at the wells she will be there, stripped naked; and when he sees her beckoning he will embrace her, and then the wild beasts will reject him." So then the woman teaches Enkidu her ways. But then back with Gilgamesh, the power of lust and sex takes Gilgamesh and Gilgamesh try to take another virgin before the husband. Word gets back to Enkidu, who is the good to Gilgamesh's evil, and Enkidu travels to Uruk to stop Gilgamesh. When Enkidu arrives Enkidu fights Gilgamesh.

Many stories address the importance of companionship in one’s life and how a closeness with another person can lead to a mutual improvement on both sides of the relationship. The ancient Sumerian epic Gilgamesh explores the relationship between two soul mates, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, whose story was immortalized because of their dependence and trust in each other. Gilgamesh would not have been able to reach his full potential as a king, warrior, or person if it was not for the influence of Enkidu.

The people of Uruk described Gilgamesh as a wise, good-looking and determined King but feared his arrogance because he used abusing as his power and was sleeping with women, therefore it was not a good relationship the people of Mesopotamia had with Gilgamesh. Mesopotamians believed everything seen on the Earth including their lives, environments and societies were created or controlled by the gods, such as Shamash being the god of the sun, Adad being the god of the storm and Aruru being the goddess of creation. Gilgamesh oppresses his people and so they cry out to Anu, the god of Uruk and in response Aruru creates Enkidu to rival Gilgamesh. These goods have better relations to the people of Uruk by listening, or staying in touch. Enkidu’s

    The epic Gilgamesh is a story about a man’s quest for immortality and the sadness that comes from realizing you are going to die someday. Gilgamesh believes he is the greatest man alive and that he will live forever. This leads to his inflated ego and also the mistreatment of his people. Enkidu is made by the gods to be a foil to Gilgamesh and to change his behavior so he will treat his people better. While Enkidu does exactly that, the story wouldn’t be able to progress if it wasn’t for the woman in this story. Shamhat the harlot turns Enkidu from a wild man into a civilized person after having sex for “7 days and 7 nights” (Gilgamesh 12; tablet II). And Ninsun the goddess convinces Shamash to send winds to help Enkidu and Gilgamesh when they fight Humbaba. The many women in this story help the heroes and the plot progress through different benchmarks. A woman’s knowledge and insight are vital to keeping any man on track toward his goals, but at the same time, a woman scorned can have serious consequences.

The birth goddess Aruru pinched a piece of clay and threw it to the plains where Enkidu was created. Enkidu was a wild man, hairy and naked. He ate and drank with the other animals. The harlot Shamhatwas sent to tame Enkidu. She offered her body and showed him the luxuries of men. He was led to Uruk and met Gilgamesh attending a wedding where he would have the bride for his own before her husband. Enkidu thought this was inappropriate and took exception to the act. Gilgamesh and Enkidu clashed with each other in the streets but there was no winner. This shows the moral differences in the two though they were physical equals. Enkidu would come to be the moral compass to Gilgamesh’s brutality (W. W. Norton & Company Vol

In the epic of gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is a man and a God. He built high walls and had orchid fields around his city. He also wasn’t respectful. He touched women whenever he wanted to, He never gave his servants any type of love. Enkidu is a man who was created to tame gilgamesh. He was created by the Gods. The Gods wanted to tame him so they sent an equal power which was enkidu. A wild man who becomes Gilgamesh 's best friend. After being visited by Shamhat, the prostitute, Enkidu is civilized and leaves the animal world behind to journey with Shamhat to Uruk. Enkidu accompanies Gilgamesh to defeat Humbaba before he passes away. Gilgamesh journeys to the Underworld to try to bring

Ninsun was right, and the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu was one of great loyalty and trust. The formation of the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu was very abrupt. Upon meeting, they fought fiercely, stopped, and embraced. This pithiness gives an air of ingenuity to the relationship, but that is later shattered by their loyalty to one another in following scenes.

For Gilgamesh, the god Anu had his daughter Aruru create Enkidu. Enkidu was a man of the wild, to be Gilgamesh’s equal. He was part human and part animal. Instead of being Gilgamesh’s enemy they became the best of friends and ended up battling foes together. With Gilgamesh having found a companion that is worthy, they were basically unbeatable together.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, friendship is a strong theme that drives the story. The bond that Gilgamesh and Enkidu develop throughout the myth is a bond similar to that of brothers. Gilgamesh was fearless, but arrogant and Enkidu was created by the gods specifically to keep the legacy crazed Gilgamesh in check and to teach him humility; Enkidu becomes his conscience of sorts. Gilgamesh was oppressing the people of Uruk and Enkidu and needed to put a stop to it by confronting and fighting him. From what initially started as a violent encounter, their relationship bloomed into something that neither of them could have expected. Their connection really takes off after their encounter with the giant Hambaba and seals the deal on their friendship. They become basically inseparable and after Enkidu passed it completely rocked Gilgamesh because he had lost a huge part of his life. Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s eventual bond is the perfect example of checks and balances within life making this oldest hero’s tale still very relevant today.

However, Gilgamesh befriends Enkidu and the two of them form a bond surpassing that which Gilgamesh has felt for women. Through his physical overcoming of Enkidu and his civilization of the other man, Gilgamesh begins to show more of an inner life than he did