Monday, January 31, 2011

Epic of Gilgamesh (Tablets I-III)

Ronak Patel

Near Eastern Studies R1B

Response Paper; Epic of Gilgamesh (Tablets I, II, III)

While reading the first three tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh I began to think about why Gilgamesh behaved the way he did. He is depicted as a mighty person who has no equal and he does vile deeds like sleeping with the wives of newly wedded couples, but at the same time he also wants to prove himself superior when he becomes aware of Enkidu, someone who is his equal. From the events that have unfolded thus far, I believe that a key message of this tale is that one who posses seemingly unbound powers becomes entrenched in lustful behavior of wanting more.

This point is made obvious from the beginning where the first tablet talks about Gilgamesh sleeping with every new groom’s wife. “[Gilgamesh] lets [no] girl go free to her [bridegroom]” (Gilgamesh, 4). Gilgamesh is not one to be satisfied with just one woman, but instead wants to have them all. His kingly status and the belief that no one can do anything about this is what lead him to such vile behavior. Another example of Gilgamesh’s lustful behavior for more becomes evident when he send Shamat the harlot out to bring Enkidu out since “[her allure is a match] for even the mighty (Gilgamesh, 6). First, Gilgamesh plays on the weakness of Enkidu, and then he challenges Enkidu to a battle because he wants to prove himself more superior. This is one way for him to claim more power by demonstrating that even those who are considered equal to himself shall fall short before him. Furthermore, his friendship with Enkidu only seems to be for his own greedy use. Even when Enkidu tells him not to go to the Forest of Cedar in search of eternal life because he will have to face an unknown enemy in Humbaba, Gilgamesh does not listen, but instead tells Enkidu to utter such “spineless words” (Glgamesh, 19). His lust for more keeps drawing him to seek something greater.

Gilgamesh does not seem to realize that he is not a godly figure, but instead a human, and this may lead to his ultimate downfall.

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