Reading response to the Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet 1-3

I’m fairly surprised that the story line is actually carried out pretty clearly in just the first three tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. I didn’t quite expect to read a story because the way the book was written seemed really fragmented at the first glance. One thing that really interested me while reading that was, though this book is believed to be written by the great king, Gilgamesh, himself, he was portrayed very negatively at the beginning of the chapter.

So Gilgamesh is believed to be the creator of the city of Uruk; he built the walls for the city and virtually created everything for the city. He has, or at least he believes that he has, the most power and strength, and everything he does in correct and unchallengeable. So it seems a bit contradicting when Gilgamesh was depicted as a complete tyrant in the first tablet. He starts wars when he feels like it and sleeps with all men’s wives if he wants to. If the story was told by Gilgamesh himself, why would he depict himself like that? Or is this implying that, later on in the story, he would be “transformed” by his company of destiny, Enkidu?

I always noted that, Gilgamesh’s mother seems to take a great part of the story, she’s always present to give Gilgamesh advices and urge him to do the right thing. But Gilgamesh’s father was not talked about at all so far in the book. This is especially strange considering the fact that the society back in the ancient time was most likely patriarchal, or dominated by male. Since Gilgamesh’s mother was a minor goddess, I would imagine that his father is also some sort of god. The story seems a little unconvincing because the existence of Gilgamesh was not explained. There’s little background information about him such as how he became what he is and why he decided to build the city of Uruk.