The Hero’s Companion: Enkidu is Gilgamesh’s dearest companion, his equal, his soul-mate. “He turned to Enkidu who leaned against his shoulder and looked into his eyes and saw himself in the other, just as Enkidu saw himself in Gilgamesh. In the silence of the people they began to laugh and clutched each other in their breathless exaltation.” (pg. 24, Gilgamesh) They both do everything together as a team from the time they become friends up until Enkidu dies. Enkidu is very in tune with nature, more so than Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is more in tune with the ways of being courageous and powerful; the ways of society as well. In this way, the two balance each other out really well when they become a team. The purpose of a sidekick or a companion to the hero is to have that someone that will watch out for you and you to them. You take care of each other; you protect each other. One may be more experienced at one thing, the other at something else to form that balance that Enkidu and Gilgamesh share. In companionship, Enkidu and Gilgamesh become the best of friends, each other’s equal. Enkidu is a highly esteemed helper to Gilgamesh.
Love: Gilgamesh and Enkidu share a love in their friendship. They are so much like each other; they are “soul-mates.” The whole reason Gilgamesh goes looking for immortality is to bring Enkidu back to life because without him, Gilgamesh feels no further purpose in his life. He grieves for him all the time, and wants him to be alive again. This dedication to his friend shows his love for him. Also, the two always have each others’ back when they are fighting Humbaba, and also later when they are fighting against the Bull of Heaven. They look out for one another. “Don’t be afraid, said Gilgamesh. We are together. There is nothing we should fear.” (pg. 28, Gilgamesh)
Loss of Innocence: Enkidu loses his innocence and becomes a man after he sleeps with the prostitute. However, in becoming a man, Enkidu loses himself a little. His animal friends shame him, and he leaves the life he has always known to go to Uruk where he meets Gilgamesh and leads this new life up until he dies. When he is dying, he talks about how he used to know life in everything and how his life before the prostitute had been a simple, familiar, comfortable one. He feels he is dying in shame because he is now a man who sees death in things. “He became bitter in his tone again: because of her. She made me see things as a man, and a man sees death in things. That is what it is to be a man. You’ll know when you have lost the strength to see the way you once did.” (pg. 49, Gilgamesh) This is even a little parallel to Christian belief dealing with loss of innocence in that once you lose your innocence, a part of you is stripped away that you can never get back.
Intervention of the gods; gods relationship with mortals: The gods intervene two major times in Gilgamesh. Once when Ishtar and Anu send the Bull of Heaven down on Earth and after Gilgamesh, and another time when the gods send a great flood down on the mortals. Ishtar and Anu send down the Bull of Heaven because Ishtar wants man to suffer on account of Gilgamesh refusing her love. “But a little hunger will replace their arrogance with new desire. Then Anu acceded to her wish. The Bull of Heaven descended to the earth and killed at once three hundred men, and then attacked King Gilgamesh.” (pg. 45, Gilgamesh) The gods also send down the huge flood when men begin to search for immortality and defy their natural conditions. The gods send the flood to exterminate mankind and to show that only gods are to be immortal, not men. The flood is meant to put men in their place; to teach a lesson.
View of the afterlife; pessimistic and optimistic: In Gilgamesh, there are both pessimistic and optimistic views on immortality. Gilgamesh tends to take a more positive view on immortality. He thinks it would take care of any fears about death for him. He also thinks that if he can find out the secret of immortality, he can find a way to bring Enkidu back to life. So, Gilgamesh’s view on the afterlife is more that life shouldn’t end, at least not for himself and Enkidu. However, we also hear Utnapishtim’s view on the afterlife and immortality, and his view leans more towards pessimism. He never desired to be immortal like the gods, he was chosen to be immortal, and he doesn’t want to be. He is lonely, and he has suffered great losses. He even tells Gilgamesh that he envies him his freedom as a mortal man. “I think compassion is our God’s pure act which burns forever, and be it in Heaven or in Hell doesn’t matter for me; because Hell is the everlasting gift of His presence to the lonely heart who is longing amidst perishing phantoms and doesn’t care to find any immortality if not in the pure loneliness of the Holy One, this loneliness which he enjoys forever inside and outside of His creation. It is enough for one who loves to find his Only One singled in Himself. And that is the cup of immortality!” (pg. 74, 75, Gilgamesh)
The Common Flood Story: Utnapishtim’s story about the flood is very similar to and parallel to the story of Noah’s Arc. The gods decided to send a great flood down on men because men were searching to be like the gods; searching for immortality and defying their natural or human conditions. For this, the gods see it fit to remind men of their place on Earth, and that’s when they send the floods. Utnapishtim is warned about the flood by Ea, though, because he is a man not desiring immortality. Therefore, when the flood is over and Utnapishtim and his family survive the flood in a giant boat built by Utnapishtim for the duration of the flood, the gods “choose” him to be like the gods and make him immortal merely because he had no desire of it in the first place. “The war god touched my forehead; he blessed my family and said: before this you were just a man, but now you and your wife shall be like gods. You shall live in the distance at the rivers’ mouth, at the source. I allowed myself to be taken far way from all that I had seen. Sometimes even in love we yearn to leave mankind. Only the loneliness of the Only One who never acts like gods is bearable.” (pg. 79, Gilgamesh) It is after the flood that the gods decide to make Utnapishtim immortal because he survived the flood, and he does not desire immortality.
Legacy: Gilgamesh leaves behind his sorrows and returns to Uruk a new and wiser man than he was before. He looks at the walls his people have built around the city; their accomplishments. “He looked at the walls, awed at the heights his people achieved and for a moment-just a moment- all that lay behind him passed from view.” (pg. 92, Gilgamesh) This makes him look more towards the future rather than living in the past as he had been. The wall will serve as protection for his people. The wall was built during his life, and will be left behind after him to the kings that will rule after him.
Love: Gilgamesh and Enkidu share a love in their friendship. They are so much like each other; they are “soul-mates.” The whole reason Gilgamesh goes looking for immortality is to bring Enkidu back to life because without him, Gilgamesh feels no further purpose in his life. He grieves for him all the time, and wants him to be alive again. This dedication to his friend shows his love for him. Also, the two always have each others’ back when they are fighting Humbaba, and also later when they are fighting against the Bull of Heaven. They look out for one another. “Don’t be afraid, said Gilgamesh. We are together. There is nothing we should fear.” (pg. 28, Gilgamesh)
Loss of Innocence: Enkidu loses his innocence and becomes a man after he sleeps with the prostitute. However, in becoming a man, Enkidu loses himself a little. His animal friends shame him, and he leaves the life he has always known to go to Uruk where he meets Gilgamesh and leads this new life up until he dies. When he is dying, he talks about how he used to know life in everything and how his life before the prostitute had been a simple, familiar, comfortable one. He feels he is dying in shame because he is now a man who sees death in things. “He became bitter in his tone again: because of her. She made me see things as a man, and a man sees death in things. That is what it is to be a man. You’ll know when you have lost the strength to see the way you once did.” (pg. 49, Gilgamesh) This is even a little parallel to Christian belief dealing with loss of innocence in that once you lose your innocence, a part of you is stripped away that you can never get back.
Intervention of the gods; gods relationship with mortals: The gods intervene two major times in Gilgamesh. Once when Ishtar and Anu send the Bull of Heaven down on Earth and after Gilgamesh, and another time when the gods send a great flood down on the mortals. Ishtar and Anu send down the Bull of Heaven because Ishtar wants man to suffer on account of Gilgamesh refusing her love. “But a little hunger will replace their arrogance with new desire. Then Anu acceded to her wish. The Bull of Heaven descended to the earth and killed at once three hundred men, and then attacked King Gilgamesh.” (pg. 45, Gilgamesh) The gods also send down the huge flood when men begin to search for immortality and defy their natural conditions. The gods send the flood to exterminate mankind and to show that only gods are to be immortal, not men. The flood is meant to put men in their place; to teach a lesson.
View of the afterlife; pessimistic and optimistic: In Gilgamesh, there are both pessimistic and optimistic views on immortality. Gilgamesh tends to take a more positive view on immortality. He thinks it would take care of any fears about death for him. He also thinks that if he can find out the secret of immortality, he can find a way to bring Enkidu back to life. So, Gilgamesh’s view on the afterlife is more that life shouldn’t end, at least not for himself and Enkidu. However, we also hear Utnapishtim’s view on the afterlife and immortality, and his view leans more towards pessimism. He never desired to be immortal like the gods, he was chosen to be immortal, and he doesn’t want to be. He is lonely, and he has suffered great losses. He even tells Gilgamesh that he envies him his freedom as a mortal man. “I think compassion is our God’s pure act which burns forever, and be it in Heaven or in Hell doesn’t matter for me; because Hell is the everlasting gift of His presence to the lonely heart who is longing amidst perishing phantoms and doesn’t care to find any immortality if not in the pure loneliness of the Holy One, this loneliness which he enjoys forever inside and outside of His creation. It is enough for one who loves to find his Only One singled in Himself. And that is the cup of immortality!” (pg. 74, 75, Gilgamesh)
The Common Flood Story: Utnapishtim’s story about the flood is very similar to and parallel to the story of Noah’s Arc. The gods decided to send a great flood down on men because men were searching to be like the gods; searching for immortality and defying their natural or human conditions. For this, the gods see it fit to remind men of their place on Earth, and that’s when they send the floods. Utnapishtim is warned about the flood by Ea, though, because he is a man not desiring immortality. Therefore, when the flood is over and Utnapishtim and his family survive the flood in a giant boat built by Utnapishtim for the duration of the flood, the gods “choose” him to be like the gods and make him immortal merely because he had no desire of it in the first place. “The war god touched my forehead; he blessed my family and said: before this you were just a man, but now you and your wife shall be like gods. You shall live in the distance at the rivers’ mouth, at the source. I allowed myself to be taken far way from all that I had seen. Sometimes even in love we yearn to leave mankind. Only the loneliness of the Only One who never acts like gods is bearable.” (pg. 79, Gilgamesh) It is after the flood that the gods decide to make Utnapishtim immortal because he survived the flood, and he does not desire immortality.
Legacy: Gilgamesh leaves behind his sorrows and returns to Uruk a new and wiser man than he was before. He looks at the walls his people have built around the city; their accomplishments. “He looked at the walls, awed at the heights his people achieved and for a moment-just a moment- all that lay behind him passed from view.” (pg. 92, Gilgamesh) This makes him look more towards the future rather than living in the past as he had been. The wall will serve as protection for his people. The wall was built during his life, and will be left behind after him to the kings that will rule after him.
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