The Role Of Enkidu In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

The first few tablets introduced within Gilgamesh reveal the King of Uruk, two-thirds god, but one-third mortal, the man known as Gilgamesh. The epic of ancient Mesopotamia fabricates Gilgamesh out to be an egocentric ruler; one who harasses, rather than protects and supports his community. His ultimate focus was achieving great feats, moving swiftly from adventure to adventure, all in order for his name to become immortalized in every man’s mind, being the greatest king to ever live. Gilgamesh upset a multitude of gods through his narcissistic actions, knowing that he was not accomplishing the tasks that the gods had set out for him to accomplish. He focuses on stealing every bride in the city of Uruk before they had the opportunity to consummate

After an initial quarrel with one another, Gilgamesh announces at the gate of Uruk that he and Enkidu were setting out to invade Humbaba’s, guardian of the forest, forbidden forest to cut down the cedar trees in which Humbaba had set out to protect. Once again, his overly confident conduct shows through, possibly going to far on the adventure that could ultimately be his last. Before partaking on the latest adventure, a wise old man declares, “Though you are strongest of all, do not put all your trust in your own strength” (18). The audience notices a drastic shift in Gilgamesh’s character once they begin their treacherous journey. Along the way, Gilgamesh is seen encouraging and supporting Enkidu when he becomes weary. The two form a brotherhood, something that could never have been foretold. Weakness also becomes present in Gilgamesh while praying out to Shamash, the sun-god, begging her for protection as they become increasingly closer to the forbidden forest. This particular quest is extremely beneficial to the overall epic because it can be analyzed as being the turning point at which Gilgamesh lowers the tough exterior and shows signs of compassion towards another being. The desire to complete the million he set out to complete was still present; however, he now also wanted to support and protect his

The brotherhood was broken, grief prominently filling Gilgamesh. He commanded the villagers to build a statue of Enkidu to celebrate his accomplishments and honor his name. Another significant event when analyzing the shift in Gilgamesh’s because the reader’s see that he has become less intent upon worldly pleasures, treasuring the first true friendship he had ever had and wanted to display Enkidu’s heroic deeds instead of his own for once in his lifetime. Suddenly Gilgamesh became horrified over the prospect of his own death, beginning yet another quest, this time focusing on the discovering the secret of immortality. While on his journey, an old man proclaims, “There they established that there is life and death. The day of death is set, though not made known” (64). This striked Gilgamesh is a certain way that almost made him question his reasoning behind all of his previous actions, nevertheless, he still continued on with his quest for the secret to immortality. Gilgamesh’s confidence at the end of the story is somewhat questionable to what it evidently was at the start of the epic. His selfishness is still quite prominent, yet he appears to be more attentive to his actions. It took the death of his friend to pull the true Gilgamesh out of the strong, bravado king that he appeared to be at the start of the great epic of