Mortality And Humanity In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest known stories, recounts the tale of the reckless King Gilgamesh and his adventures with his friend Enkidu, a natural man created by the gods from clay to humble and teach Gilgamesh to become a better ruler. Through Enkidu’s death, the once fearless Gilgamesh becomes fearful of his own inevitable demise and journeys to find immortality. However, by finding compassion for his humanity, he is able to come to terms with his mortality and continue living wholeheartedly as the ruler of Uruk. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh learns to accept his mortality by gaining compassion for himself. In the beginning of the story, the titular character, Gilgamesh, is highly regarded as the great king who built the city of Uruk: “And who, like Gilgamesh, can proclaim, ‘I am king!’ Gilgamesh was singled out from the day of his birth, two-thirds of him was divine, one-third of him was human! The Lady of Birth drew his body’s image, the God of Wisdom brought his stature to perfection” (100-01). Immediately at the start of the story, Gilgamesh is polarized as an extraordinary being,

As seen in the journey to the forest of cedars, Gilgamesh takes reprieve during his journey to appeal to his human side which needs rest. This is only because Gilgamesh believes to have triumphed over the human part of himself that he allows himself to drop his guard. Ironically, it is through this action that he loses his immortality: “Gilgamesh saw a pond whose water cool, he went down into it to bathe in the water. A snake caught the scent of the plant, stealthily it came up and carried the plant away, on its way back it shed its skin” (150). This is significant because it shows that Gilgamesh will always be subject to his humanity no matter how hard he tries to deny