Theme Of Immortality In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the great Gilgamesh is praised for his journey in which he achieves great wisdom. Although he lives in a civilization, Gilgamesh is wild; he is a king who abuses his power and carelessly rapes women. Enkidu, Gilgamesh’s other half, teaches Gilgamesh about friendship. After the death of his beloved companion, Enkidu, Gilgamesh desires to become immortal out of fear. Gilgamesh's journey to reach immortality is him entering the wilderness. This desire for immortality and his pursuit of it by going on a quest through the wilderness exemplify the connection between wilderness and the concept of immortality. The wilderness is immortal in the sense that it is always replenishing itself, keeping itself alive for centuries

However, in order for Gilgamesh to realize that he is not suitable for an immortal life, Utnapishtim gives Gilgamesh a test -- to prevail against sleep for six days and seven nights. But Gilgamesh immediately fails: “... a mist of sleep like soft wool teased from, the fleece drifted over him” (Gilgamesh 39). Gilgamesh falls asleep right away because he is exhausted from his journey, and as a human, sleep is an instinct behavior. Gilgamesh cannot escape sleep, and he sleeps for 6 nights, and 7 days. Sleep can symbolize death. Gilgamesh sleeping represents his incapability of escaping death, because death also is a part of human nature. Gilgamesh not only learns to live through others, but he learns through how to live. Through Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh gets closer to his human side. He thinks he’s capable to reaching immorality, but he learns instead that death is not escapable, and eventually accepts

After the death of Gilgamesh, the people of Uruk all grieve for him: “The people of the city, great and small, are not silent; they lift up the lament, all men of flesh and blood lift up the lament. Fate has spoken; like a hooked fish he lies stretched on the bed, like a gazelle that is caught in a noose.” (Gilgamesh 42). Gilgamesh is compared with a fish and a gazelle because both a fish and gazelle are animals, and animals death is natural; the hooked fish is dead, and so is the hanged gazelle. Just as how the fish nor the gazelle could escape death, Gilgamesh could not either because death is inevitable for all natural creatures and life. The people of Uruk mourning for Gilgamesh’s death shows that Gilgamesh continues to live on through the thoughts of the people; he is not forgotten even after his death. Gilgamesh achieves the immorality he has been seeking because his legacy continues to live on, passed through generations. Gilgamesh leaves a legacy behind because he is known as a king who achieved great wisdom; a king who accepted death; and a king who learned to accept civilization by living through others rather than continuing living a careless and selfish