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Enkidu And Gilgamesh Relationship Analysis

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At the first moment they met, Enkidu nor Gilgamesh would have had a second thought that the person they were against would become their most favored companion. When Gilgamesh is condemning Enkidu at the beginning of Chapter Two there is no feeling that Enkidu will change Gilgamesh's life, give meaning to it, or even deepen it. The relationship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh is the basis of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Enkidu and Gilgamesh first meet as enemies and fight each other. It is during the battle that he, Gilgamesh, learns from Enkidu and thus begins to understand that his thoughts about life, in general, could be wrong. Also, Enkidu becomes more “civilized” through his friendship with Gilgamesh. Through this realization, Enkidu beautifully represents the evolution of humanity from barbarism to current civilized actions. As Gilgamesh and Enkidu seek out Humbaba, their relationship starts to grow. Along the journey, Gilgamesh asks to mountain god to bring him a good dream. As Gilgamesh has dreams he shares them with Enkidu. Enkidu listens well to Gilgamesh, and gives some insight on what they mean. As they reach the cedar, Gilgamesh chops one down and angers Humbaba. Shamash tells Gilgamesh to not be afraid. Gilgamesh is then struck by sleep. When Gilgamesh rises, Enkidu is afraid of Humbaba and offers …show more content…

Together Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the beast. After all is done the gods decide to punish Enkidu with death. This is because of him killing Humbaba the forest guardian, and the Bull of Heaven. At the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh is consumed with grief and refuses to leave his dying friend's side, and nor does he allow him, Enkidu, to be buried for six days. Once Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh sets off on a quest to Utnapishtim to find eternal life as to avoid what happened to Enkidu and, possibly, to reclaim Enkidu from the

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In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu knows that his fate is death after he falls ill. While dying, he begins to grow worried due to the dreams he has of Gilgamesh not saving him from danger as he thought he would. His worry causes him to curse those who love him, like Shamhat, a woman who turned him from a beast into a human, and gave him Gilgamesh. Enkidu then immediately regrets the curses he puts on Shamhat after an unidentified voice, similar to God, explains that Shamhat has given him Gilgamesh, and Gilgamesh, “will have the people of Uruk shed bitter tears for [him once he passes], [and] he will make the pleasure-loving people burdened down for [him]. (lines 99-100).

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There are a vast amount of negative effects that are caused by the political machine in both history and today's modern society. One problem that is present throught both history and now is corruption. As shown with Boss Tweed in the 1800s and most politcs today, politicians can use the political machine for their own financial wants and needs. As an example, Boss Tweed used the political machine to create fake leases and vouchers to increase his wealth, which, as a result, financially drained New York City. Another problem is that political machines will often be negative for canidates not involved in the machines.

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In this tale, a godly man, Gilgamesh, develops a friendship with beast-turned-man, Enkidu, who begins to teach Gilgamesh about the world and helps him to grapple with challenges. After one challenge in particular, a battle with the giant Humbaba, Enkidu dies abruptly, leaving Gilgamesh alone again, and forcing him to overcome adversities by himself. Gilgamesh is initially despondent, but these adversities eventually give him the strength to grow in wisdom and appreciation. Gilgamesh flourishes from his failures because he can finally understand the meanings of life and death, accept

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In the epic Gilgamesh, the characters traits of both Gilgamesh and Enkidu help to build a lasting friendship through their differences. For example, Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk, a city of culture, and personifies the highest of human virtues, such as fairness, bravery, and courage. However, Gilgamesh is often unstable. In sharp contrast, Enkidu was raised in the wild and is foreign to civilization. Enkidu is caring and thoughtful and equal to Gilgamesh in strength.

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The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. Based on my reading of The Epic of Gilgamesh, I found that influence of the leader in the Ancient Near East, was pivotal in order for the society to function. The Mesopotamian society had three major factors; economics, politics, and a system of values. All of these factors were intertwined, where one factor has influence on all the others. So when someone like Gilgamesh relies on his ability to lead only with authority, the society begins to divide.

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Together, they balance out the tamed and untamed worlds and with Enkidu ’s help Gilgamesh becomes a hero king. Together they go on to defeat Huwawa, the monster in the cedar forest, they defeat the bull of heaven sent from Ishtar, and at the end Gilgamesh is shown to represent a real hero king due to the friendship of

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During the fight between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, they wrestled and held each other like bulls (6). When Enkidu and Gilgamesh first meet, they fight each other to show off their strength. Another instance is in Gilgamesh’s dream when he grabs hold of a wild bull. The bull responds by kicking up dust, seizing his arm, and biting his tongue (9). Even though this conflict is in a dream, the aggression between Gilgamesh and the bull can be seen.

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Enkidu is forced into civilization after being disowned by nature for sleeping with Shamhat. We see him transformed from a wild beast into a civilized person. As we follow Enkidu’s transformation, we see how he changes for the better, but also experiences some downfalls. The transition was not smooth, it took time to fully adjust, and although there are many disadvantages of leaving the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, the benefits made it worthwhile. Through Enkidu’s exposure to Gilgamesh, he changes from a human that lives among nature, to this great warrior that is willing to kill beasts for no other reason, but glory.

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When they meet they fight each other and soon after become friends. The transformation for Enkidu was more physical that than Gilgamesh’s. Enkidu change from have a more animalistic nature and behavior

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As a result Enkidu ended up severely hurt. The Bull of Heaven symbolizes how unpredictable nature is. “Through the death of Enkidu, we are made aware of how scared Gilgamesh is of death however he still learns to survive, and evolve, but it also destroys an innocence that might have made death less painful. With death comes the knowledge of one’s own mortality”, “It was I who cut down the cedar, I who leveled the forest, I who slew Humbaba and now see what has become of me.” (Book 8)

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1147 Words | 5 Pages

The gods punish the two heroes by ending Enkidu’s life and leave Gilgamesh behind. After twelve days of suffering, he dies in a slow, inglorious death (62). Enkidu represents the wildness in humanity. After his journey with Gilgamesh, he becomes civilized, more mature and closer to humanity. Enkidu was afraid of confronting Humbaba, but because of their friendship he overcomes his fear (29).

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875 Words | 4 Pages

After six days with the harlot, Enkidu realizes he lost his strength. The harlot gets him to join civilization, so he becomes a normal human. He is treated like a royal until Gilgamesh defeats him in battle. After that Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends and fight in battles together until Enkidu suddenly dies. Gilgamesh does not want the same fate, so he goes looking for eternal life but dies anyway.

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991 Words | 4 Pages

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first epic poem to be written in ancient West Asia. It was written around the third millennium BCE in Mesopotamia by Sumerian people (Spodek, 127). The epic is based on actual an historical figure, a Sumerian king who reigned the city-state of Uruk around third millennium BCE. Ashurbanipal, the last Neo-Assyrian king who was literate, built a great library in his capital and preserved 20,000 tablets including the earliest complete version of The Epic of Gilgamesh (Spodek, 128). Sumerian attitudes towards gods, friendship, and the story of the great flood are revealed throughout the epic.

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The story begins as Shamat the harlot seduces Enkidu and convinces him to go to the city of Uruk and meet Gilgamesh ().Gilgamesh is an oppressive king who used his power to hurt people and Enkidu is the king of the animals. Gilgamesh and Enkidu neither one ever had a friend that was a man before. Enkidu only knew steppe animals, and Gilgamesh, an oppressive king who had never treated anyone as his equal. As soon as Gilgamesh and Enkidu met each other, people of the city started to praise Enkidu because people of the city saw Enkidu was equal to Gilgamesh. This cause the fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu in their first meeting.

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413 Words | 2 Pages

However, this leads to the epitome of childish behavior from the divine goddess Ishtar when she makes advances at Gilgamesh and is insulted by him about her treatment of past lovers and she goes to her father Anu and request the mighty bull of heaven so she may “… kill Gilgamesh on his home ground” (64). Since Gilgamesh is merely a man modern beliefs would indicate he would not prevail, but by joining forces with Enkidu they dispatch the bull easily. Though Anu conceded and gave Ishtar the bull only after her pleading he changes his opinion of Enkidu and Gilgamesh and he decides that one of them must die. Shamash the god who originally sent the two to slay Humbaba which ultimately resulted in Ishtar wanting to be with Gilgamesh defends the pair and is accused by Enlil of being their friend and not a

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