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Enkidu's Friendship In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

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Friendship is one of important part in our lives. Most of the time, a good friend knows you better than yourself. There are many meanings that relay to being a good friend, especially because everyone does not have the same personality. Similarly, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, we can perceive several relationships, but the one between Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s friendship plays an important part of the story. 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. The fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu made the people think that …show more content…

Their friendship has become immediately strong. They call each other brother and decided to fight evil together. Throughout the fight against Humbaba until the death of Sublett 2 of Enkidu, they both were together. During their fight to Humbaba, Enkidu was physically hurt. As their friendship was very strong, one friend would help other when their weakness was obvious. An example would be when Ishtar sent Bull of Heaven down to kill Gilgamesh. To protect his friend Enkidu used his knowledge of animals to kill bull but unfortunately, it took his life. It is clearly showed the true friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. A true friend can give up his own life to save his friend’s life. Overall, the story portrays the short-lived friendship of Gilgamesh and

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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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From here on, Enkidu will continue to develop as a member of the human community, with his watching over of Gilgamesh being an action that Ninsun (Gilgamesh's goddess mother) and the elders of Uruk appreciate immensely. Furthermore, their slaying of Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven also demonstrated Enkidu's heroism and pursuit to protect the community that sheltered, taught, and loved him. While in his last moments, we can feel the impact that human community had on Enkidu,

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In the Ramayana, Hanuman is depicted as a faithful servant and ally to Rama, accompanying him on his journey and helping him in his quest to rescue his wife. As the poet Valmiki writes, "Hearing Rama's words, Hanuman, that valiant and wise monkey, took a tremendous leap, and in a moment he was gone" (p. 662). Similarly, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu is portrayed as a loyal friend and companion to the hero, providing him with strength and support. As the poet writes, "Enkidu, my friend, my brother, we must enter the house of Humbaba" (p. 68).

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This can be seen in The Epic of Gilgamesh between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and the theme can also be found in The Odyssey by looking at the relationship between Odysseus and Athena. These epic poems tell stories of overconfident males who believe they can take on anything, but eventually, they realize that without the help of their friends, they wouldn’t have

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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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In the epic, within which many episodes are interlinked, depicts an image of a kind who underwent development and tends to understand the world where he was living. Within the version of the Babylonian, hero Gilgamesh 's character is best compared to Achilles. While comparing the characters of Achilles and Gilgamesh, he (Gilgamesh) changed and his nature was affected duet the presence and absence (loss) of Enid his comrade, thus the nature of Enkidu was static. Achilles ' nature and character followed the same pattern as that of Gilgamesh as he was also influenced by the presence and loss of Patroclus his comrade.

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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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The harlot believes after the time they spent together Enkidu has become a man. She tells him about Gilgamesh and the great strength he has. “I will challenge him boldly, I will cry out aloud in Uruk, ‘I am the strongest here, I have come to change the old order, I am he who was born in the hills, I am he who is strongest of all.’” (N.K. Sanders 65). Both Enkidu and the harlot go to Uruk, the city were Gilgamesh lives, and Enkidu challenges him.

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The other similar characters in both the works are Patroclus and Enkidu, who were uncivilized and died for the fame of their leaders. The similarities between the themes of both these works like mortality, friendship and religion. The importance of the theme of friendship is seen in the relationship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh and Patroclus and Achilles. Another similarity is in the main theme of both these works. Both the characters of Gilgamesh and Achilles have the weakness of mortality.

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Gilgamesh and Enkidu from the start were bound to each other from their creation by the gods. To understand more you must learn of their similarity, difference and their experiences that take you to Enkidu’s death. From our reading assignments, I would like to have explored more past Enkidu’s death to learn more of how Gilgamesh had reacted. Each of our heroes brings much ado to the reality of friendship, love, and expression of men during their time.

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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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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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Gilgamesh book report Part 1: In the introduction, when Mitchell assesses the comparisons and differences between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, he states that Enkidu “is also Gilgamesh’s opposite and mirror image: two-thirds animal to Gilgamesh’s two-thirds divine. These animal qualities are actually much more attractive than divine ones. Where Gilgamesh is arrogant, Enkidu is childlike; where Gilgamesh is violent, Enkidu is peaceful...”

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Enkidu’s friendship makes Gilgamesh calm and helps him to become a better king. Throughout the epic, Gilgamesh and Enkidu kiss and hug each other frequently. After conflicts between the two, they kissed and formed friendship. But Gilgamesh is never seen sleeping with a woman after conflict, and he even rejected Ishtar, the principal goddess of Uruk. “Come, Gilgamesh, be you my bridegroom!

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