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Enkidu's Role In The 'Epic Of Gilgamesh'

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The Epic of Gilgamesh is a celebration of the Sumerian King, Uruk who rose to fame after successfully achieving a status through involvement in tragic encounters. The pursuit for immortality triggered a series of events that led up to the King’s heroic status. Uruk’s king searched for fame and immortality by challenging the creatures that invaded his kingdom. This epic is about an encounter between Gilgamesh and a wild creature, whose main goal was to leverage his influence on the people. Gilgamesh later connected with the wild creature known as the Enkidu, and the two become friends who were often fighting the common enemy. Together, they fought and defeated Humbaba, the monstrous creature they had encountered on their journey West (Godawa …show more content…

A duel was a very common practice between different gods. The most powerful god would have his wish and will carry the day, and as a result overcome the weaker god. Initially, Gilgamesh had terrorized the people of Uruk, prompting the god of the sky Anu to create an equal to him, who would neutralize his influence and authority on the people. Therefore, Aruru was instructed by Anu to create Enkidu, whom had the strength of the wild animals combined. Thus, Enkidu was created to counter the influence of Gilgamesh since he had persecuted and terrorized the people. This lead to the creation of a contest between the mighty in the society. However, the ultimate theme to pursue immortality would later define the extent of the power of a given …show more content…

Indeed, the ancient culture believed that the godly given powers were used for protection, and not humiliation or in serving personal interests. On the other hand, the creatures bestowed such powers had to use them responsibly, and with utmost wisdom. Failure to adhere to these standards would lead to unspecified consequences, including an automatic withdrawal of these powers. A creature would not use the god given powers for his personal interest, or else he would experience the wrath of the gods. This scenario is depicted in the epic, especially where Enkidu falls prey to Gilgamesh who tricks him with a harlot to bring him closer to him (Jackson 27). Gilgamesh achieves his goal and corners Enkidu. In a nutshell, the two engage in similar conversation with the quest for immortality taking center stage. However, Gilgamesh’s mission was to suppress Enkidu’s powers and remain the immortal being in the whole kingdom. Enkidu forgot that his initial assignment that was to keep Gilgamesh from terrorizing the Uruk

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From the time that America, or at the time the thirteen colonies, declared independence from Britain, Americans have always kept in mind the dynamics of power between the people and the government. This was seen when the colonists started to believe that the British government was too oppressive and decided to consequently declare their independence from their oppressive ruler and government. Then the Founding Fathers of America decided to create a new system of rule to implement in the newly independent country. The first attempt at a system of rule came in the form of the Articles of Confederation, which was created in the first Constitutional Convention. The Articles of Confederation, which was the rule of the land at the time, established a government in which the states had most of the power, while the national government has limited power.

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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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Before Enkidu was made by the Gods and was sent to stop Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was an individual that only cared about the fame and power he possessed by being the king of Uruk. Also, through the actions that he had done, he didn’t care if he hurt anyone along the way whether it was men, women, or children. He also did many evil actions like raping any women that he had a desire for, making sure no sons were left with their father, and using slavery to help build various things. After, the gods found out that Gilgamesh was doing these cruel activities they decided to make someone who can stop Gilgamesh and keep him in check, so the gods created Enkidu. When both Gilgamesh and Enkidu first meet, Enkidu challenges Gilgamesh into a fight and at

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As a result, Enkidu was created to stop Gilgamesh from his tyranny and make him humble. The gods did not themselves directly step in to discipline Gilgamesh, instead they used another creation, Enkidu. However, when Gilgamesh and his new friend and partner killed Humbaba and the bull of Heaven, the gods, without any creation as medium, intervened directly this time by killing one of them (Epic of Gilgamesh, 132). In “The Odyssey,” on the other hand, Homer portrayed the interactions between the gods and the mortals as being strictly direct.

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Generally, when a person works hard to gain an item that s/he has been looking for a long time. They will often keep it for themselves and not think of sharing it with others. Nonetheless, Gilgamesh decides to share this marvelous youth reviving plant with the old men in his kingdom and plans to revive his youth last. This detail shows that Enkidu changed Gilgamesh for the better because before Gilgamesh met Enkidu, Gilgamesh only thought about himself and demanded to be

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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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To begin, when Enkidu reminds Gilgamesh of his purpose for setting out on this quest, he quickly makes his decision to kill Humbaba, revealing Gilgamesh’s stubbornness as well as pride. To begin, the fact that when Gilgamesh is reminded by Enkidu of his goal, to “establish [his] name”, he is awakened and decides to kill demonstrates that Gilgamesh’s goals are of great importance to him and that once he

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Through their relationship they become wiser and more viable assets to each other and their society. Before meeting Enkidu, Gilgamesh was a powerful leader, revered by his subjects, but his arrogance and egotism fueled his decisions. Contradistinction, Enkidu had only physical power; he was mentally incompetent as a human. The text describes their relationship as an intimate one: "'[I fell in love with it], like a woman I caressed it, / I carried it off and laid it down before you, / Then you were making it my partner'" (48-50).

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In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, the companion and friend of Gilgamesh, obtains an amount of power that is different from Gilgamesh’s power. Although Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk and controls power in the city, Enkidu was created as

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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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Since Gilgamesh and Enkidu are presented as inhuman. Both of them have attained humanity when Enkidu died. Enkidu feels fearful when he is dying, as well as feeling depressed that he is leaving Gilgamesh (55). Thus, through suffering he becomes more mature and obtains the characteristics of

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For example, while traveling to the Cedar Forest, Enkidu refutes Gilgamesh’s rather skeptical dreams into positive symbols for the oncoming battle with Humamba by reassuring him that “the dream you had is a favorable one” (Mitchell, 106-115) even though it foreshadows an unfavorable end with the capture by something bigger than themselves that they can’t overcome. During the final action of the ultimate battle, Enkidu disregards Humamba’s plead for mercy by saying to “kill Humamba, don’t listen to his words” (Mitchell, 126). Even though Enkidu served as a companion for Gilgamesh as they both learned about friendship and loyalty, he still urged death upon Humamba and insisted Gilgamesh kill him quickly. Since Gilgamesh is the protagonist, while death/fate is his antagonist, Enkidu plays a slight antagonistic role by having Gilgamesh go behind the gods’ back and kill their intended guard of the

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Unlike Gilgamesh, Enkidu was the ideal leader. He had good manners, and protected the oppressed people of Uruk from Gilgamesh. The people of Uruk began hailing Enkidu as their hero. However, Enkidu chose friendship over becoming the perfect leader. After Enkidu challenged Gilgamesh to a contest of strength, they became best friends.

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The fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu made the people think that

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Enkidu, however, embodies that idea. A natural protector, when he is wild he disturbs the hunters’ traps, and when he is introduced to the shepherds at a sheep-pen, he instinctively knows to guard the sheep at night. Although he is of similar build as Gilgamesh, the shepherds respect and trust Enkidu instead of fear him. When Enkidu hears of Gilgamesh’s terrible actions, he immediately wants to step in and stop

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