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How Did Gilgamesh Develop

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Gilgamesh is the son of a goddess and a mortal king, Ninsun and Lugalbanda. For this reason, Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third man. Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk, a country which he created. As king of the city-state of Uruk he builds a monumental wall around the city, but in doing so he overworks the city’s inhabitants unmercifully, to the point where they pray to the gods for relief. The people of Uruk pray to the gods to make another man who could challenge Gilgamesh. The gods create a man named Enkidu, he resides in the wilderness with the animals, knowing nothing of the civilized world. Here he annoys a trapper by taking the animals from his traps. The trapper asks his father for advice. In turn, the father sends him to Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh recommends taking a woman, Shamhat, to the wild man and have …show more content…

Gilgamesh details the dream to Enkidu: They were walking through a valley when a huge mountain fell on top of them. Enkidu interprets the dream and says that the mountain is Humbaba, and that he and Gilgamesh will topple Humbaba and his dead body will lie like a mountain. The two companions continue their journey through the forest. Gilgamesh wakes up again from another dream. He is frightened and asks Enkidu if he touched him. Then he tells Enkidu about this latest dream. In it, Gilgamesh is attacked by a wild bull and pinned to the ground. He is completely trapped when suddenly someone offers him water. Again, Enkidu interprets the dream as fortunate. He says that the bull is not Humbaba, but Shamash, who has blessed Gilgamesh by fighting with him. However, when they arrive at the Cedar Forest, Gilgamesh is afraid to continue. Shamash, the sun god, tells Gilgamesh that they must hurry because the creature is only wearing one of its seven suits of armor. Gilgamesh decides to go on, but Enkidu hesitates. Gilgamesh convinces him that as long as they work together, they will be

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Not only did Bertram Cates set an example for others to follow, but he also bravely defended his opinion. Cates is the most important character in the play because he had the courage to challenge his town’s views on religion. The fact that Bertram Cates knew that he would suffer consequences for teaching his students about evolution, proves how brave he was. Without Cates’ boldness, the opinions of many people in his town would not have been heard. For that reason, Cates did not care if he would suffer and did not back down.

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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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People of Uruk complain about the nature of Gilgamesh’ tyranny to gods as they can no longer tolerate the king’s unjust behaviors: “His companions are kept on their feet by his contests, [the young men of Uruk] he harries without warrant. Gilgamesh lets no son go free to his father, by day and by [night his tyranny grows] harsher. (Gilgamesh, I.166-170)” People rely on the king to protect their rights and the country, but Gilgamesh does the opposite by taking away their sons and daughters for his personal needs. The people of Uruk feel oppressed under Gilgamesh’s rule as Gilgamesh gives himself the right to sleep with women on the first night of marriage and to take away sons from the household to appease his appetite for war games.

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Joseph had dreams that he could not make sense of so he told them to his father and brothers, and Gilgamesh also had dreams that he could not make sense of as well that he told to his mother. She was able to tell him what his dreams meant. Later in life, while locked up Joseph was able to tell to prisoners what their dreams meant as

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This dream also hints at Gilgamesh’s fight with Humbaba. In this fight, Humbaba inhales like a wild bull and “turned full of threatenings” (10). As Humbaba is the guard of the cedar forest, it is his job to protect it. Thus, when Gilgamesh and Enkidu come to defeat him and cut down a tree, he must be aggressive and try to kill them. The use of wild bulls to describe conflicts help depict their aggression and hostility toward each

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Gilgamesh, on top of that, was the great king of Uruk. He defeated Humbaba. He defeated Ishtar. Then, he survived a deadly 6-day 6-night storm that flooded nearly all of the land. He just continues to execute all of these ‘hero like’ deeds.

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He ranges over the hills with wild beasts and eats grass.” The father told his son to find Gilgamesh, and when he did find the harlot to seduce Enkidu. Soon the trapper came back with the harlot, and the harlot and Enkidu stayed together for six days and seven nights. After the seventh day, the harlot said to Enkidu, “You are wise, Enkidu, and now you have become like a god. Why do you want to run with the beasts in the hills?”(N.K. Sanders 65)

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Later then he was no longer accepted by the wild animals and he joined civilization in the city of Uruk. But Shamash, who is singled out and protected by a god is blessed by Enkidu. “Woman I promise you another destiny. The mouth which curse shall bless you”. Even a prostitute woman is given much praise and position in the story of Gilgamesh.

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It is not entirely clear whether this speech is resigned or boastful. It seems to me though, that Gilgamesh is praising his home, and exhibiting his pride in this land that he rules. He emphasizes that the bricks are "burnt bricks" and that the seven wise men laid the foundation. He even emphasizes the diversity of the land in Uruk. The changes we have seen in Gilgamesh leading up to this point also hint that this is a boastful speech.

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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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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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Gilgamesh, the king of the city-state Uruk, was born as two-thirds of a god. He, a beautiful and ambitious man, always won wars

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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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