Herbert Mason's Adaptation Of Gilgamesh

The people of Ancient Mesopotamia believed in many gods. They also believed that there were some people amongst them who were part god part human. Of these people they told many famous stories. One story that we know of now is Herbert Mason’s adaptation of ‘Gilgamesh’. This is the story of a king who lived long ago named Gilgamesh and how he met someone one who made him a much better person. However through Gilgamesh’s arrogance and stubbornness his friend dies.
Through out the epic we see that Gilgamesh has many hamartias. However his most detrimental one is his refusal to accept logic. There are many instances in the epic where this is portrayed, some more important than others. Although the first time we see this is within the first few pages. This is when we see Gilgamesh asking his mother to interpret his dream. Now, since his mother is the goddess of wisdom, I wouldn’t call this a foolish thing to do but his reactions on the other hand are very foolish. “Your equal is the star which fell…”(19) Ninsun, Gilgamesh’s mother is explaining to Gilgamesh that what his equal is on the

The problem with this was not just that he wanted to kill Humbaba but also the reasoning. He wanted to kill Humbaba to make an example to the gods. He wanted to show the gods that he was as powerful as them, which was a big mistake. The motive may not have been bad but it was a completely illogical thing to do. Because, how could a logically thinking human being expect to openly defy the gods like that in a big crowd and get away with it. “Enkidu was afraid of the forest…”(27) He tried to stop Gilgamesh from going but he wouldn’t listen. Enkidu knew that it was a bad idea to go into the forest and he made an attempt to stop him, but instead he gave up and helped Gilgamesh. And because of Gilgamesh’s illogical decision they kill Humbaba and Enkidu has to suffer for