The ancient Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh exists in multiple dimensions on various levels. In our standard worldview, it’s just a stupid 3,000 year old story. However, from a more abstract perspective, Gilgamesh symbolizes changes in human thought processes through life stages. This is done primarily through Gilgamesh’s protagonist Gilgamesh and his counterpart Enkidu. Similar to some young children, Gilgamesh is self-centered and struggles with being considerate to others in the beginning of the epic. He was “trampling [his] citizens like a wild bull” (72) and “the people suffer[ed] from his tyranny” (73). Adolescence is represented when Gilgamesh meets his double Enkidu. Enkidu was made by the goddess Aruru under the direction of “creating a new …show more content…
The first time he saw Enkidu, he “rag[ed], stepped up and seized him”. However, after he defeated Enkidu, he accepted him and “they walked side by side”. They became true friends”. This symbolizes getting through adolescence and becoming more complete through that process. The next phase in most peoples’ lives is young adulthood. During this time, people discover newfound freedom and feel the urge to do new things and go on adventures. Often, these things are reckless, profane the sacred/ go against society, and are only done for fame. This is represented by Gilgamesh and Enkidu going to kill Humbaba. Humbaba was under divine guardianship to protect the Cedar Forest. Gilgamesh had no real reason to kill Humbaba; his only motivation was so “the whole world will know how mighty [he] is” (94). In killing Humbaba, he took on a needless risk and dishonored something very respected, something many young adults do. Gilgamesh paid for his misdeed through the death of his intimate friend Enkidu. Although he thought “If my grief is violent enough, perhaps he [Enkidu] will come back to life again.” (167), Enkidu's death paved the way for Gilgamesh to