The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story for the ages that has been around for ages. Countless hours have been spent interpreting and preserving the epic and the extensive effort has not been in vain. Though the the whole book must be read in order to receive the entire experience, Tablet I pulls its own thematic weight . Through the universal themes, human mistakes, man versus nature, and friendship, The Epic of Gilgamesh became a story worth all the high dollar preservation projects and high regard that is shone upon the story. In Tablet I, the ugly side of Gilgamesh was shown to the reader. Despite his two parts divinity, Gilgamesh was a tyrannical leader whose people lived in fear of his unfair hand. Gilgamesh’s reign grew so harsh that the people cried out to the gods, “...he harries without warrant. Gilgamesh lets no son go free to his father, by day and by [night his tyranny grows] harsher.” The human in Gilgamesh was the culprit that made him so easily persuaded by fleshly temptations. The rebellious side received by the god sacrificed to raise humans, tarnished the two thirds of godliness and, despite …show more content…
As described in the epic, “All his body is matted with hair, he bears long tresses like those of a woman: the hair of his head grows thickly as barley, he knows not a people, nor even a country,” Enkidu, like an ancient Tarzan, roamed with the animals of the forest, untouched by the impurities of society. It was only when Shamhat seduced Enkidu, that Enkidu was stripped of his innocence and robed in the sinful garment of man. The blessed oblivion that Enkidu lived in while a member of the animal kingdom was torn away from him leaving him to face the constraints of civilization that so easily conflict with the unadulterated state of nature. Enkidu’s loss of pureness illustrated the struggle between man and nature: the struggle between civilization and the pureness of