A Summary of the Epic of Gilgamesh :: Epic Gilgamesh essays

The larger-than-life of Gilgamesh A Summary The Epic of Gilgamesh is a moving tale of the friendship between Gilgamesh, the demigod king of Uruk, and the wild man Enkidu. Accepting ones own mortality is the overarching theme of the desperate as Gilgamesh and Enkidu find their highest purpose in the pursuit of eternal life. The heroic poem begins with Gilgamesh terrorizing the people of Uruk. They c entirely out to the sky god Anu for help. In response Anu tells the goddess of creation, Aruru, to make an equal for Gilgamesh. Thus Aruru created Enkidu, a brute with the strength of scores of wild animals. After being seduced by a tart from the tabernacle of love in Uruk, Enkidu loses his strength and wildness yet gains wisdom and understanding. The harlot offers to take him into Uruk where Gilgamesh lives, the only man worthy of Enkidus friendship. After a plan brawl the two become devoted friends. The newfound friends gradually ruin and grow lazy living in the city, so Gilga mesh proposes a striking adventure that entails cutting down a great cedar quality to build a great monument to the gods. However to accomplish this they must down the Guardian of the Cedar Forest, the great demon, Humbaba the Terrible. Enkidu, along with the elders of the city, have estimable reservations about such an undertaking but in the end Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the terrible demon. As Gilgamesh cleans himself and his blood stained weapons, Ishtar, the goddess of love and dish aerial, takes notice of his beauty and offers to become his wife. Gilgamesh refuses with insults, listing all her mortal lovers and recounting the dire fates they all met with at her hands. Ishtar is enraged at the rebuff. She returns to heaven and begs her father, Anu, to let her have the diddly-shit of enlightenment to wreak vengeance on Gilgamesh and his city. Anu reluctantly gives in, and the Bull of Heaven is sent down to terrorize the people of Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, work together t o withdraw the mighty bull. That following night Enkidu dreams that the chief gods met in a council and had obdurate that someone should be punished for the killing of Humbaba and the Bull of the Heavens. That someone is he. Enkidu commends himself to Gilgamesh, and subsequently suffering terribly for twelve days, he finally dies. After Enkidus death, Gilgamesh comes to the identification that one day he too will succumb to the aforesaid(prenominal) fate as his friend.