Gilgamesh's Evolution

Gilgamesh's Evolution

The epic of Gilgamesh is a story of a great king who ruled supreme. Uruk was his and there was no one to combat that. However the gods decided to create a creature with the same physical attributes to counterweigh the great Gilgamesh. In this attempt to bring peace to the people Uruk, Enkidu was created. The two meet and a sacred friendship is formed. As a result Gilgamesh would never be the same. His changes occur after rejecting the beautiful Ishtar and the death of his beloved Enkidu. Gilgamesh obtains a new character throughout the epic founded on the basis of love and compassion.

Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, is known to be two parts god and one part human. The people of Uruk know his reign to be powerful and ravishing. The town's people stand in opposition of their king, due to his unmatched force and arbitrary exercises as leader. Therefore comes many prayers of opposition and question while they ask the gods "Who created this awesome beast with an unmatched strength and a chant that fosters armies? This warrior keeps boys from fathers in the night and in the day. Is this Gilgamesh, is this the shepherd of Uruk's flocks, our strength, our light, our reason, who hoards the girls of other men for his own purpose?" ("Gilgamesh" 21). Gilgamesh is undoubtedly the most powerful among the land and it is his own people that resent him. This is due to his acts of raping women, forced labor and a relentless search of power and wealth. That is Gilgamesh that is all that is perceived of him, the man who rules in vain.

However throughout the story Gilgamesh finds a new identity. He becomes a man of love and leaves behind his past ways. Gilgamesh's changes in character are caused by the death of Enkidu and his rejection of Ishtar. The man that once raped and hoarded women for his own pleasure now scathingly rejects the beautiful Ishtar, the daughter of Anu, out of pure disgust for her morbid actions. In his poem to her Gilgamesh scorns "How could I repay you as a wife and still avoid the bitterness and strife that follow you" ("Gilgamesh"37).