Themes in the Epic of Gilgamesh

¶ … Gilgamesh

Predominant Literary Themes in Gilgamesh

Life, Death, Friendship, and Resignation

Gilgamesh himself is extraordinary - a mighty king who is nevertheless obsessed with himself. He afflicts his own people with numerous atrocities and while the people admire Gilgamesh for what virtues he has, they plead with the gods to distract him and give them some relief.

Enkidu is created up by the goddess Aruru to be a match for Gilgamesh. Enkidu is a primordial man - coming from a different lineage than other humans, since the great goddesss has invented him herself. He is practically an animal, yet possessed of reason, and thwarts a trapper by filling in his pitfalls and letting animals out of his snares. In this aspect he is perhaps an earth-spirit - somehow related to his being friendly with animals. The trapper says he comes from the mountains and says he is stronger than the meteor of Anu which may perhaps be a reference to iron in its meteoric form. The application of such a phrase to Enkidu is important because previously only Gilgamesh himself has such grandiose epithets applied to him; thus Enkidu is comparable to Gilgamesh. The father of the trapper advises him to set Shamhat against Enkidu, which will make Enkidu a man. In other words, the father of the trapper advises his son to lay a trap for Enkidu, which he will bait with a female.

What has just happened is that Enkidu is an archetype for Prometheus/Adam - the primordial man. Just as Adam is divested of paradise by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so Enkidu loses this kind of paradise by enjoying a different kind of fruit. However, note that in both cases the men fall because of women. One could argue that the trapper, his father, and Shamhat constitute a kind of Anti-Trinity out to make Enkidu stumble. Parallels between Enkidu and Adam are more than superficial. Shamhat tells Enkidu that he has become like a god, and it was exactly for that purpose that Eve consented to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge - to become like God.

Gilgamesh knew trouble was coming because he had dreamt of Enkidu's arrival, yet received the news with some gladness.

Shamhat not only deprives Enkidu of his animal nature but civilizes him by clothing him, teaching him to eat bread and beer, and getting him to bathe. Thus man goes from savage to civilized.

The emphasis on Enkidu's resemblance to Gilgamesh throughout the early part of the text is a hint that they are two aspects of the same man. Hence, when Enkidu prevents Gilgamesh from essentially raping a bride-to-be, their wrestling is really a civilized man (Enkidu) wrestling with his savage passions. A recently civilized savage man wrestles with a savage civilized one.

Enkidu and Gilgamesh evidently have a conversation about life and death, and Gilgamesh boasts that he isn't afraid to die because he's such a mighty king. Enkidu retorts that if Gilgamesh ever came up against Humbaba he would think differently; Humbaba is a killing machine that practically strikes men dead with fear. What exactly Humbaba represents is not easy to decipher, but since he is the guardian of a certain forest he may represent the consequence of man's violating natural law. Gilgamesh does not respond wisely to this remark, and boasts that he is going to hunt Humbaba down and kill it. Enkidu refuses to let Gilgamesh run headlong into certain death and vows to lead the way, so that if he is killed his fame will be ensured and he may offer some protection to Gilgamesh at any rate when they come up to the monster. All of Gilgamesh's advisors warn him off his reckless adventure but to no avail - more evidence of his headstrong nature.

On the trip each night Gilgamesh is overcome by "the sleep that pours over mankind" after which he has disturbing dreams from which he wakes up terribly upset. The poet's repetitious referring to sleep that "pours over mankind" certainly sounds like a hint that Gilgamesh isn't immortal after all, but subject to all the usual human weaknesses. Sleep is often a poetic euphemism for death; Utanapishtim even says as much when Gilgamesh finally catches up with him... "How alike are the sleeping and the dead..." In any event, Gilgamesh's foreboding deepens as they face the entrance to the forest.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu find and confront Humbaba, and Humbaba tries to pursuade Gilgamesh to make friends with it, but Enkidu advises him to kill it, for fearing the wrath of Shammash. Gilgamesh is having second thoughts about killing Humbaba, but Enkidu turns his ear and they do end up killing the monster. Of course, this angers all the gods except Shammash, who are finally provoked past the limits of patience when the duo kill the Bull of Heaven which Ishtar petulantly lets loose on Uruk. However, unable to bring themselves to kill Gilgamesh, they focus on Enkidu instead and inflict him with a long terminal illness.

So it is ironic that Enkidu who wisely suggested that Humbaba was a terrifying force best left alone inadvertently goaded Gilgamesh into a course of action that would lead to his (Enkidu's) death. Ancient Mesopotamian literature is replete with such ironies. After having adventures in the Cedar Forest and even slaying the Bull of Heaven and earning Ishtar's ire in the process, their last adventure is spent waiting for Enkidu to die. Enkidu is clearly terrified of death and suffers terribly while Gilgamesh keeps a horrified watch by his bedside as his friend sinks ever lower. After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh fairly loses his mind and orders a statue of Enkidu to be made and installed on a couch next to the royal throne.

Gilgamesh mourns over Enkidu the same amount of time Enkidu is in the throes of passion with Shamhat, and the same as the duration of Utanapishtim's flood. After failing to get immortality for himself, Gilgamesh is presumably saved from an ignominious return by Utanapishtim's wife, who suggests giving him something so he doesn't go back to Uruk empty-handed. Utanapishtim tells him about a secret plant that can return him to youth, but Gilgamesh loses even this, it being consumed by a snake.