Gilgamesh the King

Gilgamesh the King Gilgamesh is properly the oldest written and most widely read ancient stories. The man, his desires and achievements have been discussed several times by several different authors, thereby immortalizing the king. Interestingly this was what the king had always dreamed of- to become immortal and his quest for a life devoid of death turned him into a more considerate, compassionate and just ruler. In this paper we shall therefore discuss Gilgamesh's quest for immortality and whether or not he finally managed achieve it.

Background of Gilgamesh's quest Gilgamesh was not born with a desire to live forever but one major event turned his life upside down generating in him an intense fear of death. Being a god-like figure, Gilgamesh was widely feared because of his despotic and rather ruthless style of governing the country. He was king of Uruk and was born to a mortal and a goddess, which accounted for him being half-human, half-god.

Gilgamesh was a tyrant who would sleep with any woman he desired, kill children on whim and undertake all kinds of ruthless tasks to stomp his authority on his country. However certain events change the course and purpose of his life and the change comes with the entry of Enkidu in his life. Enkidu was a wild man himself who enters Gilgamesh's life to soften his heart and teach him the noble values of care and compassion.

Gilgamesh lacks those feelings because he is treated like a god and feels that it is his right to sleep with any woman that he desires and thus rules the entire kingdom with an iron hand. Enkidu himself is wild man who is chosen because of his temper because it was felt that only he could enter Gilgamesh's heart, as he was strong and courageous.

But before he is sent in the life of Gilgamesh, he is tamed by the love-priestess who makes him eat human food and has sex with him for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh then meets Enkidu as the latter tries to stop him from raping a woman. The two fight with each other and later embrace as friends and this serves as the beginning of world's oldest love story.

They two become greatest friends and lovers and it is because of his love for Enkidu that Gilgamesh becomes more humane and compassionate. The two begin a long series of adventures but when Gilgamesh refuses to marry Ishtar, the goddess of love, the latter takes revenge for this humiliation, which leads to Enkidu's death. Gilgamesh was left heartbroken as Enkindu's death would haunt him endlessly and this makes him averse to the idea of dying. For this reason, he decides to seek immortality and the journey begins.

The quest for immorality After Enkindu's death, Gilgamesh remains in a state of shock and bewilderment for some time, as he cannot come to terms with the reality. However as days pass, he realizes that the best way to protect himself from death's sudden cruel attack is by becoming immortal. He travels far and wide in search of immortality and comes across various important figures who remind him of the reality and certainty of death.

Siduri the barmaid tells him categorically that immortality was an elusive thing that couldn't be attained by mortals because death was meant to be the final and definite conclusion of human life. She reminds him of the one crucial difference between man and god and that lied in the phenomenon of death. While human beings died, God is meant to live forever. Siduri further offers sound suggestions for enrichment of life and seeking a different kind of immortality.

She tells Gilgamesh that he must fill his days with as much fun and frolic as he could while remaining kind towards others including his wife as such things had the power to enrich his life and give him spiritual immortality. However Gilgamesh is not enlightened enough to understand the meaning of any kind of immortality other than the physical one and therefore even though he understands that he was being told the truth but is still not willing to give up his quest for immortality.

He finally gets a chance to meet a man who had achieved immortality only to realize that pursuit of an endless life was a not worthwhile since it could lead to more misery and loneliness. Gilgamesh however finally manages to get the immortality plant which a serpent steals on his way back. This incident opens the doors of enlightenment and Gilgamesh realizes that there must have been a lesson in this. He finally accepts that he must die too since human beings couldn't attain physical.