Enkidu's Death In The Death Of Gilgamesh

As Gilgamesh was watching Enkidu die, he himself was dying on the inside: losing his power and losing his best friend while having to grieve. Even though Gilgamesh was not dying physically, inside he was dying as he was watching his friend die and then having to go through the grieving process as he was dying. When Enkidu passed away, Gilgamesh said: “Hear me, O young men, listen to me, / Hear me, O elders of [Uruk], listen to me! / I mourn my friend Enkidu, / I howl as bitterly as a professional keener” (41-44). Gilgamesh and Enkidu did everything together so the fact that Enkidu died really hurt Gilgamesh. All of the people in the town thought that Gilgamesh would not have had a close connection with Enkidu and thought that he would escape …show more content…
Later on, when he had the dreams, he realized that it was not so terrible. Also, Gilgamesh lost all of his power as he was going through the grieving process. The situations that he was put in with killing Humbaba and the bull were there to make sure that he had all of his power and that he would not lose it. In a way, they were set up to prepare him for what would happen next: the death of his best friend. If Enkidu had not died, Gilgamesh would still believe that death is frightening and that he would also still have all of his power. People would not look at him differently as he would not have had to grieve the loss of his best friend. As Gilgamesh changed, the main reason why he changed was because of the death of Enkidu. That had an enormous impact on him as it made him change his mind and realize different ideas that he would have never thought of before. Also, with the help of the dreams, he would not have come to the conclusion that his death is upon him. All of the death experiences that he has dealt with have helped him in coming to the conclusion that his own death is …show more content…
For example, he was lost when Enkidu died and had to lean on himself in that situation. Also, he had to trust in his dreams in order for him to realize that his death is coming upon him. He was the person that had his journey planned out in some small way, but then he also did not know what to do when he had troubles. Gilgamesh did have help that would be there to help him, but when his one main aid left him, he was stuck. He was left to problem solve and had to think of another situation that would help him: learn to live on his own. With him living on his own, he was able to think of different situations and was also able to think of his realizations. He was capable of pondering everything that happened to him and was able to put himself in some of those certain situations. As Enkidu went to the Underworld, that was the turning point for Gilgamesh because he was able to see that Enkidu is capable of moving on, showing Gilgamesh to finally move on. Also, as Enkidu went to the Underworld, Enkidu had his own journey: one where he knew what he was doing and one where he knew where he was going. This also made Gilgamesh realize that Gilgamesh he needed to figure his journey out and finally come to the conclusion of his journey. As Gilgamesh was capable of doing so, he was able to ponder death. This made Gilgamesh realize that death is inevitable