In the Epic of Gilgamesh, by Herbert Mason, the ruler Gilgamesh is egotistical, selfish, and is a tyrant to his people. But after a meaningful relationship with his friend Enkidu, he becomes a compassionate and noble leader. It is a story of redemption, a history of atonement. It is the story of Gilgamesh, a terrible king, becoming a compassionate and worthy monarch after a meaningful friendship and death of his friend Enkidu. Gilgamesh was a callous king. He was abusive to his workers and slept with women before they could with their husbands. The narrator describes Gilgamesh as, “a tyrant to his people/… Sometimes he pushed his people half to death/ with work rebuilding Uruk’s walls.” (Mason 15-16) . These actions shows Gilgamesh to be a
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Most of these ways starts with him being a crude ruler. One of which, is before he and Enkidu forge into battle with the powerful Humbaba, Enkidu warns Gilgamesh a final time. Enkidu warns Gilgamesh about death ahead, “why are you worried about death?/..What men do is nothing, so fear is never/ justified. What happened to your power/ that once could challenge and equal mine?” (29). Gilgamesh here explains how fear is never justified. He believes that, there is no explanation to fear. To Gilgamesh, there is no concept of the idea of fear which will not be beneficial towards his kingdom. Without the idea of fear, he would not think of consequences for the future to come for his people. This could lead to bad decisions for himself and his kingdom. When Gilgamesh states, “what happened to your power/...that once could challenge and equal mine?” This shows Gilgamesh is now not only immature and childish, but also arrogant. He states that his power was unmatched, that his power was the greatest. This shows a very high sense of cockyness because he is giving himself admiration of his power. As king, this is positively one of the worst traits to have as a …show more content…
As he does so, he finally becomes the king that he was meant to be. As Gilgamesh looks back at the work that his people have done, he is satisfied by the output of his people. When he did so, “He looked at the walls, awed at the heights his people have achieved and for a moment - just a moment - all that lay behind him passed from view” (92). This represents the finale stage in which Gilgamesh goes from being an egomaniac to a righteous leader. It shows this because for the first time, Gilgamesh is proud of his people. Because of the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh was very depressed and was not a stable character. But once he was able to cope with the loss of his friend, he was able to grow off of it and become stronger. As the narrator states, “all that lay behind him, passed from view,” this passage can mean two very different things. In one way it could be interpreted is that for a moment Gilgamesh forgot about the amazing adventures he has had with Enkidu. He potentially could have forgotten about Enkidu. He could’ve put aside the life he has been living and continued to live as a arrogant, callous, and selfish tyrant. Another way to interpret is he has put aside the life he lived before his journey and has fully become the king he was destined to be. If so, he would have fully thrown away his old personality and has fully restarted his life as a king from the beginning. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the friendship
Most of these ways starts with him being a crude ruler. One of which, is before he and Enkidu forge into battle with the powerful Humbaba, Enkidu warns Gilgamesh a final time. Enkidu warns Gilgamesh about death ahead, “why are you worried about death?/..What men do is nothing, so fear is never/ justified. What happened to your power/ that once could challenge and equal mine?” (29). Gilgamesh here explains how fear is never justified. He believes that, there is no explanation to fear. To Gilgamesh, there is no concept of the idea of fear which will not be beneficial towards his kingdom. Without the idea of fear, he would not think of consequences for the future to come for his people. This could lead to bad decisions for himself and his kingdom. When Gilgamesh states, “what happened to your power/...that once could challenge and equal mine?” This shows Gilgamesh is now not only immature and childish, but also arrogant. He states that his power was unmatched, that his power was the greatest. This shows a very high sense of cockyness because he is giving himself admiration of his power. As king, this is positively one of the worst traits to have as a …show more content…
As he does so, he finally becomes the king that he was meant to be. As Gilgamesh looks back at the work that his people have done, he is satisfied by the output of his people. When he did so, “He looked at the walls, awed at the heights his people have achieved and for a moment - just a moment - all that lay behind him passed from view” (92). This represents the finale stage in which Gilgamesh goes from being an egomaniac to a righteous leader. It shows this because for the first time, Gilgamesh is proud of his people. Because of the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh was very depressed and was not a stable character. But once he was able to cope with the loss of his friend, he was able to grow off of it and become stronger. As the narrator states, “all that lay behind him, passed from view,” this passage can mean two very different things. In one way it could be interpreted is that for a moment Gilgamesh forgot about the amazing adventures he has had with Enkidu. He potentially could have forgotten about Enkidu. He could’ve put aside the life he has been living and continued to live as a arrogant, callous, and selfish tyrant. Another way to interpret is he has put aside the life he lived before his journey and has fully become the king he was destined to be. If so, he would have fully thrown away his old personality and has fully restarted his life as a king from the beginning. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the friendship