The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem that involves ideas about extreme topics such as death, adventure, and friendship but all those are only details that link up to one great idea that is very important to the poem and that idea is the struggle between civilization and the wilderness. The Epic of Gilgamesh demonstrates the struggle between wilderness and civilization by the use of characters and setting. The poem begins with uncertainty to what the outcome of this struggle will conclude, but the ending shows that the message is that humans belong in a civilization.
In the beginning of the poem, Enkidu was used to represent only the wilderness. He interacted only with animals and the poem indicates that the animals perceived Enkidu as their equal; they thought of him to be one of them. One part of a passage showcases Enkidu’s beast mentality by describing Enkidu as an “offspring of the mountains, who eats grasses with the gazelles, came to drink at the watering hole with the animals, with the wild beasts he slaked his thirst with water” First, this quote removes …show more content…
He wears animal skins and wonders in the wilderness. After a long journey, he finds out that humans cannot have immortality, however there is a plant that can grant humans back their youth. Before trying it, a snake eats the plant and Gilgamesh worries that his journey was for nothing. But when he arrives home, Gilgamesh describes the city to the ferryman, Urshanabi. Gilgamesh describes the city with great pride. There’s repetition from the beginning of the poem but the difference between the beginning and end is that Gilgamesh is saying it himself. Now, Gilgamesh has greater appreciation for his home. This appreciation has shown up only after Gilgamesh spent time in the wilderness. Therefore, we can conclude that the idea from this ending is that the structure of civilization provides a better way of life for
In the beginning of the poem, Enkidu was used to represent only the wilderness. He interacted only with animals and the poem indicates that the animals perceived Enkidu as their equal; they thought of him to be one of them. One part of a passage showcases Enkidu’s beast mentality by describing Enkidu as an “offspring of the mountains, who eats grasses with the gazelles, came to drink at the watering hole with the animals, with the wild beasts he slaked his thirst with water” First, this quote removes …show more content…
He wears animal skins and wonders in the wilderness. After a long journey, he finds out that humans cannot have immortality, however there is a plant that can grant humans back their youth. Before trying it, a snake eats the plant and Gilgamesh worries that his journey was for nothing. But when he arrives home, Gilgamesh describes the city to the ferryman, Urshanabi. Gilgamesh describes the city with great pride. There’s repetition from the beginning of the poem but the difference between the beginning and end is that Gilgamesh is saying it himself. Now, Gilgamesh has greater appreciation for his home. This appreciation has shown up only after Gilgamesh spent time in the wilderness. Therefore, we can conclude that the idea from this ending is that the structure of civilization provides a better way of life for