Theme Of Friendship In The Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Iliad

In the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Iliad, friendship plays an integral transformative role. When Enkidu and Patroclus die, the surviving friends, Gilgamesh and Achilles become better people by exposing their vulnerability through the grieving process. This results in a lifelong transformation. This kind of everlasting friendship is also illustrated by Oeneus and Bellerophon,whose friendship lives on through their grandchildren,after their death. In this paper, I will claim that the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Iliad argue that death has the ability to destroy the physical ties of a sincere friendship, although it can not take away the everlasting positive transformation that culminates from such a friendship, and this is what distinguishes sincere …show more content…
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the power of death to break the bonds of physical friendship is illustrated by Gilgamesh’ conversation with the tavern keeper when he says, “Six days , and seven nights I wept for him. I would not give him up for burial until a worm fell out of his nose.” This passage shows Gilgamesh’s will to hold on to Enkidu and their friendship forever, but that was an impossibility because death had broken the bonds of their physical friendship. However, the tavern keeper’s words to Gilgamesh that he should go back to Uruk and be happy illustrates that though death may have separated the two friends, Gilgamesh could still treasure the memories he had with Enkidu, the wisdom, growth and other everlasting virtues he had gained through his friendship with Enkidu. This is further illustrated by his open admiration of Uruk when he goes back in book….., as this is a representation of the new perspective he now has towards life. He is now able to appreciate the things he took for granted as a result of the transformative nature of his friendship with Enkidu. In this way,one can safely claim that physical friendship is mortal, but its transformative effects live on