Why Did Gilgamesh Prove To Be Futile

The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the story of a king, Gilgamesh, who is two-thirds god and one-third human. He befriends Enkidu, who is considered a “wild man”. Not so long after they become friends, they go on a quest together. Soon after their quest, Enkidu becomes sick and dies. Gilgamesh was heartbroken over his death, which left him very distraught and emotional. Succeeding Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh goes a journey for immortality, which proves to be futile. Gilgamesh and Enkidu did not have what some would call a normal relationship. First of all, they only met because Enkidu was trying to stop Gilgamesh from raping a bride on her wedding day. “For the goddess of weddings the bed was laid out, Gilgamesh met with the maiden by night. Forward came (Enkidu), he stood in the street, blocking the path of Gilgamesh” (The Epic of Gilgamesh, II 16). Enkidu was not too fond of the idea of Gilgamesh getting to the bride before the …show more content…
The opportunity that was given to him was a sleep test. If Gilgamesh could stay awake for six nights and seven days, only then would he gain immortality. As soon as he was left to the test, he fell asleep and then woken up a week later to discover that he had not passed the test.“Come, Gilgamesh, count me your bread-loaves then you will learn [the days that you slept.] Your [first] bread-loaf [was all dried up,] the second was leathery, soggy the third, the fourth flour cake had turned white, the fifth had cast a mold off grey, fresh baked was the sixth [the 7th still on] the coals: only then did I touch you” (The Epic of Gilgamesh, X 96). Gilgamesh was devastated, he was given the simple task to stay awake, but even he two-thirds god and one-third human could not pull it off. That is when Gilgamesh lost all hope of gaining immortality and decided to return to the city of Uruk to rule his