Cedar Forest

The entire character of Enkidu seems to be absorbed into the narrative of Gilgamesh. Enkidu was made for Gilgamesh, designed by the gods to pacify the untamed Gilgamesh wreaking havoc on Uruk. One can argue that Enkidu’s eventual death only further emphasizes his place in the Epic as a tool for the transformation of Gilgamesh rather than a separate fully formed character. Gilgamesh pulls Enkidu out of his place in nature, from his home where he is pure, and yet Enkidu is the one who brings humanity to Gilgamesh. However, in the process of civilizing Gilgamesh Enkidu is stripped of his humanity. Enkidu turns from a product of nature to a man willing to kill the creatures of his homeland and destroy the beautiful cedar forest. I read this not as a transformation of a beast into a man, but of an untarnished creature into a savage. It’s Gilgamesh who insists they kill Humbaba and its Gilgamesh who, through his own folly, gets Enkidu killed. The character of Enkidu thus serves no purpose, but to facilitate the evolution of…

hearing this, Gilgamesh decides that they will both go to the forest and destroy the giant named Humbaba. The temporary refusal that is shown in this novel, is what happens next. Enkidu warns Gilgamesh of the fight he is about to enter, he exclaims that “…weakness overpowers whoever goes…

Without the creation of Enkidu and the journey to the cedar forest Gilgamesh would have never realized his own mortality. Gilgamesh travels to find the old man Utanapishtim the only human being to be granted immortality by the gods. Gilgamesh finds the old man and asked how he became immortal. Utanapishtim tells him about the great flood and the ark he built. Similar to how Gilgamesh and Enkidu journeyed to the cedar forest to construct a cedar door, Utanapishtim also constructed a great arc…

among the animals. This transition is meant to praise civilization, portraying it conquering the wild in Enkidu. While Enkidu and Gilgamesh become friends, the conflict between man and nature is not resolved. Both characters still end up battling with internal man vs. wild conflicts along with external man vs. wild conflicts. This man vs. wild conflicts lead to the death of Enkidu and Gilgamesh’s crisis with mortality. For a while, man may beat the wild, but as the epic of Gilgamesh proves, the…

to protect and expand city of Uruk’s economic strength. After Gilgamesh meets Enkidu, Gilgamesh decides to go fight Humbaba, despite Humbaba’s overwhelming strength. Gilgamesh says “In the Forest…

hero, Gilgamesh was looked upon as a dictator more than an actual hero. Gilgamesh did not trust others and sought to issues himself without assistance and through compassion he was able to gain trust of his people and was able to make more effective decisions. He learned this compassion from his comradery and relationship with Enkidu. The text showed this compassion in tablet III by stating, “who goes in front saves his companion, who knows the road protects his friend. Let Enkidu go before you,…

As the King of Uruk, Gilgamesh is love as much as he is hated. He possess strength and power like no other. Thereby, from the day of his birth he is proclaimed king and must formidable. His arrogance led him to abuse his power becoming a tyrant in the eyes of his people, but among the chaos of his domain the sudden creation of his equal and the love that spurred between then alter the once hated king. Love become the force that motivates, inspires and creates a change in Gilgamesh. Love is…

On the way to defeat Humbaba, Gilgamesh shows that he is not a hero because he lacks courage. Gilgamesh is all ready to defeat the Guardian of the Cedar Forest to better his name, but gets scared along the way. For example, every night of their journey, Gilgamesh has a bad dream and Enkidu must encourage him that the dream actually symbolizes that something good about to happen. Enkidu starts every conversation of encouragement with “Don’t worry, my friend”(Gilgamesh, 108). Another instance…

on a journey for eternal life, and killing Humbaba. It is not coincidence that it is only when Enkidu arrives that Gilgamesh wants to make a journey to battle Humbaba. Gilgamesh claims to want to kill Humbaba because he is “something evil” (110), but one is lead to believe that Gilgamesh has some ulterior motive. Gilgamesh makes his true reason behind making the journey to Cedar Forest clear while he speaks to Enkidu, saying, “If I fall on the way, I’ll establish my name: / ‘Gilgamesh, who…

These actions shows Gilgamesh to be a careless and immature king. It shows that Gilgamesh is unworthy and only cares about himself and his kingdom. This is before Gilgamesh meets his friend Enkidu. This is before the great adventure that lies ahead of Gilgamesh, before his friendship with Enkidu. Throughout the transition from a terrible to noble sovereign, there were many times where Gilgamesh shows his terrible self. In many cases, Enkidu warns Gilgamesh about further consequences in which…