Epic Of Gilgamesh Research Paper

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Colleen ODonnell HIST 101 Professor Bucholz 23 September 2015 Question 1 Rage and Scare Tactics: The Relationship Between Gods and Mortals in the Epic of Gilgamesh Twenty-first century media has been dominated by sequels and remakes of classic stories. Every weekend, another “live-action” remake of a classic film is released. These so called classics relate back to Shakespearian England, and even ancient Mesopotamia. Stemming from the Sumerian era, The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first known piece of literature in history. Because of this, the ancient Mesopotamians had nothing else to base this story on, which means it greatly reflects the culture they lived in. This culture was seemingly immersed in violence and sex, and surrounded heavily…show more content…
Gilgamesh, the namesake of the story, is born to a mortal man and a Goddess, and becomes King of the city of Uruk. Although Gilgamesh is part God, the other Gods do not have much involvement in his life until he starts to disrespect the power he has been given. The people of Uruk begin to notice that Gilgamesh has been taking advantage of his strength and good looks to battle other men and seduce their wives, and thus, they pray to the Gods for help. This is when the Gods begin to intervene. Aruru, the goddess of earth and fertility, creates a wild man, Enkidu as an equal for Gilgamesh. By establishing this man as his equal, Gilgamesh will no longer be as powerful. Aruru’s immersion in Gilgamesh’s life sets the stage for the rest of the epic, as if the Gods had ignored the peoples request for help, this story would not have unfolded as it…show more content…
The king of the Gods, Enlil, decides to punish the two and subjected Enkidu to a painful death, thus also subjecting Gilgamesh to the pain of losing his only companion. Enlil’s interaction with the mortals, however, was different than Aruru’s. Enlil was acting on his own emotions when he decided to punish Enkidu and Gilgamesh, whereas Aruru was merely aiding the mortals in their distress. Enlil had a personal connection to the monster that Enkidu and Gilgamesh murdered (he was the monsters master), and this expresses the way the ancient Mesopotamian’s felt about their Gods. Despite the fact that the Gods are supposed to be somewhat ideal and superior, they still have emotions and rage. The Goddess Ishtar is another example of this human-like emotion that the Gods emit, because her anger at Gilgamesh’s rejection forced her to turn to

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