Friendship In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

1017 Words5 Pages
Long before modern technology existed, lives weren’t the same, a status of a king could be defined as a god, a man who conquers a civilization is a man who has everything. Gilgamesh is someone who has everything, he is said to be the most powerful of all, the most intelligent, he is deemed a demigod. As the Epic of Gilgamesh unfolds, bear in mind that the story has been around for about 1500 years, yet the way of life show similarity to our world today. The book shows great relevance to today’s society. There are two biggest themes are, friendship and definition of life. Before the journey began, Gilgamesh is a tyrant, he is the most powerful and wise of all Uruk. Nobody can ever match his potential as he was a demigod. However, everything…show more content…
They fight until Gilgamesh looks as if he has lost, Enkidu wants to prove that he is superior to Gilgamesh. “Gilgamesh knelt, one foot on the ground, his anger subsided, he broke off from the fight.” However, the fight turns into a friendship. “They kissed each other and formed a friendship.” Comparing to today’s era, friendship still have similar structure and it changes a person’s life in many ways possible. There are times where friends will fight, however they will end up in good terms and their bond are stronger than before. Decision will be different depending on who one’s with, like Enkidu changes when Gilgamesh plans to kill Humbaba, at first, Enkidu is oppose to the decision however they still decide to proceed with the task. Despite Enkidu advice, Gilgamesh would not change his mind and asks Enkidu why does he speaks like a weakling. Friends tend to belittle on whoever is acting like a weakling, there are times where they will also change that side of them just so he does not look like a weakling, it is just human nature. Like Enkidu changes his mind at some point when leading Gilgamesh to Humbaba, after going through the Forest…show more content…
Enkidu finds out about his fate and he blames everyone but not Gilgamesh because Enkidu does not want to ruin his friendship with Gilgamesh. When Enkidu died, Gilgamesh becomes an entirely different man, he wants to search the definition of life and because he and Enkidu lives a similar lifestyle, he is afraid that he will face the same fate soon. Death may be scary but living on knowing you can die anytime soon is worse which can be seen to what happens to Gilgamesh. Living a life that you and your friend shares a similar lifestyle and when one dies, the other would want to avoid the same fate. Because of this, Gilgamesh went and search the definition of life, he travels far away from his homeland hoping for an answer that will satisfy him or to discover about himself. During his journey, he meets with Uta-napishti and question on how he gains eternal life and how Gilgamesh can find his answer. Uta-napishti said “For six days and seven nights, come, do without slumber!” and as Gilgamesh tries and fails despite being a demigod, he found his answer that human can never live on forever and that life is short. With today’s world, many people lost their definition of life to 4x4 cubicle work life. They ought to work 8 hours a day 5 day a week and live for the money so they can survive throughout their lives. They have no will to go out and seek the
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