How Did Gilgamesh Become Selfish

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Gilgamesh: The Heroic King Heroism is defined as the display of bravery and selflessness. In Gilgamesh, the main character Gilgamesh displays a lot of heroic traits. Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk, a gated kingdom in the tale of Gilgamesh. He was two thirds human and one third God, an enormous man, build strong and powerful. However, early in the tale Gilgamesh is not a good king. He was a cruel tyrant of his kingdom. Gilgamesh stomped and killed his people, having sex with everyone else's wives, and daughters. He was so bad that the gods had to get involved, so they created Enkidu. Enkidu was built to be as equally as powerful as Gilgamesh but with a softer heart and more compassion. They had an epic fight and afterwards respecting each other as quality opponents became the closest of best…show more content…
Humbaba was a huge monster that lived in the cedar forrest. He allowed no one to enter the forrest and if they did he killed them and mangled them until they were unrecognizable. Gilgamesh started the journey to fight Humbaba with both selfish and selfless goals. Though he wanted to kill the monster so that he would forever go in history and everyone would remember him, he also was doing it for the greater good of his people. As the journey progressed, each night he would have a more terrifying dream than the last. He dreamed about how he would fall to Humbaba and became anxious about the journey second guessing each time. However, with the help of his friend Enkidu, he was able to push past those fears and make the long journey. When he got there he used his wit to defeat the beast and he killed Humbaba. This shows great heroism because he was able to push past his fears of death for the greater good of his people. Being selfless is a big part of being a hero and Gilgamesh really displayed it by putting his life on the line so others would not have to deal with the great

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