Gilgamesh is Meaningless, That's the Point -Will Brady
Quoth several noble students in class today: "Well, that was anticlimactic." Indeed it was. Gilgamesh's epic quest of giant-slaying, darkness-venturing, and bull-wrestling ends with naught more than history's oldest campfire tale and the less-than-dramatic death of a demigod slain slowly by age. What did Gilgamesh actually accomplish? We can say all we want that the end of his hero's journey was bringing us a story, but why is that significant? What does the story mean? To know this, we'd have to look at the climax and derive its message... except that just puts us in a loop. The great product of Gilgamesh's journey was a story about his journey, and the story of his journey has no great outcome except the creation of a story about his journey. Did he accomplish nothing but a hollow, meaningless tale about accomplishing nothing? Is the outcome of the story absolutely worthless?
I have to say, I can respect the ancient Sumerians for being down-to-earth. Gilgamesh lived and, sure, he did some pretty incredible things while he lived. In the end he died quietly, unheroically, becoming just another name in history and leaving behind little more than that name and a trail of bodies. For most people, that's pretty much what happens (minus the trail of bodies, I should hope). We live, we have fun, we can maybe compare our own lives to a Hero's Journey, but in the end we quietly fade out of the earth and leave just enough material for a sentimental eulogy. That's the point of Gilgamesh's journey: you will die one day, foiled and frustrated by the fickle whims of people above you, random snakes, and stupidity you displayed by smashing the boat, and your life will have been largely meaningless.
That's probably depressing to read. It was depressing to write. I'm sure I'll look at this blog again when my brain isn't clouded over by exhaustion and sickness and wonder what the blazes I was thinking. But that would have been life for the Sumerians. They led brief existences without the idea of salvation, finding hope only in the impossibility of attaining earthly immortality. We listen to music that has lyrics we can relate to nowadays--did we really expect the ancient Sumerians to do any different? This was what they related to: uncontrollable forces of nature and the futility of life. Honestly, I don't understand how people can live like that.
I need to stop thinking about the depressing side of this book before I start quoting Hamlet.
P.S. I commented on Breanna and Cody’s posts.
I have to say, I can respect the ancient Sumerians for being down-to-earth. Gilgamesh lived and, sure, he did some pretty incredible things while he lived. In the end he died quietly, unheroically, becoming just another name in history and leaving behind little more than that name and a trail of bodies. For most people, that's pretty much what happens (minus the trail of bodies, I should hope). We live, we have fun, we can maybe compare our own lives to a Hero's Journey, but in the end we quietly fade out of the earth and leave just enough material for a sentimental eulogy. That's the point of Gilgamesh's journey: you will die one day, foiled and frustrated by the fickle whims of people above you, random snakes, and stupidity you displayed by smashing the boat, and your life will have been largely meaningless.
That's probably depressing to read. It was depressing to write. I'm sure I'll look at this blog again when my brain isn't clouded over by exhaustion and sickness and wonder what the blazes I was thinking. But that would have been life for the Sumerians. They led brief existences without the idea of salvation, finding hope only in the impossibility of attaining earthly immortality. We listen to music that has lyrics we can relate to nowadays--did we really expect the ancient Sumerians to do any different? This was what they related to: uncontrollable forces of nature and the futility of life. Honestly, I don't understand how people can live like that.
I need to stop thinking about the depressing side of this book before I start quoting Hamlet.
P.S. I commented on Breanna and Cody’s posts.
Dude get out of your feels! Just kidding, I understand lol. Honestly, yours and Zelda's blogs are almost twinning. You guys both wrote about how life seemed like a meaningless hell, and related it to how the people lived during this time. I honestly don't completely believe that life was awful and anticlimactic. Sure, everything around them is unpredictable and nothing is under their control. But that doesn't stop them from having quality of life. They all had each other, as husband and wife, as friends and as family. And when nature wasn't giving them total chaos, I'm sure it was far more enjoyable than what we have now, considering how everything is so developed where we live and the beauty of nature is ruined by us. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it could not have been that bad for the people of Mesopotamia.
ReplyDeletePart of the meaninglessness of the story is that Gilgamesh can't put his trust in anything reliable. The gods are fickle, his friend dies, and even though he has all the pleasures this world has to offer, he still isn't happy. Many people think that they will be satisfied when they have the right job or get a promotion (Gilgamesh was a rich and powerful king), when they find the right person (Gilgamesh found his other half in Enkidu), or when they become famous (even the gods knew Gilgamesh's name). While these are all not bad desires, they are collectively meaningless when the only drive is to make yourself happy. We don't know if Gilgamesh lived happily ever after, but we can probably conjecture that he became content after he focused on something other than himself, his people.
ReplyDeleteDefiantly a thought provoking post Will, though I respectively disagree with it being completely pointless and depressing. While the ending has its kinda of a let down compared to modern heroic stories it has some valuable lessons to the people of the time. Truly the amount of time between The Epic of Gilgamesh and our time we may have lost some other key points in the story. There are many lessons to take from Gilgamesh. There is a transformation that takes place in Gilgamesh and the struggle of humans to become like the gods. This story taught that no human ,no matter how powerful, can achieve the immortality reserved only for the gods. The ending is a statement that it doesn't matter what you did, but to enjoy life and what you have. Don't fear death, embrace it.
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