All By Himself
I kinda got confused when I read this. At first I thought that Gilgamesh was trying to prove his dominance. He was running around doing whatever he wanted to without repercussions. I suppose he was 2/3 god, so it didn't really matter. However, I still wondered why. Then, Enkidu came along because everyone was complaining to the gods about Gilgamesh. The two fight for a while, Gilgamesh wins, and then the two become friends, which also puzzled me. If Gilgamesh was trying to prove his dominance/power, then I thought he would've just killed Enkidu after the fight, but he didn't. That led me to believe Gilgamesh was acting out because he was lonely and wanted attention. I don't think Gilgamesh had anyone to relate to since he was consider so much "better" than everyone else. While I was reading, I thought Gilgamesh was a jerk because he was better than everyone, but after reading I think he was just lonely. I may be COMPLETELY wrong in thinking this, but this is just my opinion.
Commented on Gray's and Phillip's
Commented on Gray's and Phillip's
Loneliness, or respect? We know Gilgamesh has respect for those equal to or above him in power because of his reverence and prayer to the gods. When he wanted to stamp his name on history in the Cedar Forest, he vowed to set up the gods’ name there as well. Even when considering the opposing force of Humbaba, he doesn’t arrogantly charge in without pleading to the gods for help—he acknowledges power when he sees it. Enkidu was made to be his equal; possibly his only equal in the entire world, as every one else is either fully man (below him) or fully god/demon (above him). That would make him worthy of a very unique sort of respect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opinion about Gilgamesh being lonely. In one of my classes today , the fact that humans are social creatures came up. We were looking in the book of Ecclesiastes, and verses 4:9-13 talks about companionship. These verses talk about how if you have someone or a companion, they will help you up when you've fallen and how someone who is above everyone else or seems above everyone else ("an old and foolish king" as said in verse 4:13) may get lonely from lack of companionship (or at least that's what I got out of the class). After that lesson today, I completely understand where you are coming from.
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