In the first three sections of "The Epic of Gilgamesh," a king called Gilgamesh rules the city of Uruk. Anu, the god of Uruk, makes Gilgamesh strong as a savage bull and with the body of one-third men and two-thirds god. He takes advantage of his power and becomes greedy: “No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all; his lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior's daughter not the wife of the noble” (4). Gilgamesh seems to look like any other ordinary man based on the pictures I've seen. Similar to modern time, people who are rich and powerful take advantage of something first before someone else gets to it; however, once someone has accomplished getting what he wants, he can then give it up to the rest of the people.
Soon Enkidu, the wild-man, is created in the untamed forest; he has bad manners, eats grass, and revolves around wild beasts. A woman meets him in the forest and soon enough she becomes naked and lies with him; she teaches him how the savage man acts and her woman's arts; from this she believes that the beasts will reject him. Afterwards, Enkidu goes to the city of Uruk and challenges Gilgamesh to a fight, but shortly he fails by the power of Gilgamesh and sooner or later they become best friends. Again this can relate to modern life, the change of manners by spending time with a person of a different race, of a different culture, and of a different religion. Even for wild animals, some can get caught and become attained; similar to spening time with another person; a person who you see as savage. Once they became friends, Gilgamesh starts to care more about the people of Uruk. Later, they agree to go on a journey to slay Humbaba, who is the protector of the trees of the forest. They want to bring back cedar to the people of Uruk. The cedar is a strong wood that is used to build heavy houses or towers.
Once they came back from the journey they became heroes and all the people in Uruk become cheerful. I feel bad that Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill Humbaba since he is no creature of evil; he doesn’t show any hatred. All he wants is peace and help to protect the forests. In our reality, this happens everywhere; the heroes commit an evil crime without the public’s knowledge but when they get back they become heroes. With the help of bringing back Humbaba’s head, people celebrated their accomplishments thinking that it was an epic battle.
Later on in the sections, Ishtar, a woman from Uruk, wants to marry Gilgamesh but shortly Gilgamesh rejects her proposal. She became insulted and decides to talk to her father Anu, who is the god of the heaven, in order to give her permission to release the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh. Once she has the permission, the Bull of Heaven goes into rage and kills hundreds of people with his snort, that cracks open a hole in the earth. The bull tries to kill Enkidu but luckily Gilgamesh attends the scene and slays the bull with a deadly blow between the horns. Enkidu dreams that the people of the heaven curse Gilgamesh and himself for slaying Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven.
Soon enough, Gilgamesh treats Enkidu as if he was a king; he lays him in his royal bed, shares stories of their adventures. Even after Enkidu passes, Gilgamesh orders a stone statue to be made with Enkidu’s name on it for remembrance. In the end, there are always consequences in all the actions people take. In this case, Enkidu gives his life away to help out the people of Uruk; by bringing back cedar and keeping Gilgamesh alive. Revenge, greed, and selfishness play a big role in first sections of the story because Enkidu would have not died if Ishtar did not go up to the god of heaven. For as long as I can remember, people have been similar. If someone cannot get what they want then they will make someone else’s life miserable in order to make themselves feel happy. I believe that life isn't fair but mostly it is the people who aren't fair. Why does one person's life have to be taken away when his actions helped out hundreds?
