The Struggle for Immortality

             Gilgamesh, who is two-thirds God, and one-third human was a creature of extraordinary strength, courage and beauty. All throughout the poem, he desires to be immortal like the Gods.
             Gilgamesh is a character who is not looked upon too favorably by his people. He does numerous things to displease his people. For instance, he sleeps with the virgin brides before the groom on their wedding night. In my opinion the only reason why he gets away with a lot of the things that he does is not because of his kingship, but because of his enormous amount of courage and strength given to him. No one will stand up to him.
             There are many examples throughout the story that demonstrates Gilgamesh's quest for immortality. One of the main reasons why Gilgamesh strives for immortality is because of Enkidu's death. He notices how Enkidu's pain and suffering causes Enkidu to feel shame as he gradually dies, and he doesn't want it to happen to him.
             After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh felt that he could avoid death by becoming a God. Gilgamesh approaches Siduri to gain knowledge on becoming a God. She explains to him that trying to become a God is not the way to avoid death because the Gods gave death to man and he needs to embrace death. Siduri isn't the only one who tries to Gilgamesh that his destiny was not to become a God. Before he died, Enkidu prophesied to Gilgamesh of a dream that he had. He told Gilgamesh that Enlil had determined that his destiny was of kingship and not that of immortality.
             Even though Gilgamesh was one of the most powerful men on earth. He felt that he possessed qualities of the Gods and could measure up to the Gods. He was first blessed with beauty. Which is one of the attributes of most Gods. He was strong. The story mentions that he carried weaponry that weighed 30 score pounds which is approximately 600lbs. He also fights and beats Humbaba who was a giant of the forest e...

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The Struggle for Immortality. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:00, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/84295.html