Transformation in Gilgamesh Essay

Since the beginning of time until now, man has learned to mature through trials and tribulations. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the protagonist Gilgamesh appears to be an arrogant person who only seems to care about himself. He abuses all his powers and takes advantage of people with his physical abilities. In conclusion, he thinks that there is no one on earth that is ever his match. However, just like any type of story, the protagonist encounters several challenges that end turns make him a much better person. So as the story progresses Gilgamesh slowly starts to change his personality. There are various events that help transform Gilgamesh into a humble person.

The main contributing factor in the changes that happened with Gilgamesh was the love that developed with Enkidu. Through Enkidu, Gilgamesh became more human. At first Enkidu was sent down from the gods as an equal to Gilgamesh so that way he won't be so arrogant. However, Enkidu and Gilgamesh became so close that they were like brothers. The love between Enkidu and Gilgamesh is very important. It allows the readers to understand the reasoning behind all of Gilgamesh's change. Enkidu is considered the primary driving force for the eventual changes in personality and manhood of Gilgamesh.

The second significant change that we find in Gilgamesh was caused by the death of Enkidu. Gilgamesh couldn't bear the loss of a loved one. Despite all the power that he has, he was still missing something in life. The death of Enkidu we saw the sympathetic and compassionate side of Gilgamesh. The grief he had to surpass was far more magnificent than that pride that he had previously displayed so boldly. Also because of Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh also displayed how frightened and confused he become. Because of this, he became terrified of his own death.

Through the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh went on a search for immortality. He searched all over the ocean for everlasting life. Through his fears of his own death, he rambles about his own reasoning of finding everlasting life which made him look quite pathetic and scared.

Finally, the last change that one can find from Gilgamesh was the death of Humbaba. In the city of Uruk, many people feared Gilgamesh. Many would say that he; himself was evil because of his doing. He had sex with all the virgins in the city, he did as he pleases and he always offended the gods. However, when he decided to go into the forest and face Humbaba, he again changed the way people looked at him. However, the great deed of killing Humbaba did make him a better person by how he protected the city but it was also a very arguable point. Did Gilgamesh make a name for himself or did he do it because of his love for Enkidu and his people.

The Epic of Gilgamesh taught those a very valuable lesson of mankind. This lesson is that love binds our world together. From Gilgamesh we learn just how powerful companionship can be, this is why the relationship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh is so inspiring to us. To sum it all up, Gilgamesh defines what our fate is through the journey of life, to defeat evil through help of others, to be able to survive and mourn those that we love, and to leave this world doing as many good deeds as we can accomplish throughout one's life.