Enkidu In Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of civilization’s first (still known) pieces of literature, and yet it’s themes over reach any ancient context and stretch toward the modern day. The plight of Gilgamesh to find someone who understands him, to find glory, to find immortality, reverberates across the boundaries of centuries into the minds of readers of any class and culture. Even more haunting is Enkidu, the character born of the wild who civilizes the brutish Gilgamesh and makes one wonder what it is to be human. Enkidu brings up some startlingly relevant points, not only about human nature, but about man’s relationship to nature. In the current global conversation about sustainability, climate change, and earth’s ever dwindling resources, it seems unfair not to point out Enkidu’s role in the epic. Enkidu represents a corruption of nature, a man who was once a pure and …show more content…
The entire character of Enkidu seems to be absorbed into the narrative of Gilgamesh. Enkidu was made for Gilgamesh, designed by the gods to pacify the untamed Gilgamesh wreaking havoc on Uruk. One can argue that Enkidu’s eventual death only further emphasizes his place in the Epic as a tool for the transformation of Gilgamesh rather than a separate fully formed character. Gilgamesh pulls Enkidu out of his place in nature, from his home where he is pure, and yet Enkidu is the one who brings humanity to Gilgamesh. However, in the process of civilizing Gilgamesh Enkidu is stripped of his humanity. Enkidu turns from a product of nature to a man willing to kill the creatures of his homeland and destroy the beautiful cedar forest. I read this not as a transformation of a beast into a man, but of an untarnished creature into a savage. It’s Gilgamesh who insists they kill Humbaba and its Gilgamesh who, through his own folly, gets Enkidu killed. The character of Enkidu thus serves no purpose, but to facilitate the evolution of