UNPROMISING CALLS TO DESTINY

In the story, Epic of Gilgamesh translated by Sanders, we follow the adventures of the

primary character Gilgamesh. In the beginning of the story, he is known for being the king of

Uruk. He is notorious for stealing the virginity of wives, being the strongest of all men and being

2/3s of a God. Although he is not completely a God, being 2/3s is just as much to talk about to

the other mortals that surround him. Because of this reason, the Gods create a man that is

beastly: he feeds off the wild beasts and knows of no other people. He identifies as more of an

animal than he ever has as a human. Named Enkidu, he stops a trapper from capturing and eating

some of the beast which he identifies as part of his family (Sanders, 4). The trapper, afraid and

bitter reaches out to Gilgamesh in hopes that Gilgamesh, the man of great strength, will be able

to defeat and destroy Enkidu and he will become profitable in his trappings again. After a series

of tricks brought onto Enkidu by Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh has a premonition that his match would

eventually find him, and he would be in great acquaintance. Enkidu’s acquaintance with

Gilgamesh is one that turns him into a great man.

Enkidu is seen transforming in a couple of ways throughout the story. First, Enkidu learns

how to eat and drink like a God from the harlot of which Gilgamesh had sent him to break his

connection with the beasts (Sanders, 5). This is a huge transformation and a huge foundation for

Enkidu’s manhood. It is one of the first times that Enkidu is seen having kingly features that do

match Gilgamesh. Throughout the story Enkidu is compared to Gilgamesh’s match repeatedly

yet holds no features to him besides strength until this first moment where he can eat as a king

would. Next, Enkidu transforms as a character when he joins Gilgamesh on the trip to the Cedars

to kill Humbaba. Enkidu is very cowardly the entire time working up to the slaying of Humbaba

(Sanders, 9-10). This can be seen two ways: Enkidu’s cowardice can be interpreted as a human
emotion. Instead of being fearless as we would assume a beast would be in a battle with another

beast, Enkidu exhibits human emotions of fear and rationalizations of wanting to turn around and

go back home because he is no longer up for the battle (Sanders, 9-10). Another way that this can

be interpreted is that Enkidu gains some of Gilgamesh’s courage and bravery when helping

Gilgamesh lay the final blow on Humbaba (Sanders, 10). He becomes more like Gilgamesh in

this aspect because he has a moment of fearlessness and belief that he can conquer this God,

even though he is a mere mortal.

This is exemplified again when he insults Ishtar (Sandars, 13) after slaying the Bull of

Heaven, stating “If I could lay my hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash the

entrails to your side.” After having some of Gilgamesh’s confidence carry over to Enkidu,

Enkidu seemingly forgets who he used to be: the timid man, taking direction from others on what

his next response or move should be. Now, like Gilgamesh, he has no respect for the present

Gods.

Enkidu is forced to look into the abyss after having a premonition that one of the two of

them (Enkidu or Gilgamesh) must die, due to being mortal and slaying a God through their own

free will. Joseph Campbell describes looking into the abyss as a hero being forced into a state of

atonement which requires the character to come face to face with something that has power over

life and death. Although Enkidu faces life and death just by initiating a battle with Humbaba, this

is not where he faces atonement. Enkidu faces atonement when he suddenly falls ill after said

premonition (Sanders, 13). Noticing he is ill, Enkidu pleads with the Gods, bitterly, for the

downfall of others and his own regrets regarding killing Humbaba. He pleads that if he knew the

turn of events, he would have never partaken in the battle, showing signs of his old self.
 The message to the audience behind Enkidu’s story and Gilgamesh’s story is to stay true

to yourself. Gilgamesh ends up dying because he continues to chase the dream of immortality: he

becomes scared of death once Enkidu dies and never wants to feel the same way again. Enkidu

dies because he was following the words and dream of Gilgamesh and felt like he was being a

loyal friend for doing this.

Gilgamesh was foolish for chasing the dreams of being a God. Not a lot of the gods

seemed happy themselves with the lives they obtained. Everything that they did was either out of

spite, tension, or pent-up energy. Gilgamesh really had no problems throughout the story other

than he was chasing something that just was not meant for him. Gilgamesh has a short-lived look

into the abyss when he lost consciousness before the battle with Humbaba and later in the story

when he loses the plant of eternal life (Sanders, 22-23). He conquered the first look into the

abyss through the help of Enkidu’s words and the call upon Shamash to help defeat Humbaba.

He does not conquer the abyss after the plant being stolen from him by the serpent, he has no

will to live any longer and accepts his fate that he will just die. But, instead of being happy with

what he has that remains, he loses his will.

One could say that Enkidu was a trap sent by the Gods to ensnare Gilgamesh. The God

that was confident in Gilgamesh’s ability to kill Humbaba was Shamash. Shamash wanted all of

this to pan out correctly, while the other Gods did not approve. Shamash could have been

secretly against Gilgamesh’s plight the entire time since Gilgamesh was at first warmed to NOT

embark on this journey. Since Gilgamesh was stubborn, the killing of Enkidu was used to teach

Gilgamesh a lesson OR to have him killed by his own [dangerous] will. A message being sent to

the audience is that if your beliefs and actions are ungodly, they will most likely circle back

around to you in a way that you least expect it.