Gilgamesh A Mans Conflict Essay - 1143 Words

Gilgamesh was a man with different entities, a man who can’t be described by just one word. He in fact can be described by many; he was a man, a king, and a hero. Gilgamesh’s different identities caused him to live a conflicting life of finding who he really was. A Man: Gilgamesh was a mortal man. A regular man who yes was strong, courageous, and just about unstoppable, but nonetheless he was a man. He had the desires of Man, he lusted after women, he arrogantly proved his strength and as a Man he allowed for his heart to be broken. Gilgamesh used his strength, his knowledge and being to prove to all of Uruk that he was the best. It was declared throughout Uruk that â€Å"[Gilgamesh’s] arrogance ha[d] no bounds by day or night. No son is left†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Gilgamesh feels the guilt of a survivor somehow responsible for his friend’s death† (Keenan). The main conflict that Gilgamesh had wasn’t that he lost his friend, that he wasn’t immortal or that he died in the end, the greatest conflict that Gilgamesh had was that he was a man. He was a man who couldn’t avoid making mistakes, a man who couldn’t avoid his â€Å"flesh†. He was a man with his own wants and desires t hat affected the way he lived with his other identities. A King: Gilgamesh ruled over all of Uruk, he had all the power the land could give him. He had the prestige and even people who honored him. But because Gilgamesh was more of a Man than of a King he started his rule horribly. The people of the land did what we call today, impeachment, they cried to the gods to smite him for his bad behavior. Gilgamesh’s flock questioned his shepherding (Norton pg 13). They felt as if they had the wrong King who didn’t respect the well being of the people. Gilgamesh allowed for his own Man-desires to control the way he led his people as a King. He allowed lust and arrogance to abuse the people. â€Å"Because of his extraordinary energy, his rule [was] oppressive and he stands in isolation from other human being†¦ [he was] unable to rule successfully because of the very energy that made him a successful hero† (Abusch). Being a Man destroyed his opportunity toShow MoreRelatedImagery and Themes in the Epic of Gilgamesh1139 Words   |  5 PagesContext - Imagery and Themes Rosenberg notes that Gilgamesh is probably the worlds first human hero in literature (27). The Epic of Gilgamesh is based on the life of a probably real Sumerian king named Gilgamesh, who ruled about 2600 B.C.E. We learned of the Gilgamesh myth when several clay tablets written in cuneiform were discovered beginning in 1845 during the excavation of Nineveh (26). 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