Analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh
Analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the masterpieces of world literature. Exploring mankind's universal longing for immortality, the poem tells the story of a Babylonian hero's quest for glory and flight from death. A feeling of resentment is something each and every one of us felt throughout our lives. Some say it is a phase we go through, I say it's common. The more you try to appease others the less you feel about yourself. Is it truly important to consider this hatred and opinion of others, as Dimmesdale has? Or, deny yourself opportunities, that as an end result you ruin. Originality can be discovered by accepting situations or can be dealt by revenge. By refusing to believe what truth may bring, you are always aware of your sins. You simply just blind yourself to the facts that surround you. Hence, trying to destroy the creative source only leads to self-destruction
This is a brief discussion of the Gilgamesh epic as it relates to the Old Testament. The most well-known parallel between the epic and the Bible is of course the story of the Flood, in Genesis 6-7. This is essentially equivalent to the story that Utnapishtim, the Sumerian Noah, tells to Gilgamesh on Tablet XI. Even the way the narrative is laid out is similar – the gods put a bug in Utnapishtim’s ear; a description of how the ark is built (“daubed with bitumen,” a common glue or mortaring agent in Mesopotamia); everyone piles in, and it starts to rain. When it’s over, Utnapishtim releases a dove, then a swallow, and finally a crow, however – an interesting change of detail. However, the section of the Bible that really seems linked to Sumerian mythology is the book of Ecclesiastes. The writer of that book informs us, in Eccl. 12:9-10, that in the course of composing it he read widely, presumeably everything that he could get his hands on in those days before inter-library loan and the Internet. From internal evidence it’s obvious that he read some version of the epic of Gilgamesh. It’s fascinating to see that the story, already very ancient by Biblical times, circulated so widely in the Middle East. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (in the Revised Standard version) runs, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his...