The epic Gilgamesh by Herbert Mason follows a demi-god king, Gilgamesh, on his journey to becoming human. Gilgamesh seeks knowledge and most of all, he seeks life for his dead friend Enkidu. In the epic, Mason shows through apostrophe, Gilgamesh’s constant references to enkidu, that being human means experiencing grief and having the ability to care for someone more than anything else.
Gilgamesh feels immense pain from the loss of enkidu because they were close and Gilgamesh cherished him. Enkidu was gilgamesh’s best friend and they had always “encourag[ed] when one was discouraged or afraid”(60).
They shared their pain and were there for each other, and to Gilgamesh, this was someone for him to love and someone to be loved by. For the first time since Enkidu and Gilgamesh become friends, Gilgamesh felt alone, a feeling that “he had craved but not known that he craved”( 54). Gilgamesh never fully understood that he craved companionship until the only companion that he had was gone. Mason further emphasises this when Gilgamesh journeys to the mountain to express his grief. Gilgamesh sat and wept calling out “Enkidu, Enkidu” (61).
However, the silence Gilgamesh received in return confirmed that he was indeed alone and that unlike how he could share his feelings with Enkidu, his pain was “ known only to himself”(61). Gilgamesh cared about Enkidu enough to grieve over his death.
127 our experts are availableright now
The gods were infuriated after the brutal murder of humbaba by Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Ishtar descended offering Gilgamesh save haiven from the gods’ anger in exchange for marriage and upon him rejecting this offer Ishtar sent down the bull of heaven with the intent to kill Gilgamesh. Enkidu, who had been previously wounded in the fight with Humbaba, “Found strength” (45).
Enkidu wanted to protect Gilgamesh from harm and he did so. After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh realizes why he needs to embark on this journey in order to bring Enkidu back to life. The motivation behind his journey was remembering the events that happened with Humbaba and The bull of heaven, he remembered “[his] younger brother who saved [him]”. Gilgamesh contemplated and knew that if he had been the one to die “[Enkidu] would not have let [ him] die alone. He was my friend”(68). When Enkidu died saving him, he realized that Enkidu had sacrificed himself to save him and he realized that Enkidu would not have forgotten about him if he had been the one to die. Gilgamesh knew that the least he could do for his friend was to remember him. Many temptations came up on his journey but because Enkidu was his close friend, he chose to remember him.
Gilgamesh prioritizes his love for Enkidu. In his pursuit of life for Enkidu, Gilgamesh encounters Siduri. She housed and bathed him. But all her efforts were in vain because Gilgamesh’s mind kept wandering back to the one “ who went with [him] through everything”. Siduri saw that Gilgamesh was still grieving over Enkidu. “ no one grieves that much… your friend is gone. Forget him”. Suduri prefered Gilgamesh to stay with her and tried to make him forget about Enkidu. Gilgamesh kept realizing that he had an obligation to Enkidu to remember him.
Throughout his journey, Mason presented Gilgamesh with many chances to forget about Enkidu.
However Gilgamesh constantly remembered Enkidu and remembered his grief.Through Gilgamesh’s constant reference to Enkidu, Mason shows that being human means feeling grief and caring for someone, like Gilgamesh cared for Enkidu.
