The Epic of Gilgamesh

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Gilgamesh takes the head of Humbaba because he needs proof. After Gilgamesh has killed Humbaba, he takes “the head, he took the tusks as booty” (George 4). He only takes the head of Humbaba because he needed a physical object in order to remind himself of his own superiority. It would not be unusual for someone at that time to take the head of another thing (we still do it today with deer). That would have been the common way for Gilgamesh to prove to all of his townspeople that he did in fact kill Humaba. Gilgamesh could have easily left the head behind, but instead he decides that he will carry it all the way back to Uruk. Uruk is not nearby at this point, and heads are some of the densest things in the world. It took a great deal of effort in order to satisfy the little craving that he had to make sure that people believed him.

Gilgamesh allows his arrogance to get in the way of intelligent thinking. After Gilgamesh has killed the monster that was blessed by the gods, he has no fear of them coming after him. When Enkidu warns Gilgamesh that their signals and auras are visible to the gods, Gilgamesh responds by stating, “Now, my friend, we must impose our victory. The auras slip away in the thicket, the auras slip away, and their radiance grows dim.” (George 45). At this point Gilgamesh only wants to bask in his glory that he has now won. He just killed Humbaba and needs to spend some time stroking his ego with the head of Humbaba that he just recently acquired. The intelligent move would be to get out of the forest and return to the safety of Uruk, however Gilgamesh wants to kick back and relax. Although Gilgamesh faces no consequences for this actions, it is clear to see that this is not the smartest move that Gilgamesh could have made.

Gilgamesh has been emotionally scarred from birth and this leads him to be insecure, as he was released into the wild with his feet bound together. This emotionally scarred him for the rest of his life, but he is never able to recall this because of the young age that this occurs at. Nobody denies that orphans go through a lot as children, many of them end up asking questions like, “why would they give me up?” or “was I not good enough?”. This can emotionally scar a child into being insecure, and they can develop severe self-esteem problems. They can end up with so much anger that they feel the need to destroy random things, like how Gilgamesh kills almost anything for fun. They can spend their time trying to prove that they are good enough, just like how Gilgamesh does so many amazing things that people believe Uruk to be the best city. Whatever the case may be, I can tell you first hand that being an orphan will mess you up for your entire life. When you couple that idea with the fact that Gilgamesh was bound as a child, it becomes easy to see that he would become different man. One that tries to prove himself at every opportunity in order to convince himself and others that he is something that no one would ever want to give up.

Gilgamesh is always attempting to assert that he is the best man in the world. Enkidu was sent to stop him and succeeded in changing Gilgamesh’s mind. There never ceases to be some way for Gilgamesh to prove himself. As we can see through Gilgamesh, you cannot blame evil people for their actions. They are simply bi-products of their environment. We need to be more understanding with these people that we view as not all there. But most importantly we need to recognize that people are completely shaped by their childhood. How we are nurtured as children can shape us into the people that we grow up to be. Gilgamesh also teaches us the importance of early childhood memories and how they are crucial in making sure that children are not raised to be tyrants that bring pain and suffering to those around them.

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Works Cited

George, Andrew, translator. The Epic of Gilgamesh. By unknown author, 1999, Penguin

Classics, 2003.