Gilgamesh as the Main Character in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”
“Epic of Gilgamesh” is an epic poem that was created in ancient Mesopotamia by an unknown author. It is considered to be written around 2100 BC, during the rule of the Third dynasty of Ur, and is the oldest known piece of literature. The poem describes the life of Gilgamesh the town he leads – Uruk. It also mentions the friend of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, with whom Gilgamesh fought and defeated Humbaba, a monstrous creature which defended the Lebanese forests. Later on he overcame the charms of the Ishtar goddess but failed to achieve immortality. Even though Gilgamesh is usually considered as a complicated character with no clear description of him being a complete hero or a definite villain, he still represents a unique character of ancient Mesopotamian literature, and can teach even modern people some valuable lessons, such as being open-hearted and caring and show the importance of finding the inner-balance.
First of all, in order to properly analyze Gilgamesh as a character of the poem, and not the real historical figure, it is necessary to indicate his origin, as during the whole epic he claims himself to be two-thirds of a god and one third as a man. According to the poem, Gilgamesh was a son of a tutelary goddess Ninsun (her name is also translated as “lady wild cow”) and the king of Uruk Lugalbanda. In further Western literature, the children of goods and mortals would be considered demigods, which means that the mortal and immortal parts represent halves of them. Thus, considering that in Gilgamesh’s case the godly part of his mother makes him two-thirds of a god, it may mean that in ancient Mesopotamia either the maternal line was more important in deciding the origins of the child or that animal breeding had a high importance for the Mesopotamian (Damrosch, David). Such godly origin makes Gilgamesh a truly respected and admirable character of the Uruk society, and endows him almost unlimited powers, which is a common characteristic of a real epic hero.
Secondly, it would be helpful to analyze the general behavior of Gilgamesh during the poem in order to find out his true intentions and motives. In the beginning of the poem, Gilgamesh seems like a strong man who knows no barriers: he rules Uruk without accepting any advices, he takes any woman he wants and does not care whether she is pregnant or engaged to other man. All these intentions seem barbarian, and even the fact that Gilgamesh built a great wall to defend the city does not help the reader to believe that he truly is a hero. However, the perception of Gilgamesh starts to slightly change with the appearance of the other rather important character – Enkidu. He is a wild man who eats uncooked meet with his hands and does not seem to accept the idea of wearing clothes, so walks everywhere naked. When he first appears in Uruk, Gilgamesh considers him …
