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The Epic of Gilgamesh Critical Essay #5
Gilgamesh's mirror image is, of course, Enkidu. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are antithetical or opposites in many ways. On one hand, Gilgamesh is the highest product of civilized society. He is a semi-divine king who lives in a palace and indulges himself in fine food and sensuality. On the other, Enkidu represents the basic attributes of the natural world. He is fashioned from clay, is enormously strong, and has never encountered the opposite sex; he runs with the wild animals, frees them from the hunter's snare, and eats wild grasses. The Epic says simply that Enkidu "was innocent of mankind; he knew nothing of the cultivated land" (1. 63). While Enkidu lives off the land and what it provides naturally, Gilgamesh and the archaic Sumenan civilization thrives because of its ability to control nature—or at least harness it—by domesticating herd animals, by cultivating crops in the rich soil, by directing the...
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This section contains 177 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
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