There is a central theme, which is the main theme of the epic, which is being overlooked; love. Love is the motivating factor as well as the catalyst for the personal journey that Gilgamesh makes within himself. The love in question is the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. This is clearly outlined in Tablet I and is further built upon throughout the epic.
In Tablet I Gilgamesh is introduced and is portrayed as a tyrant, uncaring and arrogant(hubris), yet mighty in stature and strength. Enkidu is created from a pinch of clay by the goddess Aruru to use him to show Gilgamesh the error of his ways. Here is where the first allusions to their relationship begin to show up. When Gilgamesh tells his mother, Ninsun, about his 2 dreams she interprets them(he dreams of a rock the first time and an axe the second)
“The stars of heaven appeared above you,
Like a rock from the sky one fell down before you.
You lifted it up, but it weighed too much for you,
you tried to roll it, but you could not dislodge it.
You lifted it up, set it down at my feet,
And I, Ninsun, I made it your equal.
Like a wife you loved it, caressed and embraced it:
A mighty comrade will come to you, and be his friend’s savior.
Mightiest in the land, strength he possesses,
His strength is as mighty as a rock from the sky.
Like a wife you’ll love him, caress and embrace him,
He will be mighty, and often will save you.”
Ninsun’s translation of 2nd dream
“My son, the axe you saw is a friend,
Like a wife you’ll love him, caress and embrace him,
And I, Ninsun, shall make him your equal.
A mighty comrade will come to you, and be his friend’s savior,
Mightiest in the land, strength he possesses,
His strength is as mighty as a rock from the sky.”
This is easy to see that he will be sent a friend that he will LOVE like a WIFE. Immediately after these interpretations they cut to Enkidu and Shamhat making love.
In Tablet I as Enkidu is being “tamed” (being made impure) by Shamhat, he also gains reason and wide understanding. With this comes realization that he must find a friend. This is shown as Shamhat speaks to Enkidu right after he has gained understanding.
“You are handsome, Enkidu, you are just like a god!
Why with the beasts do you wander the wild?
Come, I will take you to Uruk-the-Sheepfold,
To the sacred temple, home of Anu and Ishtar,
Where Gilgamesh is perfect in strength,
like wild bull lording it over the menfolk.
So she spoke to him and her work found favour,
He knew by instinct, he should seek a friend.”(p.8)
By instinct he knew he should seek a friend, this is an allusion to human nature and our need to seek love, companionship, attention, etc.
In Tablet II Enkidu and Gilgamesh meet for the first time and it is significant that at their first meeting Enkidu stops Gilgamesh from being with a woman. He is staking his claim immediately. The two wrestle and then they kiss and become friends (p.17). Ninsun offends Enkidu and he becomes upset and Gilgamesh comforts him; first sign of budding relationship; caring for each other. To cheer up Enkidu Gilgamesh thinks up some mischief to get into, slay Humbaba. As they prepare for this everywhere they go in town they hold hands (growing relationship). Ninsun adopts Enkidu before they leave on journey. Enkidu begins to have doubts but Gilgamesh consoles him.
As they travel to Forest of Cedar Gilgamesh has 5 bad dreams and Enkidu consoles him. This is a role reversal from earlier. It’s to show the caring that they both had for each other, it was not lopsided, both cared for each other equally. There is a key passage at the bottom of p. 38 in Tablet IV;
“Take my hand, friend, and we shall go on together,
Let your thoughts dwell on combat!
Forget death and seek life!”
The first two lines allude to “love conquers all” and the last line is a bit of foreshadowing for the lesson Enkidu is trying to teach.
In Tablet V there are some masculine/feminine roles beginning to show up between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. They come to Humbaba and as they approach Humbaba he insults Enkidu and Gilgamesh starts to waver but Enkidu bolsters him on. Also Gilgamesh looks to Enkidu almost for permission to slay Humbaba, and only at his command does G finally kill Humbaba. G is almost saying how dare you insult E. This shows a female role for E and male for G, and I think its kind of a backhanded reference to the fact that the wife wears the pants even back then with G looking to E for permission. This is further shown in Tablet VI when they slay the Bull of Heaven.
Ishtar is attracted to G and he insults her. She gets the Bull from her father Anu and send it to attack G. Once again at E’s instruction does G slay the Bull, also again showing the wife wearing the pants. As G slays the Bull E says to Ishtar that he would slay her as well if he could catch her. He says this in the manner of a jealous lover and his words carry great weight. After the battle they wash and hold hands and walk through town in front of all the women getting them to yell G’s name. E with his prize man parading him in front of the girls!!
Tablet VII is where the true moral of the story begins to unfold, to experience love is the one beautiful aspect that seperates mortal from immortal; our fatal flaw. In the beginning of the tablet E finds out he is to die and sas he laments to G his only regret mentioned is to NOT see him again.
“Enkidu lay down before Gilgamesh, his tears (flowed) down like streams: ‘O my
brother, dear to me is my brother! They will (never) raise me up again for my brother.
(Among) the dead I shall sit, the threshold of the dead ( I shall cross,) never again
(shall I set) eyes on me dear brother.” (p.55)
E goes on to curse the hunter-man and then he curses the harlot at first. As Shamash hears that E is cursing Shamhat for defiling him and taking him from his contentment in the wild he reminds E that because of this he was able to meet and get to know G. Also he tells E how G will treat him in death and mourn for him. At hearing this E completely changes his tune and blesses the harlot for giving him the chance to know G.
In tablet VIII G goes into deep mourning for E. His love for this man is very evident;
“He covered, like a bride, the face of his friend, like an eagle he circled around him.
Like a lioness deprived of her cubs, he paced to and fro, this way and that.” (p.65)
He laments and prays to many gods, he has an ornate statue made of his friend, which is very important this was an honor bestowed usually to kings and gods. He is very much heartbroken.
At the beginning of tablet IX G is heavy in his sorrow and in conversation with Shamash the underlying moral starts to peak through;
“Shamash grew worried, and bending down, he spoke to Gilgamesh: ‘O Gilgamesh, where are you wandering? The life that you seek you will never find.’
Said Gilgamesh to him, to the hero Shamash: ‘After roaming, wandering all through the wild, when I enter the Netherworld will rest be scarce? I shall lie there sleeping all down the years!
‘Let my eyes see the sun and be sated with light! The darkness is hidden, how much light is there left? When may the dead see the rays of the sun?” (p.71)
G is starting to realize the wonders of living, the simple LOVE of life itself and more importantly what it means to have that taken from you. The rest of the tablet is G traveling and in sorrow of course, seeking answers, seeking knowledge.
Tablet X is dedicated almost entirely to him telling others about his love for E.. Right from the beginning we get a clear picture of the emotional torment he is going through and the questions it has stirred within him as well as maybe a revelation or two. G has just come upon the tavern-keeper Shiduri, she is asking why; if he has just come from slaying Humbaba and the Bull does he look so haggard and sad. This is picked up from after the first few lines of his response;
“[my friend, whom I loved so dear,] [who with me went through every danger,]
[my friend Enkidu, whom I loved so dear,] [who with me went through every danger:]
‘[the doom of mortals overtook him.] [Six days I wept for him and seven nights.]
[I did not surrender his body for burial,] [until a maggot dropped from his nostril.]
‘[Then I was afraid that I too would die,] [I grew fearful of death, and so wander the
wild.] What became of my friend [was too much to bear,] [so on a far road I wander
the] wild; what became of [my friend] Enkidu [was too much to bear,] [so on a far
path] I wander [the wild.]
‘How can I keep silent?] How can I stay quiet? [My friend, whom I loved, has turned] to
clay, my friend Enkidu, whom I loved, has [turned to clay.] [Shall I not be like] him, and
also lie down, [never] to rise again, through all eternity?” (pp.77,78)
Several times G states his love for E as he does several times to come as well. He kept the body until a maggot came out of it, huge emotional attachment issue. G also clearly states about his fear of death. The line about ‘the doom of mortals’ is great, E’s only sin was loving G. He was created with a purpose and his love for G distracted him from what he was CREATED to do, which is powerful.
The tavern-keeper Shiduri instructs G to go across the ocean to “The Waters of Death”. Water is very symbolic of cleansing, birth, re-birth, all life comes from water, etc. Shiduri tells him about the boatman, Ur-shanabi, and Uta-napishti the Distant that he must talk to. G finds the boatman and throws his crew in the river, when the boatman asks G why his mood is so wretched he gives the same response he gave to Shiduri professing his love for E (pp. 80-81). G makes his way to “The Waters of Death” and finds Uta-napishti. G gives the same lament about loving E for the third time (pp. 84-85)
In Tablet XI Uta-napishti tells G of a plant at the bottom of the ocean that gives eternal life. He also tells G the story of the deluge and shows G his own mortality through the lesson of sleep. Through these stories Gilgamesh slowly understands the tenuousness of life, and the limitations of mortality. This adds to his already burning desire to understand death but it also allows him to begin to reflect on what is important during one’s lifetime and what are the benefits of being mortal, love. The repeated laments about Enkidu clearly outline what G felt was important during his lifetime and the sleep issue further reinstated his mortality and vulnerability to human needs, but he still cannot let go of the idea of eternal life.
Uta-napishti tells him of the plant and G dives down to retrieve it. Now, in possession of the plant G is venturing home in hopes of administering the plant to himself and E. He stops to bathe and the plant is stolen by a snake. The snake is a representation of E, him coming to say that G didn’t need the plant, he had learned the lesson, and the shedding of the skin is representative of a new beginning. A shedding of previous thinking and the start of something new. Gilgamesh had learned that love is a gift to be experienced by mortals, a gift to be cherished, a gift worth dying for.
No comments:
Post a Comment