UNPROMISING CALLS TO DESTINY

In the story, Epic of Gilgamesh translated by Sanders, we follow the adventures of the

primary character Gilgamesh. In the beginning of the story, he is known for being the king of

Uruk. He is notorious for stealing the virginity of wives, being the strongest of all men and being

2/3s of a God. Although he is not completely a God, being 2/3s is just as much to talk about to

the other mortals that surround him. Because of this reason, the Gods create a man that is

beastly: he feeds off the wild beasts and knows of no other people. He identifies as more of an

animal than he ever has as a human. Named Enkidu, he stops a trapper from capturing and eating

some of the beast which he identifies as part of his family (Sanders, 4). The trapper, afraid and

bitter reaches out to Gilgamesh in hopes that Gilgamesh, the man of great strength, will be able

to defeat and destroy Enkidu and he will become profitable in his trappings again. After a series

of tricks brought onto Enkidu by Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh has a premonition that his match would

eventually find him, and he would be in great acquaintance. Enkidu’s acquaintance with

Gilgamesh is one that turns him into a great man.

Enkidu is seen transforming in a couple of ways throughout the story. First, Enkidu learns

how to eat and drink like a God from the harlot of which Gilgamesh had sent him to break his

connection with the beasts (Sanders, 5). This is a huge transformation and a huge foundation for

Enkidu’s manhood. It is one of the first times that Enkidu is seen having kingly features that do

match Gilgamesh. Throughout the story Enkidu is compared to Gilgamesh’s match repeatedly

yet holds no features to him besides strength until this first moment where he can eat as a king

would. Next, Enkidu transforms as a character when he joins Gilgamesh on the trip to the Cedars

to kill Humbaba. Enkidu is very cowardly the entire time working up to the slaying of Humbaba

(Sanders, 9-10). This can be seen two ways: Enkidu’s cowardice can be interpreted as a human
emotion. Instead of being fearless as we would assume a beast would be in a battle with another

beast, Enkidu exhibits human emotions of fear and rationalizations of wanting to turn around and

go back home because he is no longer up for the battle (Sanders, 9-10). Another way that this can

be interpreted is that Enkidu gains some of Gilgamesh’s courage and bravery when helping

Gilgamesh lay the final blow on Humbaba (Sanders, 10). He becomes more like Gilgamesh in

this aspect because he has a moment of fearlessness and belief that he can conquer this God,

even though he is a mere mortal.

This is exemplified again when he insults Ishtar (Sandars, 13) after slaying the Bull of

Heaven, stating “If I could lay my hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash the

entrails to your side.” After having some of Gilgamesh’s confidence carry over to Enkidu,

Enkidu seemingly forgets who he used to be: the timid man, taking direction from others on what

his next response or move should be. Now, like Gilgamesh, he has no respect for the present

Gods.

Enkidu is forced to look into the abyss after having a premonition that one of the two of

them (Enkidu or Gilgamesh) must die, due to being mortal and slaying a God through their own

free will. Joseph Campbell describes looking into the abyss as a hero being forced into a state of

atonement which requires the character to come face to face with something that has power over

life and death. Although Enkidu faces life and death just by initiating a battle with Humbaba, this

is not where he faces atonement. Enkidu faces atonement when he suddenly falls ill after said

premonition (Sanders, 13). Noticing he is ill, Enkidu pleads with the Gods, bitterly, for the

downfall of others and his own regrets regarding killing Humbaba. He pleads that if he knew the

turn of events, he would have never partaken in the battle, showing signs of his old self.
 The message to the audience behind Enkidu’s story and Gilgamesh’s story is to stay true

to yourself. Gilgamesh ends up dying because he continues to chase the dream of immortality: he

becomes scared of death once Enkidu dies and never wants to feel the same way again. Enkidu

dies because he was following the words and dream of Gilgamesh and felt like he was being a

loyal friend for doing this.

Gilgamesh was foolish for chasing the dreams of being a God. Not a lot of the gods

seemed happy themselves with the lives they obtained. Everything that they did was either out of

spite, tension, or pent-up energy. Gilgamesh really had no problems throughout the story other

than he was chasing something that just was not meant for him. Gilgamesh has a short-lived look

into the abyss when he lost consciousness before the battle with Humbaba and later in the story

when he loses the plant of eternal life (Sanders, 22-23). He conquered the first look into the

abyss through the help of Enkidu’s words and the call upon Shamash to help defeat Humbaba.

He does not conquer the abyss after the plant being stolen from him by the serpent, he has no

will to live any longer and accepts his fate that he will just die. But, instead of being happy with

what he has that remains, he loses his will.

One could say that Enkidu was a trap sent by the Gods to ensnare Gilgamesh. The God

that was confident in Gilgamesh’s ability to kill Humbaba was Shamash. Shamash wanted all of

this to pan out correctly, while the other Gods did not approve. Shamash could have been

secretly against Gilgamesh’s plight the entire time since Gilgamesh was at first warmed to NOT

embark on this journey. Since Gilgamesh was stubborn, the killing of Enkidu was used to teach

Gilgamesh a lesson OR to have him killed by his own [dangerous] will. A message being sent to

the audience is that if your beliefs and actions are ungodly, they will most likely circle back

around to you in a way that you least expect it.

 HAVEN’T WE SEEN THIS SOMEWHERE?

Referencing Ovid’s Metamorphoses, one story that seems quite like The Epic of

Gilgamesh is the story called the “Transformation of Daphne into a Lawrel.” Briefly, the story is

about a fairy who does not dream of being married, she only wants to hunt. Unfortunately, the

God Apollo falls in love with her and is determined to rape her. To escape this, Daphne calls out

to her father for help who turns her into a laurel tree. Now, Apollo will call that tree his sacred

tree and Daphne is to be forever punished. While I do not agree with the story at all, this story

relates to the Epic of Gilgamesh because Daphne is denying what would have been considered

“her fate” back in the ancient days. She is supposed to get married, as a woman, and be indebted

to her husband’s desires which she is refusing to do. Like Gilgamesh, who refuses to just sit

down and be a king and not a God. The message that is being shown from this story is that if you

try to defy your fate, you will eventually come to your demise. Whatever you run from is sure to

catch up with you. The differences I see here between Transformation of Daphne into a Laurel

and The Epic Gilgamesh is that Ishtar, a woman who is also a God, she can be destructive, and

no one questions it. While Daphne, although she is not a God, people try to convince her that she

should marry and should carry on traditions.

Another story we read from Metamorphoses is The Story of Phaeton. Phaeton is a mortal

who learns that his father is the Sun. He seeks out his father and rejoices him. Because of this,

Phaeton’s father decides to grant him one wish that he desires. Phaeton chooses to ride his

golden chariot. Although the Sun god advises him against this, he still leaves the option open to

Phaeton. Phaeton goes through with the ride which eventually leads to his death. Even though he

endangered many and caused his own death by his unwise choices, he is still renounced when

talked about after his death. This only goes to support the idea that Gods have about humans:
they are dumb, impulsive, and generally only create chaos. The message that is being given here

is that no matter what one is told about their next choice or how much they are advised against

making the choice, as a human their emotions will always override rationality. This relates to the

Epic of Gilgamesh because he was advised many times not to try and kill Humbaba, not to try

and cross the sea and not to try and get the plant of eternal life: all of which he did regardless.

Each decision that Gilgamesh had made that he was advised against lead him to a worse

consequence soon. The difference that we seen in The Story of Phaeton versus The Epic of

Gilgamesh is how the Sun God was so willing and accepting of his human son. In the Epic of

Gilgamesh, humans were more frowned upon than delighted for. The Sun God welcomed his

human son with open arms.

Lastly, a final story worth mentioning is The Story of Narcissus. Narcissus is a man who

is cursed by the Gods to only love himself, since he decided to reject the love of the nymph

named Echo. Because of this curse, whenever he sees himself in his reflection, he then falls in

love and is unable to stop looking. Due to this, he dies. Even while crossing over to the

underworld he can not stop looking at himself. Hence the name Narcissus, this reveals how self-

centered the character is when he was cursed and when he made the choice to reject the people

around him. The message being conveyed here is, if you only love yourself you might as well be

alone and die that way. This story relates to The Epic of Gilgamesh because it shows how the

Gods like to punish anyone who is self-righteous. Gilgamesh was punished because he thought

he was better than all the Gods, Narcissus was punished because he thought he was better than

all the people. This shows a cultural belief that one should not hold themselves to a level that is

“unobtainable” by others. When doing so, it is putting themselves on a pedestal of a God, which

they most likely can never reach.

 Works Cited

Ovid. “Book III.” Metamorphoses. Translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al.

Mythopedia, https://mythopedia.com/roman-mythology/texts/metamorphoses/book

iii/. Accessed 21 March 2021.

Sandars, N. K. The Epic of Gilgamesh. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.