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How Does Friendship Change Throughout The Epic Of Gilgamesh

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The doctor said it was time for me to say one last goodbye. She grabbed my hand, squeezed it and put it over her heart as she drew her last breath. My feelings for her have not changed a bit since that day, 6 years ago. Friendship is forever and a good example that explains this is The Epic Gilgamesh. This Epic was written in 1500 B.C.E. anonymously but translated by Herbert Mason. It is the oldest story written down that we know of. The discovery of this story can teach us a lot on the lives of the Mesopotamians. The Story of Gilgamesh is about two completely different people who come together and become more human. Even under the unfairness of the Gods, they will overcome it and become better humans. Gilgamesh will overcome his fear of death …show more content…
Gilgamesh has passed the sea of death to go see Utnapishtim. He just woke up and starts to explain to Utnapishtim why he came to see him. “My friend has died so many times in me, / And yet he still seems so alive, … Is there something more than death? / Some other end to friendship?” (Mason 73). Gilgamesh is talking about his friend, Enkidu. Enkidu has not actually died inside of Gilgamesh many times. Gilgamesh is just replaying Enkidu’s death many times in his head. His death has marked Gilgamesh. The tone in this passage is confusion. Gilgamesh still sees Enkidu as his friend even if he is dead. Friendship is forever. Gilgamesh never knew that friendship could go on after death. He had always thought that once one was dead he or she was completely gone and, now he is wondering why he feels as if Enkidu is still with him, because he thought that he would forget about him after he died. This revelation for Gilgamesh demonstrates that friendship never ends. Friendship is a human emotion. The passage explains the unexplainable that a friendship is forever, but something more important is how this epic develops a shared history by informing us on how mesopotamians thought of their …show more content…
Mesopotamians did not like their Gods because they were unfair to them and thought that they had all the power over humans. After Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill Humbaba, Ishtar, the patroness of Uruk, asks Gilgamesh to marry her. Gilgamesh rejects her proposal and goes running off to her father ashamed. “I will send him something / He would never wish to dream / There will be more dead / Than living on this earth / A drought that nothing will relieve” (Mason 44). Ishtar is obviously hurt from the rejection of Gilgamesh. She has probably never been rejected like that before, so when she is by Gilgamesh, she feels humiliated. It evokes a rage in her. The reaction of Ishtar to the rejection of Gilgamesh shows that humans are living under the Gods. When Gilgamesh rejects her, it shows that humans can live without the Gods controlling them. Ishtar go right away to her father after the rejection. She goes to him for help, hoping that he will punish all humans for rejecting a God. She wants a disaster which will kill all humans, even more than those living on earth. This is impossible if you look at it literally. What Ishtar means by this is that she wants the human race to be extinct. She does not want to be humiliated in front of them. The tone in this passage is rage and revenge. Ishtar feels assaulted. She probably had all these plans for the

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