Two Heads Are Better Than one - Epic of Gilgamesh

!Two Heads Being Better Than One!

In the epic of Gilgamesh there are many complex characters with very different characteristics. The authors create and introduce Enkidu to serve as a contrast to the protagonist of the epic, Gilgamesh. With the introduction of Gilgamesh and Enkidu meeting and becoming friends, can make a reader come to the conclusion of two heads being better than one. Once Gilgamesh and Enkidu are introduced to each other, they have conversations and adventures that show how they needed both thought patterns to over come their obstacles. After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh decides to gain eternal life and embarks on an adventure by himself and I will show instances of how Enkidu had helped Gilgamesh to better prove my thesis.

What makes a good main character? Would it be a perfect being in society, having moral standards as most people would like to believe? Gilgamesh is far from your typical based hero. The authors have portrayed him as a womanizer and not a very good ruler to his people. With this is mind, would you not want a main character that will learn lessons on his journeys and not one who knows everything. With the authors making of a flawed main character, gives the reader a better feel of a normal human learning life lessons through his adversities. And what is a sidekicks roll towards the main character? Enkidu is calm, cool and collected with the way he carries himself; full-filling the typical rolls of a sidekick as offering second opinions and better alternative solutions to problems at hand. With the way Gilgamesh and Enkidu act, you have to ask yourself, why would the authors give you a nontraditional hero and then a traditional sidekick?

Being a nontraditional hero and a traditional sidekick is not the only one contrast Gilgamesh and Enkidu have. You could even go as far as saying the only thing they have in common is the fact that they are friends. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are two completely different people in character. Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third human, while Enkidu was created by the gods but does not have any divinity in his blood. Having said this, could this be the reason for Gilgamesh to act as if he is superior to every other living human? Enkidu, having more human characteristics than Gilgamesh, could very well be the reason why he acts more like his traditional roll of sidekick.

After Enkidu's death in the epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh himself has an epiphany that even he will meet his maker with the outcome of death. With this thought in his head, our main character tries to find immortality through a man that he has heard to survive the great flood. But, why after seeing his friend die, does Gilgamesh finally realize that he to will come to an end? Some would say since it was a close person to Gilgamesh, he finally saw the real facts of death. Since people die everyday, but none being in his hearts emotions, it made no real impact in his though of his mortality.

The wild man, Enkidu, of the epic of Gilgamesh represents the force of untamed nature; a force that civilized, city-dwelling society both feared and admired. Reasons for the fear were rooted for the fact that untamed tends to have a meaning of unpredictable and wild. With this definition in mind, civilized people tend to like having their routine or alteast having the ability of not having to worry about ones actions affecting them. With the admiration, civilized people admire the uncivilized for the fact of not knowing evils for a society that comes with being civilized.

In Gilgamesh, the civilized nature of mankind, rather than the animalistic nature, is shown to be the dominant half. At the beginning of the story, the harsher nature of man is illustrated when the Gods create the character King Gilgamesh. Although, the gods "gave him a perfect body" and "made his beauty perfect, surpassing all others" (George), he is ruthless, arrogant, and "terrifying like a great wild bull" (George). On first reading this portion of the story one imagines a picture of a young man not yet tamed by wisdom.

Upon hearing of the ruthless actions of Gilgamesh, the goddess of creation Aruru is called upon to create his equal, "like him as his own reflection, his second self, stormy heart for stormy heart" (George) as the gods put it. The character Enkidu is created to combat and equalize Gilgamesh. This thought is summarized when the gods say "Let them contend together and leave Uruk in quiet" (George). We can see the wild young boy becoming a man, upon reading the short encounter between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. After Gilgamesh faces his fear of Enkidu he becomes wiser for it and progresses into manhood illustrated here in the excerpt "Enkidu and Gilgamesh embraced and their friendship was sealed" (George).

A bit of irony is created in the two characters in part two "The Forest Journey". Gilgamesh boasts about going to kill the guardian of the forest Humbaba after hearing the bitterness shown by Enkidu towards Humbaba. Enkidu seems to manipulate Gilgamesh into the task by saying "Forward, there is nothing to fear....I know the place where Humbaba lives" (George). Here we start to see the untamed half of mankind peeking through. Upon the encounter between Gilgamesh, Enkidu and Humbaba, Humbaba pleads with Gilgamesh to spare his life in saying "Let me go free, Gilgamesh, and I will be your servant, you shall be my lord" (George). Gilgamesh shows compassion towards Humbaba, which is one of mans better traits, but the barbaric Enkidu convinces Gilgamesh otherwise. "Do not listen...Kill Humbaba first and his servants after" (George), he says. Gilgamesh does as his friend says even though he does not think it needs to be done. This is a good example of compassion being overcome by mankind's quest for power.

Towards the end of part three of Gilgamesh, the Gods realize their mistake and curse Enkidu showing the dominant civilized part of man's existence. In the excerpt "My friend" Enkidu says to Gilgamesh, "...the great goddess cursed me and I must die in shame" (George) seems to show the worst side of mankind being shameful