The Epic Evolution of Gilgamesh

Abusch's view is that Gilgamesh outgrows the identity of virulent(a) hero. Out of launch area XII, where Gilgamesh learns that the fallen hero is fated to throw up forever and eat scraps, plus what he takes to be Ishtar's final cause that Gilgamesh marry her so that he may become "a functionary of the netherworld" in check VI (152), Abusch concludes that Gilgamesh, at the end of Tablet XII, is going to accept Ishtar's proposal, in the appendage fulfilling his ultimate potential as a just immortal. It endure to a fault be interpreted as a full flowering of his earlier acceptance of his role as invigorating rather than tyrannical king of his city.

Abusch's interpretation is slightly subtle because Tablet XII does non cite the proposal of Tablet VI. Yet the estimate of complete evolution of the self-absorbed mortal into the disinterested cosmic divine judge of the underworld is lucid with the notion of fulfilled human potential. To see how the evolution happens, it is utile to look at the presentation of Gilgamesh as a personality. even off from the start, he is described as "the lord of wisdom, he who knew everything" (Gil. 57). Gilgamesh is also a hero because he did things that other people could not do. He "saw things secret, opened the place hidden, / and carried back treatment of the time before the Flood-- / he traveled the road, exhausted, in irritation . . . / endured everything harsh . . . / He takes the forefront, as a leader should" (Gil. 57-8).

---. "The Development and Meaning of the Epic of Gilgamesh: An informative Essay. Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.4 (October-December 2001): 614-622.

Wolff, Hope Nash. "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the epical Life." Journal of the American Oriental Society 89.2 (April-June 1969): 392-398.

One lesson comes from Gilgamesh's randy growth in the face of remnant. In particular the remnant of his bosom friend Enkidu and Utnapishtim's story of the Flood that killed all domain affect him. Initially, of course, he wants to find a way rough mortality.

He shares the anger of Enkidu, who, when he dies, wants the god Shamash to take punish on the prostitute/priestess who showed him the world he must leave. He resents the fact that "some god is angry at me" (181). Shamash tells him to be grateful for life instead (Gil. 173)--a message Gilgamesh eventually absorbs.

Vulpe sees Tablet XII as redeeming the theme of sorrow and death by ultimate transformation, that is, accepting the ironic facts of "life" for mortals in the afterworld. He has evolved from "consciousless god to [moral and mortal] man" (484). Whether Vulpe or Abusch's interpretation is correct, it challenges Wolff's idea that Gilgamesh cannot escape a predetermined cosmic fate.

How are the replete(p) and bad in Gilgamesh reconciled? Over the course of the narrative, Gilgamesh undergoes suffering, and the commanding leader of the first part of the story learns the humility he takes back to Uruk in the last part. According to Abusch, Gilgamesh cannot be a wise king "because of the very energy that made him a successful hero" (619). Thus "Gilgamesh must learn that a just kingship . . . is a greater good in peacetime than the resolution of a warlord" (619).

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