Gilgamesh's grief...
Well when we're talking about Gilgamesh's response to the death of Enkidu he handles it normally, I would think. His brother had just died, and not only died from the earth but died into dust, into nothingness. However, when he seeks the gods for everlasting life among them, he shows a selfish side. He is angry about the death of Enkidu at frist and for a long time, and I guarantee it is an underlying factor throughout his grief but to me he seems self-absorbed in that he doesn't want to die and become nothingness. He talks with numerous gods about how to attain immortality, and his question starts out with how his brother Enkidu died, that the worms fastened on to him, but what gets me is that Gilgamest is only concerned with himself attaining immortality, he doesn't plead with them on Enkidu's behalf, to resurrect him or to give his friend life among the gods. His journey finally takes him to Urshanabi, the only mortal the gods have ever givien eternal life. Gilgamesh asks Urshanabi how he recieced favor in the eyes of the gods in order to live forever and Urshanabi tells him the story, but doesn't give Gilgamesh any hope of recieving his wish. Urshanabi also tells him of a plant that lives in the ocean, a plant that will restore the youth into an old man. Upon hearing this Gilgamesh swims into the warters and finds the plant and brings it to the surface. Now this is where he redeems himself a bit, he is generous with the plant, one of his first thoughts was to take the plant back to Uruk and let the older men have the opportunity to eat of the plant and restore thier youth. All in all, Gilgamesh responds normallly to the death of Enkidu, his motives for everlasting live are selfish but in the end he does try to hlep out the people of Uruk witht the plant that restores youth into the elderly.
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