The Heckle and Jackal Epic of Gilgamesh (Research Paper Sample)

Name
Professor
Course
Date
The Heckle and Jackal Epic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh actions are imperative to adhering to the gods’ directions or receive turmoil consequences. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the story of being two-third god and one-fourth mortal. Gilgamesh is the leader of Uruk, and he was physically strong, beautiful, and very wise. However, his style of leadership was one that was engineered with cruelty. He used his power to rape any woman who caught his attention regardless of their background and made his subjects feel his power. He used forced labor to complete his building projects, and his subjects were not happy towards the oppression they faced (Puchner). Gilgamesh is an interesting character with many dynamics of personalities. Of course, the gods introduced an entity, whose initial task was to destroy or better yet put Gilgamesh in his place. The Heckle and Jackal personality appear when he seeks eternal life. Gilgamesh personality is defined as good and evil, and he tends to switch without notice. Could his personality be manipulation or does he strive to be a better individual who deserves everlasting life? Is his friendship with Enkidu genuine, or is he Enkidu’s mimesis? Is Gilgamesh’s direct purpose to deceive the gods, by any means necessary, to receive eternal life? The questions stated are imperative to the development of Gilgamesh’s character. Furthermore, every situation encountered is a building block developing his story. The decision to focus on the Epic of Gilgamesh is because he has a diverse personality, the way he draws others in through manipulation and his strive for eternal life.
The story introduces Gilgamesh in the past tense since the narrator shows that his words are the basis of the story and that he wrote it himself. The high walls that Gilgamesh built are also are already ancient. The story portrays and celebrates historical people and their deeds. Gilgamesh’s life of heroism, grief, and wisdom poses a timeless and immediate story, which satisfies a continuous, universal process (George, 12).
Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, is very self-confident, to him nothing can ever defeat him, he feels that he is above others owing to the fact that one-third man and two-thirds god. This makes him act in a cruel manner since after all nobody can match up with him. Gilgamesh does not allow father and son to be together; day and night, he makes his subjects suffer, by taking small children to work through forced labor; Gilgamesh does not have any respect for women or any other man to him there is no man who can match to him and thus he feels superior (Gilgamesh and Sandars, 20).
Gilgamesh is a king a powerful man who likes to get the attention of everyone by showing off to those around him and he mistakenly believe that there is no one who can stand to oppose him. The people of Uruk grew tired of their king and his kingship, which is full of oppression and so, they asked the gods to give them a man who will stand against Gilgamesh. The gods create Enkidu, who has more beastly traits than human. Enkidu becomes civilized when he interacts with Shamhat, a woman who considers Ishtar as a god. Enkidu grows to distaste the tyranny and habits of Gilgamesh. When eventually Gilgamesh and Enkidu meet, they fight. Nevertheless, after the fight they become friends (Puchner). It is evident that Gilgamesh likes to boast and proves himself great among his counterparts, and he fights with cruel, powerful beasts just the way he fought with Enkidu. According to Puchner, this type of behavior made people believe that one day will get him killed though he does not care. This shows that nothing can stop Gilgamesh even Enkidu. It shows his persuasions in that Enkidu finds himself joining Gilgamesh in his expeditions.
In the beginning, Gilgamesh is depicted as a cruel man but he evolves and changes into a tenderhearted individual who is very supportive to Enkidu and assist and advice him on how to undertake certain situations. When they are in the battle against Humbaba, Gilgamesh tells Enkidu that they are going to prevail, the battle they are fighting is one that he understands, and he encourages him to stand up so that they can fight together. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh shows his sensitivity towards the situation too. He then says for his friend Enkidu; he will weep like a woman who is wailing and howls bitterly (George, 17). He lamented of the evil that has taken his dear friend. This is the moment that he was conscious of death. He was afraid of it and coming to terms with the fact of his mortality was a quest that he had to undertake while searching for a secret to mortality.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu become official, and they kiss each other as a sign of concrete bond. In the beginning, Gilgamesh seems to be the leader of the friendship and plans the adventure. They go to the forest where the Huwawa lives. Then Gilgamesh decides that they should kill it together to destroy the evil in the land. Gilgamesh shows that he wants to eradicate the evil, which exists in the land by killing the Huwawa. Through the bond that Gilgamesh has found with another human, he is motivated to better the lives of subjects by becoming a protector than a cruel leader (Jones, 12).
Gilgamesh is seen to have some strong sense of arrogance in him when Enkidu accepts that the mission of killing the Huwawa is a dangerous mission. Gilgamesh replies with pride saying that Enkidu is afraid of facing death, but he is not. He shall go before and face the Huwawa, and if he happens to die, the people will sing the praise of his courageous expedition and his name will live on and be great. Gilgamesh likes to show off that despite the great power of the Huwawa, he still wants to use the killing to have fun and get the glory.
Gilgamesh is not afraid of death, in fact, he seems to be exhilarated by its existence to an extent he wants to use it to gain fame among his people. He says that the days of man are numbered, and whatever they do can lead them to death. He accepts death exists without restraint. The thought Gilgamesh had about life took a sharp turn when he defeated the Huwawa, killing the bull from heaven and humiliating Ishtar (Gilgamesh and Sandars, 21). This mission makes him view Enkidu to be more of a friend to him to the extent that his death made him go through a deep depression and lost the ability to deny his own mortality.
The death of Enkidu was a big blow to Gilgamesh that he started having visions about will happen to him when he faces death. This scenario and the time he fought the Huwawa are the moments, which exhibited Gilgamesh’s side of fear before his friend died, Gilgamesh did not try to avoid death, but when his friend died, he started wandering in fear of death even as he went to find the answer to immortality bathing (Puchner). 
Gilgamesh fears death and, for this reason; he searches for Utnapishtim and the key to immortality. In his journey, he is faced with many obstacles, but he does not succumb to any of them. He must satisfy his goal of finding everlasting life. When the barmaid tries to convince him that there is no way a man can find immortality, he does not listen to that advice; instead he asks for the direction, and he says he will do anything to reach there even if he has to cross the sea. This shows how Gilgamesh has become humble by the fear of mortality, compared with his earlier arrogant trait. At long last he reaches Utnapishtim, where gets knowledge that there is a 'wondrous plant’ that can restore a man’s former power (Puchner).
Gilgamesh has been successful in his journey to find the key to immortality. He the sets back to Uruk very excited that he has something to bring back home. Though it is unclear if Gilgamesh had an idea of sharing the knowledge with his subjects if something like that crossed, his mind then it can be concluded that Gilgamesh is generous, a new trait he did not express before. Unfortunately, Gilgamesh does not get to reach home with the newly found knowledge a serpent came and snatched the plant while, he was bathing (Puchner). He then sat down and starte...