Curt Howard
English 2111
Dr. Gerald Lucas
Jan 23, 2005
Our Life Is All There Is
In summary, the epic of Gilgamesh is the first great heroic narrative of world literature and is timeless. Despite its omissions and obscurities, its strange cast of gods, and its unfamiliar theory about the creation of the universe, the story of Gilgamesh is powerful and gripping. An exciting adventure that celebrates kinship between men, it asks what price people pay to be civilized and questions the proper role of a king, and it both acknowledges and scrutinizes the attractions of earthly fame. Most of all, Gilgamesh describes the struggles of an exceedingly strong man who must reconcile himself to his mortality and find meaning in his life despite the inevitability of death. The meaning he found was the legacy of the city of Uruk he left behind (Kovacs).
The following excerpts from Gilgamesh emphasize the importance he placed on his achievements. When Gilgamesh the king and the ferryman reach Uruk, Gilgamesh said to the ferryman: “Urshanabi, climb up on to the wall of Uruk, inspect its foundation terrace, and examine well the brickwork; see if it is not of burnt bricks; and did not the seven wise men lay these foundations? One third of the whole is city, one third is garden, and one third is field, with the precinct of the goddess Ishtar. These parts and the precinct are all Uruk" (Lawall 45). He is empty-handed but reconciled at last to his mortality. He knows that he can’t live forever but humankind will. Now he sees that the city he had rejected in his grief and terror is a magnificent, enduring achievement – the closest thing to immortality to which a mortal can aspire. Now he accepts the fact that earthly life is all there is and he needs to live in the here and now. His place is in Uruk, which, if he rules it well, will live on after him and continue to grow in power and beauty. Taken on its own terms, the ending is deeply positive. Gilgamesh can now see Uruk for the marvel of human ingenuity and labor that it is, a worthy monument to the mortals who built it (Leeming).
Works cited:
Kovacs, Maureen G. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University, 1989. Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, The Western Tradition Seventh Edition. W. W. Norton & Company New York, N.Y., 1999. Leeming, David Adams. Mythology, Voyage of the Hero. New York Oxford University, N.Y., 1998.