Gilgamesh in Flesh and Spirit: Term Paper

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" (97). However, as both Utnapishtim and Siduri (the tavern keeper Gilgamesh meets on his journey) stress, and Gilgamesh eventually embraces "death is inevitable…" (107-108). "When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man." ([OBV] 151). So, to look for immortality in life is to waste life entirely.

When Gilgamesh asks Utnapishtim, at the ends of the Earth, for the secret to eternal life, Utnapishtim explains to Gilgamesh that from the days of old there is no permanence. But he reveals the mystery of his own possession of everlasting life. He tells Gilgamesh the story of the flood, of the time when the gods, unable to sleep for the uproar raised by mankind, agreed to destroy mankind, and would have succeeded had not Ea, one of man's creators, instructed Utnapishtim to build a boat and "take up into [it] the seed of all living creatures." (108). Feeling guilty for attempting to destroy mankind, the god Enlil is persuaded by Ea to bless Utnapishtim and his wife for their sacrifice in saving humankind.

At this point in the story, the immortality seeking Gilgamesh views Utnapishtim's situation as a gift from the gods. However, it is the flower of youth that is the true gift. Utnapishtim is destined to live eternally as an old man, banished to a far away place, with only his wife to live on with him. Such an existence is not that which Gilgamesh seeks.

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He fears not only death, but the loss of life as he knows it -- a life where he is strong enough to kill bulls and travel through dark mountains; a life where is not restricted to activities reserved for the aged.

As the gods had decreed earlier, Gilgamesh is not to have eternal life. Although Gilgamesh did not pass Utnapishtim's test for immortality and was not able to eat the plant of youth because it was stolen from him by a serpent, he does in the end obtain immortality in the spiritual sense. Upon returning to Uruk, Gilgamesh decides to record the story of his journey.

Gilgamesh learns that the greatest type of immortality is the noncorporeal. The best way for him to gain eternal life is if he lives on in the minds of his people. At the end of the epic, the narrator exalts, "O, Gilgamesh great is thy praise." (119). The narrator is saying that the admiration of others is and will be great. This clearly shows that the people of Uruk will keep Gilgamesh alive in their minds. Gilgameshs story that he inscribes on stone tablets is his way of living on past his death. Thousands of years after the death of Gilgamesh he and Enkidu continue to live through the story of their adventures that have been passed down through time - keeping the two friends in an….....

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