gilgamesh and his search, Mythology, College Term Papers.com


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gilgamesh and his search

gilgamesh and his search The epic Gilgamesh is not a story of the journey to discover eternal life, but a story of a man, and “man’s” quest to accept death. Thus the story in turn becomes a parody of life, for one does not begin to live, until he accepts his death. Gilgamesh as well deals with the disguised feelings of consolation and desolation, which are the two emotional components of existence according to Jesuit teaching. To act in a similar behavior, and expect a different result, is the definition of insanity. What then could Gilgamesh be called but insane in denying his mortality? The arrogance! To think he was somehow special, and possessed the ability to perpetually everlasting eternal life. The initial premise for the Epic was a man searching for eternal life, because he was dissatisfied with what he had, and therefore his non-acceptance of existence. This translates almost into a feeling of contempt for life; to believe that what is now does not matter, because the only thing of importance is to be sure of an everlasting future. Gilgamesh was a man, enjoyed the pleasures of man, and would suffer the demise of man. It was his noncompliance to the universal validity of that statement, which was his nemesis. Death was his enemy, when in reality death is just a stage of life; it’s called the end. Consolation and desolation are taught by Jesuit teaching to be the two gravitational poles of life. Rendering everything in life either an extreme of which, or a medium of the two. Here’s a hint, there is no consolation in searching for something that does not exist. Gilgamesh was doomed to suffer the curse of desolation from the beginning of the epic. To eventually become hopelessly desolate from the result of his hollow journey, with this extreme culminating at the very moment the serpent made lunch of his precious flower. However, as all things in life, the situation is circular and cyclical, nothing more nothing less, with nothing in particular any more important than the rest. Everything leads to something else, and for Gilgamesh one extreme led to another. Directly after the snake devoured his flower of youth his mortality finally hit home, and he was consoled by the once absent, then present acceptance of reality. A brief but impacting feeling of depression as well struck Gilgamesh, this but a moment before his reality realization. Depression is a result of desolation, and was as well a necessary step in Gilgamesh’s spiritual metamorphosis. Almost as if Gilgamesh put his head down, depressed from the actions of the serpent, and then brought his head back up, in realization of the truth. Death is inevitable, and life is what you make of it. It was from this point on that Gilgamesh began “to live.” He had conquered his demons, accepted his death, and began his journey home. The beauty of the Epic Gilgamesh is that is applicable at so many levels, and is understood to mean so many things. However, the foremost issue made prevalent through this epic, was the need of man to accept his death. Let Gilgamesh be a general example to all, the journey is not easy, nor is it short, but it is well worth the trip. Bibliography:

Word Count: 543