The Epic of Gilgamesh, a tale from ancient Mesopotamian times, recounts the journeys of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and his companion Enkidu, who once lived among the wildlife but lost his pure nature due to the actions of the trapper, the harlot, and Gilgamesh himself. Despite there being many contributing factors to the corruption of Enkidu’s purity, Gilgamesh, due to his hunger for admiration and lust for power, can solely be blamed for his role in each of the events leading to Enkidu’s downfall. Enkidu’s spiral toward his impending doom begins with his attempt to free his pure, animal brethren. In doing so, Enkidu attracts unwanted attention from the trapper. Distraught by losing the animals from his traps, the trapper turns to his father in an attempt to remedy the situation (Sandars 63). In order to do so, Gilgamesh is brought into play. Gilgamesh, in an attempt…show more content… Even if Gilgamesh and Enkidu ended up as friends, as they did in the tale, had Gilgamesh not convinced Enkidu to set out on this pointless quest, they could have lived their lives ruling over the people of Uruk. However, once again, Gilgamesh put his own needs above all else. Gilgamesh wants to feel powerful and loved, and these qualities end up being the two largest contributing factors to Enkidu’s devolution.
All in all, there were many different contributions to the downfall of Enkidu as a pure being, and ultimately his death. However, as shown, these contributions can all be linked back to Gilgamesh as the source. He sent the assisted the trapper by sending the harlot, he befriended Enkidu after their grappling match, he convinced Enkidu to set out on a mission to slay Humbaba, and he angered Ishtar to the point where she sent the Bull of Heaven, which was ultimately slayed by Enkidu. All of these events lead to Enkidu dying a horribly painful death, and Gilgamesh only has himself to
