Theme Of Death In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Almost seven and a half billion people are alive in the world right now. Over seven billion other people, each living their own lives, having their own problems, and being the main character of their own life story. Everyone has their own outlook on life, each has their own set of values and beliefs. Each person has a unique life and their own individual thoughts, whether they are shared or not. As humans we all experience a handful of the same things: birth, love, work, friendship, death, and the question of fate. No matter the culture, ethnicity, or heritage, every person is familiar those things. Each individual experiences these things at different times, in different ways, and with different outlooks. This is shown as far back as literature …show more content…
Even almost four millennium ago people were talking of death in the same ways people do today. The aspect of death that I will focus on about Gilgamesh is specifically how to avoid it. In his epic, Gilgamesh, whom is two thirds god, one third man, goes on a quest to gain immortality for himself. He sets out to do this in result of his friend and ally getting killed. After weeping of his friends death for six days and seven nights Gilgamesh says, “Then I was afraid that I too would die, I grew fearful of death, and so wander the wild” (Gilgamesh 10.61-62). His friend, Enkidu, was the only opponent that Gilgamesh had that matched him and neither one won the battle. So when Enkidu dies, it is somewhat like an epiphany for Gilgamesh. He is reminded that he too will die someday and sets out to find a solution. After finding the man Uta-napishti, who is the only man granted immortality, Gilgamesh asks him how to obtain immortality. Uta-napishti tries to convey to him that it is impossible to know when death is coming, “No one at all sees Death, no one at all sees the face [of Death,] no one at all [hears] the voice of Death, Death so savage, who hacks men down” (Gilgamesh 10.304-307). This explains that death will come to all and no one can know when that may be. This can still be said today, death can still take people by …show more content…
Although they were written at different times many aspects of the human experience stay the same, and are still the same today. There is still love, friendship, work, and death. Death is something that will never change. Every human being must face it at some point. Gilgamesh ultimately tries to dodge death, Achilles brings death in revenge, and Beowulf accepts the idea of death not matter what he faces. While they each have different approaches to death, one thing that they all have in common, is that following death, each (eventually) has proper burial traditions. Gilgamesh. For Hector’s burial there is some delay, because Achilles decides to keep his body and drag it behind a chariot for days. Eventually Achilles does bring Hectors body back to his people so that a proper burial may take place. Upon Beowulf’s death, he requests that all of this riches be put on display for his burial ceremony. Even though Beowulf was about to die, he was concerned about his wealth. He was not concerned about not living anymore, but rather he was concerned about was his work had earned him. He wanted to make sure that people would see his wealth and remember all the great things he did to earn

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