Monday, February 25, 2019

Epic of Gilgamesh

After reading the Epic of Gilgamesh I put great thought into the meaning and exactly who was tamed. I turn over this larger-than-life is about the taming of nature and man. To me, Enkidu represents nature he was created as a wild man and he was innocent of mankind he knew zero of the cultivated worldly concern. He is physical like in the beginning of the epic and it takes the advancement of the harlot to make him a man. Once Enkidu has slept with the harlot his animal brethren no longer accept him because he now has the stench of humanity. other example of nature being tamed is the killing of Humbaba, Lord of the Cedars. I think Humbaba is a symbol for nature that must be tamed if humanitys civilization is to grow. While Gilgamesh felled the first of the trees of the woodwind instrument Enkidu exculpated their roots to the banks of the Euphrates. This sounds to me like clearing of a forest in the charge of progress. It seems like they are making the land suitable for use b y humans for farming.No regard is given for the forest, the animals that live in the forest or any future implications from this clearing. I do think Gilgamesh ends in journey tamed, he realizes man is part animal and we still strike what nature provides. I think in modern day orderliness we still find ourselves trying to tame nature. With the clearing of rainforests for development and to the taming of animals. I think in todays society we waste the land and the benefits we get from nature.

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