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The hero’s journey motif dominates the latter half of "Gilgamesh". Often seen as a timeless motif across cultures, the hero’s journey typically follows a lone protagonist as they arrive at transformation after a long, solitary journey and a series of decisive confrontations in which the hero is victorious. However, in the case of Gilgamesh, the motif is complicated by irresolution. After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh journeys in search of immortality, but after a series of victories and failures, he returns home empty-handed.
As is typical with the hero’s journey, Gilgamesh defies the odds by accomplishing various heroic feats. He passes through the underground tunnel before the return of the sun in Book 9, followed by a death-defying journey across the Waters of Death in Book 10. However, his quest is destined for defeat, and immortality remains out of reach despite his best efforts. In the end, Gilgamesh accomplishes superhuman feats but is defeated by his mortal body’s need to bathe and to sleep. He cannot stay awake for seven days to earn his immortality, and he loses the valuable plant of immortality when his back is turned, and his guard is down. The needs of the human body ultimately undermine his goal.
In his return and continued rule of Uruk—which will remember his legacy for generations—Gilgamesh’s inability to achieve his goal can either be read as an acceptance of his own mortality or as a realization that immortality can be reached.
Gilgamesh is a demigod, a figure in whom the divine and mortal collide, allowing for the frequent interaction between both worlds throughout the text. Immortal gods serve to remind the reader of unseen forces beyond human control. While Gilgamesh motivates himself to act, the gods often intervene to undermine him or fortify him, and he never accomplishes his feats alone. The motif of divine intervention also provides an explanation of inexplicable phenomena to an ancient audience.
In "Gilgamesh", the gods often intervene at critical moments. In Book I, they see that Gilgamesh is an unjust ruler, and when the people ask for help, they send along Enkidu to temper his wrath. Gilgamesh’s mother and father both intervene at different moments to assure his success, but divine wrath also appears to take Enkidu from Gilgamesh, upending his successful life. These same gods play with the fate of all humans in Utnapishtim’s story of the Great Flood, revealing how vulnerable humans are to the powers of the unknown and unseen. As Utnapishtim says, “When the gods assemble, they decide your fate, they establish both life and death for you, but the time of death they do not reveal” (Line 179).
For the ancient world, belief and supplication to vengeful, capricious, and hateful gods helped to explain the inexplicable in life: why tragedy occurs, why young lives are cut short, why beloved partners are lost. The unfairness of life is explained through the unfairness of unseen gods, often driven by scorn and unforgiving anger for humans. They punish hubris, as seen in Gilgamesh’s boastful attitude after killing the Bull of Heaven. And yet, these same gods can be suddenly merciful, intervening to spare humans from devastating loss, as with Utnapishtim and his wife being saved from the flood and granted immortality. The recurring motif of divine intervention provides momentum for the plot, addresses the terror of death and the unknown, and allows the reader to believe in the possibility of superhuman victories for the hero and themselves.
Physical landscapes play a role in structuring and symbolizing the emotional challenges Gilgamesh and Enkidu face in each book. When Enkidu is still a wild man, he lives in the countryside, the forests, and among the animals. Gilgamesh faces his greatest challenge and most courageous victory in the Cedar Forest among the tallest trees and mountains in the land. The features of the land reflect the challenge of the moment, symbolizing the nature of the task. However, these challenges play out in Gilgamesh’s own kingdom and the surrounding territories, and despite the introduction of supernatural elements such as the Bull of Heaven, and the intervention of the gods in Book 6, the land and its limitations are familiar to Gilgamesh and facilitate his victories.
However, with the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh enters a new “land”—both figuratively and literally. In Book 9, he embarks on his quest to the underworld to achieve immortality and passes down through a tunnel leading him through to the underworld. Emotionally, he is in the depths of his despair, symbolized by this new supernatural landscape and his suspenseful run through the sun’s passage under the mountains. Unlike his homeland, his emergence in this new land—where he must cross the “Waters of Death” and find Utnapishtim—seems to defy his every effort at success. In a contrast to his own land, each person he encounters tells him the same thing: It is better to focus his efforts on enjoying life, rather than pursuing immortality. He learns the hard way that the same rules do not apply to the underworld; in this unfamiliar landscape, Gilgamesh must face his limitations as a man and a king. Ultimately, his experience in these two worlds unite two parts of himself, so he returns to his own kingdom “exhausted but whole” (Line 69).
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