The Story of the Flood, How Utnapishtim tells his Story to Gilgamesh
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh's best friend Enkidu is killed and therefore causes him to be afraid of death. Gilgamesh now that he is afraid of death wants to achieve immortal life so he will not have to face death (34). Gilgamesh travels far and longs to find the man who was granted everlasting life, and ask him how he did indeed receive everlasting life. Throughout his journey he is told time after time that he will not find everlasting life, so when he finally arrives at Utnapishtim, he too tells him he will not find the life he looks for. So, in order to prove to Gilgamesh that he will not get immortal life, he tells him "The Story of the Flood." (38) Gilgamesh in the story is afraid of death because his best friend was killed, so he sets out on a mission to achieve immortal life. What Gilgamesh does not know is, he will never find what he is looking for. Even before he is told "The Story of the Flood" during his mission he comes across 2 gods who tell him that he is not going to achieve immortal life. The first god (Shamash) who he bumps into and he tells him, that he will not find the life for which you are searching for." (34) After Shamash confronts him
, Gilgamesh then runs into the god Siduri. Siduri basically tells him the same answer, saying, "You will never find the life for which you are looking for. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping." (35) Gilgamesh still in a conquest to achieve everlasting life, does not believe any of the previous gods, and still wants to see Utnapishtim, to see how he achieved everlasting life. When Gilgamesh talks to Utnapishtim, the story is no different from the rest. Utnapishtim says to Gilgamesh, "there is no permanence" (38), furthermore stating that Gilgamesh is not going to find everlasting life. Even with the word of Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh still does not believe he will not find immortal life, so Utnapishtim decides to prove it to him by "telling him a secret of the gods." (38) He reveals the secret of the gods by telling Gilgamesh the story of the flood. Utnapishtim by telling him this story proves to Gilgamesh that he is not going to find the life he is searching for. Utnapishtim was chosen out of random to be warned of this catastrophe, because Ea did not want mankind to be destroyed. Ea wanted mankind to live on,
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 795
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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