The Story Of The Flood, How Utnapishtim Tells His Narrative To Gilgamesh Essay, Research Paper

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh & # 8217 ; s best friend Enkidu is killed and hence causes him to be afraid of decease. Gilgamesh now that he is afraid of decease wants to accomplish immortal life so he will non hold to confront decease ( 34 ) . Gilgamesh travels far and longs to happen the adult male who was granted ageless life, and inquire him how he did so have everlasting life. Throughout his journey he is told clip after clip that he will non happen ageless life, so when he eventually arrives at Utnapishtim, he excessively tells him he will non happen the life he looks for. So, in order to turn out to Gilgamesh that he will non acquire immortal life, he tells him & # 8220 ; The Story of the Flood. & # 8221 ; ( 38 )

Gilgamesh in the narrative is afraid of decease because his best friend was killed, so he sets out on a mission to accomplish immortal life. What Gilgamesh does non cognize is, he will ne’er happen what he is looking for. Even before he is told & # 8220 ; The Story of the Flood & # 8221 ; during his mission he comes across 2 Gods who tell him that he is non traveling to accomplish immortal life. The first God ( Shamash ) who he bumps into and he tells him, that he will non happen the life for which you are seeking for. & # 8221 ; ( 34 ) After Shamash confronts him, Gilgamesh so runs into the God Siduri. Siduri fundamentally tells him the same reply, stating, & # 8220 ; You will ne’er happen the life for which you are looking for. When the Gods created adult male they allotted to him decease, but life they retained in their ain keeping. & # 8221 ; ( 35 ) Gilgamesh still in a conquering to accomplish everlasting life, does non believe any of the old Gods, and still wants to see Utnapishtim, to see how he achieved everlasting life. When Gilgamesh negotiations to Utnapishtim, the narrative is no different from the remainder. Utnapishtim says to Gilgamesh, & # 8220 ; there is no permanency & # 8221 ; ( 38 ) , moreover saying that Gilgamesh is non traveling to happen ageless life.

Even with the word of Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh still does non believe he will non happen immortal life, so Utnapishtim decides to turn out it to him by & # 8220 ; stating him a secret of the gods. & # 8221 ; ( 38 ) He reveals the secret of the Gods by stating Gilgamesh the narrative of the

inundation. Utnapishtim by stating him this narrative proves to Gilgamesh that he is non traveling to happen the life he is seeking for. Utnapishtim was chosen out of random to be warned of this calamity, because Ea did non desire world to be destroyed. Ea wanted world to populate on, so he told Utnapishtim of the inundation ( 39 ) . This goes to demo that in order for Gilgamesh to have immortal life he must be chosen for some great ground. Once he was warned of the inundation, he was non allowed to state a psyche except for his household, and he had to construct a boat and convey things a long with him. Now that Gilgamesh is warned of the inundation, he must last this unsafe inundation, and it was said “that the inundation was so chilling that even the Gods we afraid of the flood.” ( 40 ) When the storm eventually seized and the inundation Waterss were still, Utnapishtim “made a forfeit at the top of the mountain which would pull the Gods and do them happy except for Enlil” ( 40 ) Finally Enlil notices that non all worlds have died, and is angry that even one homo has survived. Enlil suspects that ground why Utnapishtim survives is because he is told so by Ea ( 41 ) . Ea lies to him and tells him that, “Utnapishtim found out about the inundation in a dream” ( 41 ) , and with that Enlil thinks that he is such a wise adult male, that he non merely grants Utnapishtim everlasting life, but his married woman besides.

Everything that God has created, was non meant to last forever, and to accomplish immortality is about an impossible undertaking. Utnapishtim is seeking to do this point with the Story of the Flood. The narrative non merely backs him up and says Gilgamesh will non accomplish everlasting life, but besides tells him why. Utnapishtim having immortal life, simply by opportunity a error that should hold ne’er happened. If Ea did non state him to construct a boat due to the coming inundation, he would hold ne’er survived and if Ea did non lie for him, he likely would hold ne’er been granted immortality. Gilgamesh is non traveling to accomplish immortality by seeking for it, he must hold a particular trade or curse with a God, and besides he must be granted immortality by a God. It will be about impossible for the same conditions repeat themselves, and for Gilgamesh to accomplish immortal life.