Literary Archetypes-Gilgamesh

1. Hero: Gilgamesh.
It is very obvious in this story that Gilgamesh is the hero, after all he is the prominant character in the story and really the only one that we follow throughout the whole novel. It says in the discription of the hero that they should reflect the views of their society, obviously this is true with Gilgamesh because he is the King of Uruk, therefore his views and his opinions ultimately become the law, or at least the way things are done. Even though in the beginning of the book people don't agree with his views at all. It also says that the hero should be god-directed which can be true with Gilgamesh, after all he is 2/3 God. The hero is suppose to save the society from something I believe ultimately in this story he saves them from himself through a personal journey.

2. Wise Fool: Utnapishtim.
Utnapishtim is the only mortal who has ever been granted immortality, which is why Gilgamesh seeks him out, he wants to achieve what Utnapishtim did. Ea instructed him to tear down his house so he could build a boat big enough to take all of his belongings and loved ones along with him so they didn't die in the flood that Enlil was going to make happen. After the horrible storm Enlil thought he had killed all of mankind, then he realized that because of Ea Utnapishtim has survived, however Eat defended himself because he did it through a dream. "It was not I that revealed the secret of the gods; the wise man learned it in a dream" (113). This quotation makes it very obvious that he is the wise fool. Obviously there were people who thought he was crazy when he talked about the great flood that the gods were planning, which made him seem foolish, but really he was the wisest of them all. This is how he was granted immortality.

3. Devil Figure: Humbaba.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu set out to destory Humbaba because they believe he is evil, which shows us that he is the devil figure in this book. "When he roars it is like the torrent of the storm, his breath is like fire, and his jaws are death itself" (71). During the whole time when they are trying to defet him Gilgamesh is praying to the gods for help and wisdom on how to defet this monster. When it comes down to it they never had an actual reason that triggered them to go after him, other than its power. He is said to be extremely strong and indistructable. Gilgamesh wants to be the biggest, strongest, and most powerful. So I believe that is the real reason that he wants to kill him, its a power struggle for him more than anything else.

4. Outcast: Enkidu.
Enkidu use to be accepted by the creatures of the wild, he was one of them, he ran with the gazzel and was one of the animals. Then one day a hunter brought a prostitute to tempt Enkidu and weaken him by showing him the love of a woman. Once they laid together for 6 days and 7 nights he was finally satisfied and tried to return to the animals, but they shunned him. Even if they hadn't he realized he couldn't run as swiftly and had been weakened all together, he has been changed. This is where Enkidu is shown as the outcast. He use to feel like the only place he could possibly fit in was running wild and free with the animals and when that was taken away from him he didn't really know where to go and who to become. Luckily the prostitue took him back to Uruk and introduced him to Gilgamesh, where a brotherhood was born.

5. Double: Gilgamesh.
I believe that this story is not only a search for immortality, even though thats what we think throughout the whole book. I think ultimately it is a journey for Gilgamesh to change his values, behavior, and ultimately himself. In the beginning no one in his kingdom thinks he is doing good, they all see him as hurting the city more than helping it. I see the story a lot as a change from evil to good, because in the end of the book he wants to be a good king and treat the people of his city much better, he wants to leave a better legacy for himself than the one he has began. So because of this I see him as the double, because you get to see two sides of him, good in the end and evil in the beginning.

6. Scapegoat: Enkidu.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu fight for what they strongly believe in when they kill Humbaba and then the Bull of Heaven. They do it because they feel it's right and they strongly believe it is for the best. However the gods decide that their actions cannot go unpunished. They cannot kill Gilgamesh because he is the king and he is 2/3 god. So they use Enkidu as kind of a sacrafice for what they have done. These two are equally powerful and strong, after all Enkidu was made to be Gilgamesh's equal and someone so powerful is obviously going to be seen as a threat, its not natural. In the discription it says that they are suppose to be slightly different, even though they give religions, this is true for Enkidu because he wasn't raised like everyone else, he use to be a man of the wild.

7. Temptress- Prostitute.
I see this as an extremely obvious one, after all in the beginning of the book it is her job to tempt Enkidu and bring him to her. The discription says she is to be seductive and beautiful, obviously she does a pretty good job at seducing him. Also it says she brings distruction to someone. Even though it brings him to good things (like Gilgamesh) she does destroy him in a way. She creates something new in his place but destroys what use to be there. A wild and free man with no limits who never new society into someone who now knows the love of a woman, the satisfaction of good food and wine, and the friendship of a soul mate, Gilgamesh.

8. Good Mother- Ninsun.
Ninsun is a very nurturing and loving woman in this book, after all Enkidu is not her son but she considers him one because of the friendship he has made with her son. "Strong Enkidu you are not a child of my body, but I will recieve you as my adopted son; you are my other child like the foundlings they bring to the temple" (75). In this part of the story she is saying that even though she is not biologically his mother she will treat him as a son, not something just anyone would do. Being welcoming would almost be enough in this situation, but she goes a step beyond that here. She doesn't settle with just saying that he can feel safe there but that he can feel part of the family there, something that he never had, something that because of her loving nature she is willing to provide for him.