Enkidu

Enkidu is a character that is interesting to me.  He starts off innocent and at one with nature.  Then he becomes that of a civilized man.  Then he goes off and becomes an adventurer.  He dose through these phases so fast his character is very dynamic compared to everyone ells in the story.

“Enkidu ate grass in the hills with the gazelles” That says allot about his purity.  He just hung out with the animals and they accepted him for he was pure of heart.  He had no ill intent or malice in his heart.  He acted on instinct and was more beat than man.

That all changed when he lay with the harlot.   “When the gazelle saw him, they bolted away” He was rejected by the animals after he had embraced the women.   After he had no place left to go she showed him how to become a proper man.  She took him back to her temple and clothed him.  She fed him, and turned him into a real man.

After he met Gilgamesh they became good friends.  They went on adventures and relied on each other for they were two half’s of the same coin.  Enkidu even helped slay the bull of heaven he ‘seized it by the horns”.  The bull charged him and knocked him over so he gets up and restrains it by himself so Gilgamesh can kill it.  That is not something he would have done if he was still a feral man.

Enkidu to me was a really interesting character and noteworthy.  He was such a dynamic character in a story filled with static one.  When he died for me the story was less interesting because I did not really care about Gilgamesh.