Allegorical Meanings in the Epic of Gilgamesh

Allegorical Meanings in the Epic of Gilgamesh

The epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient and famous poem that has inspired the writing of excellent epic literature all through history. The story is about the adventures and life of the Uruk king and hero known as Gilgamesh. His reign and deeds were such adventures that they inspired the rise of legendary and mythical literature. Notably, the tale is one of the oldest and beloved epic poems from Mesopotamia. It was written on 12 clay tablets and was first found in 1853 in the ruins of the vast library of Ashurbanipal. The sweetness of the story derives from the author’s authentic use of literal elements, including allegory and symbolism. The interpretation and understanding of the major themes in the epic depend on the readers understanding of the author’s use of allegory, foreshadowing and symbolism.

Two items from the epic that inspired my daily notes and laid my foundation of analyzing the poem are allegory and symbolism.  Allegory is the use of passages with hidden moral or political meaning. It was common among Greek writing and was used to hide the embarrassing immorality of the Greek gods. For instance, the Greek god Zeus turned himself into animals and raped beautiful women. In the epic of Gilgamesh, allegory is seen used to reflect the virtues and fate of the characters. Gilgamesh dreams are allegorical since they have hidden meanings (Abusch, 2019). When he dreams about the meteor, her mother tells him that it represents his future wife. Also, the falling star represents the unfortunate fate of Enkidu. Symbolism is also present in the epic in elements such as the bull of heaven and Humbaba. These two monsters symbolize the desires of men vs the wishes of the gods. They express the main character’s lust for power and fame, which are against the will of the gods. Two items that were discussed in class included the elements of irony and foreshadowing. The irony is observable in the first part of the story where Gilgamesh is neither concerned nor afraid of death. However, in the second part death troubles his soul and leads to his pursuit of immortality (Abusch, 2019). Foreshadowing is present in the dreams of Gilgamesh about the meteor and the falling star. These passages give the reader a hint of what is going to happen next in the story.

The significant thoughts of the author are the attributes of mortality and immortality. Through these themes, the author shows how elements such as love, kindness and power relate to immortality. He believes that compassion, love and wisdom are superior to immortality but power and strength are self-centred symbolisms of immortality (Foster 2019). Thus, man is greedy for power and strength, and it leads them to their demise while wisdom, love and kindness are the foundations of mortality. Gilgamesh at first is self-centred seeking power and fame. However, the death of his friends brings him knowledge, love and compassion that leads him to seek mortality. However, his pursuit is in vain since the gods are crafty.

In conclusion, the message that the writer needs to put across is man’s desires are contrary to the will of the gods. Man is self-centred and only seeks the things that please his souls, such as power and fame. Nevertheless, the vain pursuit brings him to his demise or conscious end. Gilgamesh seeks power and prestige and ends up killing the bull of heaven and other monsters to claim his glory. However, the gods are against his cause and put him in a trial that makes him realize the vanity of man’s desire.

References

Abusch, T. (2019). The development and meaning of the Epic of Gilgamesh: an interpretive essay. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 614-622.

Foster BR. (2019). The epic of Gilgamesh. WW Norton, 2019