Comparing Nature In Gilgamesh And The Book Of Genesis

When you think about the word “nature”, what comes to mind? Are you visualizing cheerful chirping birds, beautiful rainbows, and pretty flowers, or are you visualizing wicked snakes, treacherous jungles, and raging waters in your head? While nature is mostly viewed in a usually neutral sense, nature can also sometimes be viewed in both extremities in literature. One piece of literature can view nature as beautiful addition to Earth and have its characters coexist with it, on the flip side though, literature can also depict nature as inferior to man and have the characters disrespect it. Although the stories have similar morals, the two opposing views are similar to the ones of the first man on Earth and one of the greatest heroes of all time.

Gilgamesh did not care about nature at all. It comes across like Gilgamesh only viewed nature as something scary. Because he feared nature so, he destroyed it. Author uses words like “dreadful” and “horror” to further perpetuate the stereotype of nature being evil and scary and shine light on the views of Gilgamesh. He also frequently has Gilgamesh destroying nature in various parts of the book to directly link fear to destruction. He constantly went to different places and destroyed any piece of nature he felt like either got in his way or that he needed. In the story, he recklessly kills nature many of times, but he always seems to need it eventually. The story uncovers this by stating, “Your own hands have prevented the crossing, since in your fury you have smashed the Stone Men, who crewed my boat and could not be injured by the Waters of Death”(171-172). This very line is a clear statement to its audience that nature is here as an ally and it should be treated as such. By hurting nature, one is only hurting their self. Man has always destroyed nature and continues to destroy nature to this day, and it will most likely keep happening until humans realize that nature is here to help, not