Epic Of Gilgamesh Literary Analysis

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a work of adventure, but it is no less a meditation on human existence. The work grapples with characters’ actions and the inevitability of death, exploring the dynamic interplay between the uncertainty and death within nature and the humanity of Uruk and its walls. Gilgamesh must find a way to express his energy while acting within the constraints imposed upon him by his society, turning the work into a tale of self-discovery, suffering, death, and meaning that is characterized by removal from the urban landscape of Uruk and moral growth through intrepid wanderings. Despite the antiquity of the work, we are shown a human concern with mortality and the search for knowledge. The tragedy in the epic arises from the conflict

In the final verses of the epic, Gilgamesh states, “O Ur-shanabi, climb Uruk's wall and walk back and forth! Survey its foundations, examine the brickwork! Were its bricks not fired in an oven?Did the Seven Sages not lay its foundations? A square mile is city, a square mile date-grove, a square mile is clay-pit, half a square mile the temple of Ishtar: three square miles and a half is Uruk's expanse” (George 99). Only a few moments earlier, Gilgamesh had lost the “Plant of Heartbeat”, his last opportunity for immortality. This loss was also a moment of clarity. As Gilgamesh and Ur-shanabi survey the urban expanse of Uruk, Gilgamesh is able to find meaning in his own home and accept his mortal state. He finds himself emphasizing the greatness of the city and resumes his role as king, bringing back the wisdom he learned in the course of his exhausting wanderings (which both reflect and elicit moral growth through the text), and sets down in writing his tale. Gilgamesh deposits an inscription based on his experience which is intended to instruct future generations of kings, ultimately leaving his own intellectual footprint. Moving away from the individual, the final verse