Epic Of Gilgamesh Quote Analysis

What constitutes a good hero, leader, or person? What does it even mean to be good? Sure there is a textbook definition of what good means and according to Meriam-Webster Dictionary good means, “to be of a good character or tendency” (Meriam-Webster) but does good mean the same thing to every person? Is it the same cross culturally? What if one person’s good is another person’s bad? Will leaders be viewed differently? In an excerpt from Education and the Humanities, the author whom is not named states, “while studying the humanities, the student comes directly in contact with minds greater than his own, and he cannot comprehend anything of their greatness without expanding his power of comprehension” (1947). This quote informs and allows a

N. K. Sanders describes him as someone who, “leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warriors daughter nor the wife of the noble” (62). From the recounts of the people of Uruk, readers are left with the impression that Gilgamesh abuses his power and his people and they are tired of it. The gods create Endiku who becomes the half of Gilgamesh that is missing. Compared to Gilgamesh who is described as, immature, arrogant, and concerned with sex, fights, and himself only, Endiku shows qualities of compassion and willingness to listen and help. They are opposites that complete each other and through the plot of the story, Endiku becomes the man who steers Gilgamesh to the path of good leadership.
When first created, Endiku represented nature as he was covered in hair and was described as eating, “…grass in the hills with the `gazelle and lurked with wild beasts in the water-holes…” (Sanders 63). Contrary to Endiku, Gilgamesh represented culture. Although Gilgamesh was cultured, his behavior was not socially acceptable allowing readers to infer that he needed help when it came to civilized behavior and good leadership. Between the two of them would lie the middle man which is who Gilgamesh became at the end of the