Gilgamesh And Enkidu Friendship Analysis

The Friendship Between Gilgamesh and Enkidu

In this Greek poem, the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu seems to be the ancient version of what the the modern world calls “bromance” today. Gilgamesh was seen as a wild and strong man to the people in the village. This became a bother to people who lives in the village and seeked for some help. In order to tame a person like Gilgamesh, the Goddess Aruru molded a clay figure to help tame Gilgamesh, and thus, Enkidu was created.

The two friends feeds off of each other in terms of strength, liability, and sharing similar mindsets. When those two are together, they tend to become stronger. Those two are complementary of each other naturally since they both to share common beliefs. Due to the both of them being so fitting with each other, it makes an interesting story of how those two became friends. There are elements the poem had placed into it, that shows how the relationship of those two became strong. The poem also indicates the bond those two have naturally after just being around with each other within a

short amount of time.
Gilgamesh started to have dreams, and with those dreams he went to his mother to ask what they meant. With each dream that is reoccurring his mother would explain the reason why Gilgamesh is having those visions. Those dreams represent that he and and would become the best of friends. The first time Gilgamesh met Enkidu is when Enkidu was blocking his way of entering a wedding with his foot. And due to that encounter, both men started to fight against each other. As this text stated, “They grappled each other, holding like wrestlers/ They shattered the doorpost, the wall shook,” meaning within first sight they both started to fight against each other (109). The text later stated, “It was Gilgamesh who knelt for the pin, his foot on the ground,” due to Enkidu finally pinning Gilgamesh down (109). The text later continues, “His fury abated he turned away,” meaning that once Gilgamesh cooled down he finally was able to look at Enkidu (109). This scene is where Gilgamesh acknowledges that there is a person who is strong out there just like him. After all that fighting the two men did, they hugged it out afterwards and started to become friends. The scene implies that Enkidu is the person is tames Gilgamesh, which no other person was able to do that before.
In terms of who has the most power within this friendship of theirs, it would be Enkidu. He matches the power of Gilgamesh-- and even overpowers him at one point, which not many people are able to do. Enkidu also seems to be some sort of role model for Gilgamesh. As friend, Enkidu is also seen as a protector for Gilgamesh as he is trusted by Gilgamesh's mother. She said, “I herewish take Enkidu, as my adopted son,” meaning that there is a high trust for Enkidu on his part, she then continues, “may Gilgamesh treat him well,” as she knows that Gilgamesh will treat Enkidu better than her would with other people before him (114). From what the texts mentions, it can also be perceived that Enkidu is seen to be a leader for Gilgamesh as well too. When Enkidu gives a command to Gilgamesh, for example: the two of them fighting Humbaba. When Enkidu asked Gilgamesh to strike Humbaba with the axe, Gilgamesh complies (123).
How the strengths of those two men influence and compliments each other’s friendship is that it established dominance between the two. One part is when they first fought, they were fighting for a long time until both got tired and Gilgamesh was pinned by Enkidu. Since the fight, it seems that dominance in strength is what established their friendship. Gilgamesh also wanted a strong friend as well, and Enkidu reflected that by meeting Gilgamesh’s expectations on what a strong person should be like. There isn’t much of a competitiveness between the two, each person seems to cooperate well with each other. It is also apparent within the poem since they both went on a journey and fought Humbaba. They both work together with what they both want and they would help each other out with the battles they seem to be stuck in when they’re together.
Teamwork between the two is also apparent when they are faced with another battle.

The battle this time was caused by Istar due to Gilgamesh refusing to become the Goddess’s husband and also insulted her (126). This doesn’t sit well for Ishtar and she asked her father to release the Bull of Heaven as an attempt to kill Gilgamesh. With the bull coming down on Gilgamesh, he and Enkidu both fought the bull together (126). This shows that when they are together, they are very strong. As the two men work together to fight the bull, this shows that their friendship is based on working together. It was because of this fight that put their friendship in jeopardy. When the both of them won the battle, it was a short lived victory. Enkidu started to become sick as punishment from the Gods after they have seen that he and Gilgamesh the bull and they believed that they could actually start to fight against the

god.
The death of Enkidu left an emotional impact on Gilgamesh. When Enkidu died, Gilgamesh was left sad and cried (134). The emotion that Gilgamesh has shown in the poem proves that the friendship between the two men were really important. Gilgamesh never seemed to have anyone so close to him before like Enkidu was. The way that he showed affection for his friend’s death is when the texts stated, “He touched his heart but it was not beating,” meaning that Gilgamesh didn’t want to believe that a friend of his is dead (133). Someone who shares the same strength and value is now gone from an illness. He kept mourning his friend for a very long time until the body started to rot, is when Gilgamesh finally understood that his friend won’t come back. Gilgamesh in this scene seems to be more humane than he was previously. He was actually showing his emotion towards the death of his friend, and this proves that their friendship isn’t just about two strong men battling monsters.
The emotions that goes into the death made Gilgamesh to seek immortality because he witnessed Enkidu’s state of death. Enkidu was rotting away and that was something that he didn’t want as a human, and he would rather be immortal than to rot. The death of Enkidu also shapes the way how Gilgamesh views life. Enkidu may not be there physically to tell Gilgamesh what to do or talk to him in any way. It’s the subconsciousness of Gilgamesh being affected by the death. His friendship with Enkidu is what makes him go on a journey and seek immortality because he doesn’t want to end up like Enkidu did.
The poem expresses how the world of friendship changed Gilgamesh. This is important because Enkidu is the one who actually tamed Gilgamesh when he was creating havoc to the people in the village. The story just illustrate that what Gilgamesh really needed was someone who could support him and share the same values.He just wanted a friend that shares similar qualities.