Although the reading of Gilgamesh is great, but the writer rushes to tell us that he was not always worthy of his people. He was an unfair and injustice ruler.
His people begged the gods to give them an equal to calm his ways. Since Gilgamesh was more god then human, and these different aspects are in constant battle. The very things that made him so awesome-his strength and beauty is also what makes him monstrous, until a balance can be achieved. The gods made Enkidu, at the request of Gilgamesh’s people; whom is a singular force of nature.
He was hairy and grazed with the animals and had no form of speech. Enkidu’s wildness, likewise must line up with his humanity. He needs an equally developed spirit to control his powerful body.
Enkidu’s domestication is a need for Gilgamesh’s need for a moral teaching. A hunter one day ran into Enkidu at the watering hole with the animals whom he controlled. The hunter knew had to do something about this beast because he was preventing him from catching wild animals. The hunter takes a prostitute of Ishtar’s who is the goddess of love, fertility and war to lay with Enkidu for six days and seven nights which tames him, then she convinces him to go to Uruk to end the ways of Gilgamesh. Once Enkidu and Gilgamesh meet they have a fight in the streets over Gilgamesh wanting to be the first to lay with the king’s virgin bride. Enkidu was not going to allow that to happen any longer.
After Enkidu and Gilgamesh fought they then became best of friends. The kind of friends that fulfills the need and desires of one another. In the friendship however, sexual need does not play a role into the ultimate human relationship. In Gilgamesh, the love that exists between the comrades is even more important. Equilibrium, balance, and moderation are essential virtues between the two. Ishtar plays a huge role in Gilgamesh and Enkidu lives until their death, which was brought on for their actions.
This reading can be compared to the bible story of Adam and Eve. Eve became Adam’s equal and the serpent is like Ishtar. The serpent convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden tree and then Eve convinced Adam to do the same. Because of this they were cast out of the garden which caused them to inherit death for disobeying God (Jehovah).
