Gilgamesh VII & VIII

I feel really sad about Enkidu dying. How could the gods do that to him? He was always a good wild man, he had always good intentions towards others. They say they took his life because he had done something to the forest, killed Huwawa and taken the Cedar tree. He wasn’t the only one that did it, Gilgamesh was there too. One of their reasons to not kill Gilgamesh was because he was more gifted, but I disagree. “Enkidu most die but Gilgamesh, the gifted, must not die. “ (37) He was coward and wouldn’t have done anything unless Enkidu did it first or gave him the energy to do it. Something I don’t really understand, is that after the gods had realized how strong the bond between them was and all the things they had already gone through together, they took only one of them and let the other one suffer. I know this is just a story, but it happens in real life too. It’s unfair. “Together we killed Huwawa, together we fought the bellowing Bull of Heaven, and killed the Bull, and together the two of us sat down to rest.” (45) The only positive way we could probably look at it would be if we actually accept that we can’t control what happens to us, like death and that it might happen for a better thing to come next. What if Enkidu and Gilgamesh weren’t really made for each other, but there is someone much better or that this is happening to make them even stronger and greater men?
Once again we see the importance of the dreams and how it’s like seeing the future or what will happens next. That can be something good but at the same time I think it’s sometimes better to not know what will happen after. Life is full of surprises, why ruin them? How would it be if we all knew how and when we would die? We would all be prepared for it would avoid it at all times so that moment would never come.
I finally start to like Gilgamesh a little better, and understand him some more. He really isn’t that bad I as had believed he was. I think that at the beginning he was selfish and proud, but then after not having Enkidu and finally realizing how important he really was for him, he was able to become more humble and in a way thank him and make him be remembered. “He was the shield that went before the battle; he was the weapon at hand to attack and defend.” (44)
I think this happens to all of us and we don’t realize until, like Gilgamesh, it’s too late. We feel bad for what we have done and wish we hadn’t done it or been that way. “It is Enkidu the companion for whom I weep.”(46)