The story of the Epic of Gilgamesh involves death of characters. The picture in the link above shows the death of Enkidu, which occurs at the end of part 3 of this story. Enkidu’s death is a sign of punishment as well as a serious consequence for doing a wrongful action, which was killing the bull with Gilgamesh. This is shown by the following quote on pg 26: “Anu, Enlil, Ea, and heavenly Shamash took counsel together, and Anu said to Enlil, ‘Because they have killed the Bull of Heaven , and because they have killed Humbaba who guarded the Cedar Mountain one of the two must die. ‘Then glorious Shamash answered the hero Enlil, ‘It was by your command they killed the Bull of Heaven, and killed Humbaba, and must Enkidu die although innocent?” Clearly, the quote says that Enkidu was chosen to die.
Because Enkidu was chosen to die, Enkidu’s death was a very tragic as well as an emotional event for Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh loses his best friend, and he won’t stop weeping for Enkidu. Gilgamesh’s words while weeping for Enkidu are “Here me, great ones of Uruk, I weep for Enkidu, my friend, bitterly moaning like a woman mourning I weep for my brother. O Enkidu, my brother, you were the axe at my side”(pg 28). This quote shows that Gilgamesh was very close to Enkidu, meaning that Enkidu was always there for him just like someone losing a loved one or a very close friend.
Enkidu’s death also teaches people a valuable lesson. The lesson is that you shall not kill or else death will approach you at any moment.
