1 THE STAGES OF GILGAMESH’S JOURNEY At this point in your studies of Gilgamesh, you probably have encountered so many different interpretations of the epic that you are wondering on which interpretation I will base my test questions. The following summary presents my “take” on the theme of Gilgamesh and how that theme is developed in the epic. I realize that there are other valid interpretations of the epic, but this interpretation is the one that I think will most benefit a junior high student who is about to enter a very confusing and self-absorbed period of his or her life. (All documentations marked “Campbell” refer to the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.) The Ordinary World 1. The Ordinary World: We have no description of the city of Uruk before Gilgamesh returned from his journey to the land of the gods, except in the opening lines of the epic that indicate that Uruk had lost its antediluvian greatness. Basing your answer on the improvements that Gilgamesh made to the city of Uruk after his return, describe what Uruk must have been like prior to Gilgamesh’s journey. This is the ordinary world of Uruk in which Gilgamesh lived before his journey. What is Gilgamesh like in this ordinary world? What are his flaws? How do the subjects of Uruk feel about their king? What do they do to try to ease their suffering? What does Anu do to alter Gilgamesh? Separation 2. The Call to Adventure: Gilgamesh’s grief over Enkidu’s death forces him to face the reality of his own eventual death. This fear impels him to begin an adventure that transfers his spiritual center from his “ordinary world” to a world that is completely unknown to him – the world of his ancestor Utnapishtim, the only mortal granted immortality by the gods. This new, unknown world is filled with strange beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds, and delights that are impossible in his ordinary world (Campbell 48). Why is Gilgamesh so distraught over Enkidu’s death? What actions does he take to ensure that Enkidu will dwell happily in the Land of the Dead? Why does Gilgamesh think that finding Utnapishtim will save him from his torment? 3. The Wasteland: Desolately mourning Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh wanders in a wasteland of dry stones and bemoans the fact that his life will end in death and therefore have no meaning. Consequently, he is trapped in a psychological world that becomes an emotional wasteland. Gilgamesh essentially refuses to abandon 2 what he assumes to be in his own best interest: immortality (Campbell 49). It is not death itself, but his attitude toward death that causes his misery. To find true happiness, his attitude must change. Initiation: The Road of Trials 4. Crossing the First Threshold and Trial #1: This threshold stands at the outer boundary of the hero’s ordinary world. Beyond lies darkness, the unknown, and danger (p. 64). Crossing the threshold, Gilgamesh enters a world totally unfamiliar to him. This threshold and the other thresholds that Gilgamesh will encounter later in the story are protected by guardians whose job is to ward away all who are incapable of encountering what lies beyond (Campbell 67). To prove himself worthy of crossing the first threshold, Gilgamesh must first successfully complete his first trial. Who are the guardians of the first threshold, where do they live, what is the trial they set before Gilgamesh, and what qualities must Gilgamesh prove he possesses to continue to the second threshold? How does Gilgamesh successfully complete this first trial? 5. Trial #2 and the Crossing of the Second Threshold: In what land does Gilgamesh find himself after he completes his first trial and crosses the first threshold? What aspects of the setting indicate that in this garden all things are immortal? (The Mesopotamians believed this garden was located in Dolman on the shores of the Persian Gulf.) Here he meets the next guardian, the owner of a tavern. What is her name? According to the glossary on pp. 286-290 of Gilgamesh, this character is a goddess. What is she the goddess of? She challenges Gilgamesh’s resolve to continue on his journey by trying to dissuade him from searching for immortality. What are her arguments for abandoning his search for immortality? What convinces her to help Gilgamesh continue his journey? 6. Trial #3, Crossing the Third Threshold: According to Shiduri’s directions, where should Gilgamesh next go? Whom should he seek and why? What mistake does Gilgamesh make upon meeting Urshanabi and the Stone Men? Why are his actions a mistake? What two feats of strength must Gilgamesh perform to rectify his mistake? How long does it take Gilgamesh and Urshanabi to make the voyage to Utnapishtim’s isle? Why is this an extraordinary feat? 3 Facing the Truth 7. The Belly of the Whale: Upon successfully passing the third trial, Gilgamesh enters what Joseph Campbell calls “the belly of the whale.” This is a sphere of rebirth where the hero is outside the grip of time (Campbell 74). In Gilgamesh, this is Utnapishtim’s isle, located in the region called “the garden of the gods,” the land of immortality. What clues are there that nothing in this land dies? 8. The Meeting with the Mentor: Up until this point, Gilgamesh has assumed that anything that works against his own best self-interest is bad; he still must learn that the Cosmic Law demands that he redefine his definitions of good and bad. Once Gilgamesh can free his mind of its resistance to the truth, he will see that there is nothing that is either good or bad; there is only “the law of being” (Campbell 95). What arguments does Utnapishtim use to convince Gilgamesh of the folly of his fear and hatred of his mortality? In Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim reveals one of the Cosmic Laws when he states “Though no one has seen death’s face or heard / death’s voice, suddenly, savagely, death / destroys us, all of us, old or young” (Gilgamesh 178). Utnapishtim makes clear that he never sought immortality; instead, his purpose was to faithfully follow Ea’s instructions to save the gods, humankind, and the animals and plants upon the earth. In the short term, his efforts to build the ark, collect the animals, and gather and store fodder for the animals certainly did not seem as if they were in his own best interest. His god’s instructions required him to make excessive personal sacrifices even though he did not fully understand the ultimate purpose of the job that Ea had assigned him. But, upon receiving the gift of immortality, Utnapishtim realized that his efforts obviously were to his benefit. Utnapishtim questions whether Gilgamesh has ever done anything that would move the gods to grant him immortality. Thus, he sets before Gilgamesh another trial. 9. Trial #4: One last time the hero chooses to see life the way he wants it to be or the way he thinks life ought to be rather than accept it as it really is (Campbell 101). In Gilgamesh this stage corresponds to the episode in which Gilgamesh sleeps for seven days. Seeing himself as infallible, he believes he is up to meeting Utnapishtim’s challenge to undergo yet another trial by going seven days without sleep. Even when he wakes up from his seven-day sleep, Gilgamesh does not believe that he ever slept. But Utnapishtim forces him to face his failure. Gilgamesh’s abandons his attempt to find favor with the gods. 10. Atonement: The hero resigns himself to the fact that life is not what he wants it to be; but, he does not happily accept the reality that he has tried so hard to 4 avoid: He inevitably must die. In Gilgamesh, the hero cries out “Death has caught me” (Gilgamesh 193). In Gilgamesh, this acceptance (or atonement, which literally means “at-onement”) with Utnapishtim is symbolized in the purification rite of bathing (from which many believe the rite of baptism evolved). He emerges from the bath as a man nearly purified of his egoism who now knows that he cannot escape death, no matter how smart, how brave, or how favored he has been thus far by the gods. He resigns himself to the fact that he must leave Utnapishtim’s isle without winning the gods’ gift of immortality. His resignation marks an important step toward his eventual happy acceptance of his fate because he realizes that he cannot circumvent the Cosmic Law even though he still wishes that he could. Accepting the Truth (Cosmic Laws) 11. Apotheosis: On Utnapishtim’s isle, Gilgamesh resigned himself to his eventual death, but he still is not returning to his home with a totally happy acceptance of it. When Utnapishtim offers him one last opportunity to achieve immortality by remaining eternally young, Gilgamesh jumps at the chance. He and Urshanabi sail to the Apsu, the holy water that is the province of Ea (in other texts known as Enki), the god of wisdom. (The actual site that inspired the Mesopotamian belief in the Apsu was Dilmun on the Persian Gulf [See theancientneareast.com/eridu-and-the-first-cities/]. Probably, it was mud from this area that was believed to have provided the clay used in the creation of mankind.) Following Utnapishtim’s directions (which have been lost over time), Gilgamesh immerses himself in the waters of wisdom and works his way to the bottom of the Apsu. He gains possession of the magical plant of eternal youth (Ea was also the god of magic) by using his super powers one last time.