The poem suggests that fear and death are inescapable,
but it also shows us how we can function in spite of them by being
part of a community. As both Gilgamesh and Enkidu demonstrate, working within
a community offers the opportunity to be part of something greater
and longer-lasting than is possible individually, and it expands
boundaries beyond what the individual flesh encloses. Alone, the
prospect of death is overwhelming. Within a community, even one
as small as that of Gilgamesh and Enkidu clinging together for warmth
on the eve of a battle, fear fades. Gilgamesh and Enkidu distract
each other from fear and persuade each other that they have the
power to make their names, if not their bodies, immortal. The distinction
between the personal and the collective is at the very heart of Gilgamesh.
Culture, community, creativity, and camaraderie ultimately help
Gilgamesh and Enkidu transcend the finality of death. When characters
begin to believe that they really are immortal or that they deserve
to be, they are guilty of excessive pride, which rarely goes unpunished.
When Enkidu suggests that they can foil the god Enlil by killing
his servant Humbaba quickly, before Enlil finds out what they’re
doing, he deceives himself. The gods may be capricious and silly,
but they are also implacable. Even as Enkidu and Gilgamesh triumph
over the monster, they are laying the groundwork for their fall.
