Friendship concepts and development across lifespan

Friendship

The classic story of Gilgamesh is a narration of the importance and role of friendships between two men. As a story about friendship, Gilgamesh has a theme of the struggle that an individual goes through with balancing adult life with the ongoing desire to be free, independent and, in a sense, wild. Thus, the character of Gilgamesh himself represents the adult who is burdened by responsibility and the need to rule. Gilgamesh's friend, Enkidu, on the other hand, represents the inner-child in all humans, or the carefree and wild individual that we associate with our "glory days" of adolescence or college. Thus, Enkidu's death and Gilgamesh's struggle with it symbolizes the mortality of our youth and the struggle humans have with accepting this cycle of life.

In order to understand this theme of Gilgamesh, it is first important to understand the individual characters, namely Enkidu and Gilgamesh. Enkidu is Gilgamesh's friend who is described as being half-wild and who undertakes numerous and dangerous quests with Gilgamesh. In the text, Enkidu is described as being a quintessential savage person, "the whole of his body was hairy and his locks were like a woman's or the hair of the goddess of grain. Moreover, he knew nothing of settled fields or human beings and was clothed like a deity of flocks." He is introduced as roaming with the beasts in the wilderness and acting as the protector of animals.

Being a protector of animals, Enkidu destroys trappers traps. The trapper goes to Gilgamesh and asks for his advice. Gilgamesh tells the trapper to seduce Enkidu with his harlot. Enkidu is immediately taken by the harlot and eventually tainted by her. Thus, the animals avoid Enkidu, he is relived of his animal brethren and instead turns to a pastoral and hunting way of life. Looking for a greater challenge, Enkidu eventually winds up in a lengthy wrestling match with Gilgamesh who, after Gilgamesh defeats Enkidu, they swear an oath of friendship and thereafter cohabit.

Clearly the scenes pre-dating the great friendship show Enkidu as the essence of youth and adventure. He protects animals against the ruthlessness of adults and causes chaos to the adult way of making a living. However, his youth and independence is eventually tamed through the laws of attraction. After engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman, Enkidu crosses the bridge to adulthood. However, once here he struggles with the newfound responsibilities of simply "watching over things" and thus yearns for adventure.

This need for adventure and his rebellious spirit leads him to the wrestling match with Gilgamesh, the King of the city of Uruk. The wrestling match between Gilgamesh and Enkidu symbolizes the constant struggle between the responsible life of the adult (Gilgamesh) and the desire to live the adventurous life of youth (Enkidu). These two spirits engaged in a wrestling match symbolize the ongoing connection and conflict between them, thus creating the friendship where one attempts to lead a responsible life yet remain adventurous. This is what the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu represents.

Thus, during the friendship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the two engage in numerous adventures, often dangerous in nature. For example, Enkidu assists Gilgamesh in his fight against Humbaba, the guardian monster of the Cedar Forest. Even though Enkidu does not agree with the actions, he nonetheless cooperates with Gilgamesh in successfully defeating and killing Humbaba. He later assists Gilgamesh with slaying the Bull of Heaven.

In the end, these actions anger the gods and the goddess Ishtar demands that both Gilgamesh and Enkidu should pay with their lives. However the god Shamash argues with the other gods that both should be spared. As an act of compromise, the gods agree to save only Gilgamesh and thus issue a judgment on Enkidu that holds he had no justification for fighting the Bull of Heaven. As a result, Enkidu is overcome with a severe illness and, before dying, curses the supposedly civilized life.

This portion of the men's friendship is symbolic of the inspiration that youth plays in an adult's life and the dominance of the adult life as to the adventurous life. Thus, Gilgamesh is portrayed as using Enkidu in the pursuit of senseless adventures as Enkidu's sense of adventure inspires Gilgamesh. However, Gilgamesh's acts of adventure are actually immature. Yet, being the youth, Enkidu subdues himself to Gilgamesh's desires because he is the responsible one. In the end, however, Enkidu's abandonment of his principles, or the principles of being young and independent, leads to his death. His death in fact is symbolic of the fact that eventually everyone has to succumb to the reality of responsibility and growing up.