Competition (Gilgamesh)

Competition

Humans compete in life in order to get what they want. Whether they are competing on a soccer match, they are dueling for a scholarship or fighting among a girl, humans tend to compete for their goals. I can relate this scenario with an event that occurred in the story when two characters who believed they were unbeatable, fought each other for respect and personal satisfaction. People are found competing against each other everywhere in the globe and there isn’t one single culture that is exempt from this fact.

“Stormy heart struggled with stormy heart
as Gilgamesh met Enkidu in his rage.

At the marital threshold they wrestled, bulls contending;
the doorposts shook and shattered; the wrestling staggered,

wild bulls locked-horned and staggering staggered wrestling
through the city streets; the city walls and lintels

shuddered and swayed, the gates of the city trembled
as Gilgamesh, the strongest of all, the terror,

wrestled the wild man Enkidu to his knees.
And then the rage of Gilgamesh subsided.

He turned his chest away. Enkidu said:
"You are the strongest of all, the perfect, the terror.

The Lady Wildcow Ninsun bore no other.
Enlil has made you sovereign over the city."

Then Enkindu and Gilgamesh embraced,
and kissed, and took each other by the hand." Gilgamesh, Pg 15


In this part of the epic, Gilgamesh and Enkidu fought intensely for mere pride. Gilgamesh the Wild Ox, the strongest one of all, the perfect, the terror, had to prove to his city and to himself that he was indeed as special and strong as he claimed to be; and Enkidu, the hairy-bodied wild man of the grasslands, powerful as Ninurta the god of war simply believed he was better and stronger than him. They fought like animals and in that moment, the world stopped and both of them were thinking the same, I am better, I am the best and no one can defeat me. Finally, Gilgamesh proved to be stronger but he said that Enkidu was as powerful as him.

Competitions come to an end. When they stop, the rivalry usually stops. For example, when two people compete for a scholarship, they fight each other but after someone is chosen, the fighting stops and the rivalry turns into friendship. This occurred with Gilgamesh and Enkidu; they fought for pride but when the fight was over, they established a truce. They talked and they developed a relationship in which both content.

Will Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends as the story develops or will they fight again later on the story?