Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is a courageous and civilized man. Throughout the story we watch as Gilgamesh gains wisdom with each new challenge he is faced with. He is a very power king of Urak and is known as the strongest of all me. However, none of these characteristics make him a great ruler. In fact I feel that he is not a very good ruler at all. To me Gilgamesh is selfish and does things only if they benefit him. He does not care what others want or what feelings they may have. Throughout the story we are show many instances where Gilgamesh shows us just how selfish he really is. One instance is when he decides to kill Humbaba. Both Gilgamesh and Enkidu had no reason to kill Humbaba however they did so anyway. He was doing no harm to anyone or bothering them in anyway yet they still felt the need to kill them. This shows how selfish not only Gilgamesh is but also his friend Enkidu. In the very first paragraph of the story we see “No son is left with his father, for Gilgamest takes them all, even the children;…His lust leaves no virgins to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of a noble…” Although it is not certain why he is taking the sons we do know that he is taking them for his own needs. He is also taking the women in order to fulfill his needs. This too instances show us how he does not think of others when he makes decisions yet he only thinks of himself and how he can please himself. Although these are just a few instances there are many others in the story that show the readers just how selfish Gilgamesh is. Too me being a selfish is the worst quality a leader can have. In order to be a great leader you need to be willing to fight for the needs of your people and that is something that too me Gilgamesh lacks greatly.