In the very first time reading “The Epic of Gilgamesh” I confess, it was confusing. The poem, like most others, is very complex and need to be broken down in order to be analyzed and clearly understood. This expert contains a great amount of figurative language, such as imagery, which makes it slightly easier to understand, in my opinion. However, the variety of names of gods can perplex the reader for they may get lost in the story and have to go back and try to find themselves, just as I did. From what I read, my understanding of the story is that Gilgamesh is scared of death, therefore he tries to find a way to be immortal. However, when he is finally provided with something that can potentially “win back his former strength,” he loses it to a serpent, or “the beast of the earth” as the author describes in the last paragraph. I believe the author’s purpose in this literary work is to show the reader that people do not need to live forever in order to be remembered but their…show more content… When Gilgamesh meets with Utnapishtim and questions him on how he achieved immortality, Utnapishtim starts telling him “a secret of the gods” and relates it to the story of the flood and how he had “survived” it. Starting in line 143, Utnapishtim’s describes vividly his experiences which are highly connected to the deluge story I know. This part of the poem is very important, I believe, because it foreshadows how the story will end. In the final analysis, Gilgamesh is considered an epic hero because, according to the expert the gods created him two thirds god and one third man. He was also strong and clever, and knew secrets and mysteries no one else knew. In my point of view, however, Gilgamesh is an epic hero because of the lesson I visualized in the story, which is that in order to be unforgettable one does not need to be immortal, but should simply leave his achievements to the world to
