Gilgamesh’s Open Monologue
Gilgamesh: Ever since the trials I have encountered, I have taken a year to reflect on the error of my ways and pay a debt I owe the people of Uruk. Upon review of my past actions, I have truly realized the error of my ways and the fact that I have chased an impossible dream. Even when I am up against death, I should strive to confront it rather than rise above it. I saw my own friend Enkidu die right in front of me, as though the gods had discreetly executed him. Because I did not want to share his fate, I sought to become immortal. My efforts resulted in failure and I have come to realize that perhaps there is no point in seeking to become immortal. It is a mere folly on the part of man, and I am one-third mortal myself. That side of me is just as real as the side of me which is not. It seems to me that I have let my emotions rule me. How can I be a decent ruler if I allow my own emotions to rule me? Towards the end of my trials I slew three stone men and tossed them into the deadly sea with no regard to any burial and I regret that. Truly, I do. I acted out of sheer anger and sadness for my lost friend Enkidu and looking back, it was very rash of me. However, that is far from the only rash action I have regretted taking during my trials.
Moreover, I have also come to realize that the way in which I have ruled over you was rather tyrannical and emotion-fueled and from this moment on, I will no longer grab the women of my good city and use them as sexual pleasure dispensers and I will no longer use the male citizens of this city as punching bags. I realized that if I continued to do so, I would make a lot of enemies in a short amount of time that would stop at nothing to overthrow me and attempt to take my place in order to put a permanent stop to the crimes against the people of Uruk committed by its ruler. Because of this, it is well past time I use more logic than emotion in the sort of decisions I make. I have done this once before, but I strongly believe I must continue to do so in order to make Uruk a city with a decent ruler.
The one instance where I put logic above emotion was when the Goddess Ishtar approached me with an intense marriage proposal, which I rejected. I did this because I knew very well that accepting her proposal would be akin to walking into a trap. I do not mean to bash this Goddess any further than I already did, but upon my rejection of her proposal, I reminded her of the ways in which she mistreated her previous lovers. Not only that, I compared her shady relationship history to being “the lover of a broken oven that fails in the cold, a flimsy door that the wind blows through, a palace that falls on its staunchest defenders, a mouse that gnaws through its thin reed shelter, tar that blackens the workman’s hands, a waterskin that is full of holes and leaks all over its bearer, a piece of limestone that crumbles and undermines a solid stone wall, a battering ram that knocks down the rampart of an allied city, a shoe that mangles its owner’s foot.” (Mitchell, Book 6). If I had not used logic in this scenario, I would have accepted her proposal without a care as to what would happen if she were to run out of love for me. On a more general note regarding love, I realized that I may not have been as popular of a ruler as I originally felt I was.
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Any king worth his salt must be a good warrior as well as a ruler. That being said, I have shamefully neglected my responsibilities as a ruler and placed excessive importance on my role as a warrior. From now on I shall take better care of my subjects and listen to their demands and concerns. After all, they are not tools to be used to simply benefit whoever is above them, be it a king or god. The Gods are not unfeeling, and as a ruler I have little business being unfeeling towards the very issues that my subjects endure. I should know better than to slay a giant simply because I consider them evil, especially when the gods above us all ordered Him to walk this Earth and serve as a guardian. I used the power and resources I had to gain glory and self-satisfaction, as if I had forgotten the fact I was a king with a city to look after.
If I was a ruler and used the logic which I now have, I would never have killed Humbaba simply to gain glory and fame. No, I would not have killed him unless he posed a threat to the people of Uruk. And now I return to you, as a reformed king, a king who knows his place and takes care of his people, yet does not abandon his role as a warrior. A king who sees his subjects as individuals, not a mere afterthought undeserving of any substantial attention. And lastly, a king who takes action for his people and not solely for himself.
Works Cited
Mitchell, Stephen. “Book VI.” Gilgamesh, Atria Paperback, New York, New York, 2004.
