The Life of a King

Abstract

Gilgamesh, from the Epic of Gilgamesh, is known as the world’s first hero being from the first epic to ever be discovered. He lived a life of decadence as the Hero King of Uruk, acting out in whatever way he wanted and taking advantage of whoever he wanted to further his pleasures. Looking at Gilgamesh through Freudian standards, Gilgamesh would fall under the classification of a narcissist as well as having a super ego. Freud, in “On Narcissism”, describes narcissists as having an insatiable lust and overactive libido as well as a sense of superiority within themselves that allows them to completely disregard the wellbeing of others. In Freud’s work, “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego”, he describes that the superego is an ideal being that the owner will strive to be. Gilgamesh was known to do whatever he wanted without caring of who he was trampling over, if it meant entertaining him for any length of time. Gilgamesh would continue to have this defining personality trait all till he gains and loses the only person he deemed worthy enough to be his friend, Enkidu. The loss of Enkidu reminded Gilgamesh of his own looming mortality and that fact that if someone who he acknowledged as his equal was able to die, so can he. This spurred Gilgamesh to take a journey to gain immortality where his central ideas about himself will be warped and changed as he completes his journey.