Gilgamesh is one of the most interesting epic stories in the modern-day, even though it was composed 28 centuries ago. The epic illustrates the success of a king, Gilgamesh, who built high walls for its empire and laid out its orchards and fields. He was regarded as a wise person, physically built, and had immense strength. In other words, Gilgamesh was both human and god. Despite these glorious characters, this king of Ukur was a cruel person who subjected his citizens to immense pain, such as raping women regardless of their status in society. As a result, he was punished by the gods who had the pleas of his subject and killed his great friend Enkidu. Gilgamesh is an interesting character in the epic and the traits he exhibits throughout the story demonstrates and contradicts the qualities of a good leader as described by Machiavelli. Gilgamesh fails to meet the qualities of a good leader described by Machiavelli, such as being bothered by war, throne, and respect, being realistic rather than idealistic, cautious and decisive, and feared rather than loved.
One of the qualities required of a prince is the capability of constant concern with the war, throne, and respect. Machiavelli illustrates that a good leader should also be concerned about the wars, throne, and respect (37). Although Gilgamesh initially seems concerned with his throne and even fights Enkidu for his throne, Gilgamesh emerges triumphant. After the battle, he loses focus on the war and the throne. Instead, he chooses to befriend Enkidu, a person of his caliber who could have easily taken his position as the king in the kingdom. Moreover, Machiavelli also illustrates that a king must gain respect from his subjects (37). However, Gilgamesh loses respect from his subjects, and instead, they hate him. For instance, Gilgamesh chooses to sleep with a newly wedded woman before her husband gets intimate with her. As a result, he loses respect from Enkidu who becomes outraged and plans to stop him. Therefore, through this action, it is evident that Gilgamesh failed to meet the qualities of a good prince.
Another quality of a good prince that Gilgamesh fails to meet is that a good leader should be realistic rather than idealistic. Gilgamesh is a romantic individual, and he is obsessed with power. With the help of Enkidu, he wants to live forever without realizing that he is half human and half god. However, this imagination never changes even when his friend of the same status dies after suffering for 12 days (Carnahan 32). Gilgamesh travels to seek Utnapishtim to be granted immortality by the gods. He wants to be made immortal to continue ruling his subjects and subjecting them to power. This shows extreme idealistic characters as he is not ready to accept his human nature and is not fully god. Moreover, his refusal to accept Ishtar as his lover eventually causes many of his soldiers to die. Yet, his previous actions of getting involved with other people’s wives demonstrate how idealistic he is.
Moreover, the quality of a prince demands that a good leader should be cautious and decisive. However, Gilgamesh demonstrates incautious behaviors throughout the entire epic. His decisions are never well thought, and he acts on what he is told rather than critically thinking and evaluating the choices and the situation before him. For instance, he is told about a terrible monster, Humbaba, by his friend Enkidu and without question and taking the precaution of the monster, he attacks and brings the monster’s head back to the goad (Carnahan 10). Additionally, he refuses the advancement of Ishtar without making a decisive decision on the situation. All these actions anger the gods, who convene and agree to kill his friend Enkidu. Therefore, Gilgamesh never exhibits the good qualities as demonstrated with Machiavelli in the qualities of a prince.
Even though Gilgamesh demonstrates that he is feared than loved as required of a good leader, he instills fear into people through the oppression of his subjects. Fear demonstrated by Machiavelli should naturally be manifested to the followers than being forced to follow him (Machiavelli 44). Additionally, even though he exhibits the character of being unlovable, his actions force his subjects to plead to the gods, who eventually listen to their plights and make a creature who resembles Gilgamesh. This demonstrates that Gilgamesh failed to show the qualities of good leadership, as demonstrated by Machiavelli.
In conclusion, Gilgamesh fails to demonstrate all the qualities of good leadership illustrated by Machiavelli. Good leaders are supposed to be bothered by war, their throne, and the respect they gain. However, Gilgamesh is never concerned about his throne and takes risky measures, including fighting a monster without considering his actions. Additionally, he is idealistic and never realistic, as recommended by Machiavelli. He wants to stay forever and, as a result, seek immortality after releasing that he can also die as other beings. Moreover, in Gilgamesh’s actions, he never demonstrated any traits of caution, and his decisions were hurriedly made, thus not being decisive. Finally, although he seemed to have instilled fear and was unloved, as recommended by Machiavelli, Gilgamesh instilled fear by oppressing his subjects, which led to his downfall when the goads had the pleas of the citizens.
Works Cited
Carnahan, Wolf. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by Maureen Gallery Kovacs, 1998.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The prince. Vol.3. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.