Advancement and Growth

One of the constants for human nature is the human ego, whether the strength is physical or mental the human ego constantly wants one to be on top to advance farther in society. One of the key elements of growth in The Epic of Gilgamesh that Gilgamesh constantly tries to advance is his reputation such as by killing Humbaba. Everything that he does is to try to advance himself in some way. Even his actions before he meets Enkidu emphasize his want to advance himself. He constantly paints himself and strong and when he takes all of the virgins he is making himself seem better than everybody by being the one to take the virginity from all of the women in his city. Gilgamesh does this to strengthen his ego. Another way to tell that the authors believed that the ego was central to the human nature is when Gilgamesh goes against Ishtar and thinks that he is able to be above all other humans as well as above Gods. While he may have been thinking about his best interests at the time he still completely disregarded what was really stronger than him. Even after the Gods kill Enkidu, Gilgamesh still only thinks about himself. He becomes afraid of his own weakness and seeks to become unkillable like the Gods. That in itself shows that humans only think of themselves. At the end of the story, Gilgamesh is nowhere near his city and is only out searching for the way to make himself immortal. He only ever thinks about himself and considers himself to be above all others. This is by definition, ego. Egotism is the very center of a human's nature in the eyes of the authors of The Epic of Gilgamesh.