Enduring Human Nature

The Epic of Gilgamesh offers an interesting commentary on human nature. Looking at a strict interpretation of human nature, it can be defined as a human behavior or The authors seem to comment on the fact that humans do not bother doing things beneficial to others, but rather doing things that will get them remembered in the history books. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu go out to slaughter Humbaba, they are not killing the beast because they think that the world would be better. Gilgamesh openly proclaims that he wishes for his name to be remembered no matter the circumstances of the future. I believe that this counts as one of the crucial parts of human nature that the authors are commenting on. If we take a look at past Presidents of the United States, it becomes clear that this behavior still exists today. Some presidents got their names in the history books for doing truly wonderful things. President Harry S Truman was hailed as a god for making the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. In this case, he did something that did benefit the country and received due recognition for making such a bold choice. However, the name of President Warren G. Harding still crops up in history even though he did absolutely nothing in office. The same is true of President William McKinley. Andrew Carnegie referred to him as his favorite president because he could buy and manipulate the presidency. It is part of human nature to want to be remembered, even if what you do harms the people around you. The Epic of Gilgamesh shows that this part of human nature has withstood the test of time since it still appears in our government today.