Point of View

The point of view is third person. The story is told mostly from Gilgamesh’s viewpoint, with the final tablet being told through Utanapishtim’s point of view. Although the viewpoint is through Gilgamesh’s eyes, there is also a separate voice of an unnamed narrator who offers information that Gilgamesh might not have had access to in order to tell his story.

The point of view works well with this poem because the story is ultimately about Gilgamesh, the hero of the epic, therefore it should be told mostly from his point of view. In this way the reader is able to follow the story as it unfolds rather than hear about it later.

Language and Meaning

The original manuscript is written in cuneiform script, therefore the text has been translated multiple times since the first tablets were found. The scholars attempt to keep...