Epic Of Gilgamesh Archetype Essay

Many cultures have certain archetypes that their literature follows, and in Sumerian culture, the major archetype is the hero’s journey and its different stages. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N.K. Sandars and based on Sumerian culture, the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh encounters many stages of the hero’s journey when he goes on his quest for immortality. Gilgamesh completes the Sumerians’ archetype of the hero’s journey when he is helped by the threshold guardian and supernatural aid, faces several challenges in unknown lands, and undergoes a transformation before returning to Uruk. Gilgamesh begins the hero’s journey by receiving help from the threshold guardian and from supernatural forces. When Enkidu is created, the reader learns

He transforms when he decides that “‘there I will give it to the old men to eat. Its name shall be ‘The Old Men Are Young Again’; and at last I shall eat it myself and have back all my lost youth’” (Sandars 31). Gilgamesh realizes that his people are more important and that he needs to take care of them. As a result, he decides to put them before himself, whereas at the beginning of the story he would not have thought twice about using the entire plant on himself. Next, when returning to Uruk, he tells Urshanabi to “‘climb up onto the wall of Uruk… These parts and the precinct are all Uruk’” (Sandars 32). In this part of the story, Gilgamesh realizes that Uruk needs him, and him inviting Urshanabi to see the city and its beauty represents how he has learned to be proud of his city. In addition, the story ends with the narrator explaining how Gilgamesh “went on a long journey, was weary, worn out with labor and returning engraved on a stone the whole story” (Sandars 32). Writing down his story ensures that others will hear about his journey and that Gilgamesh’s legacy will live on for years to come. Thus, Gilgamesh completes the hero’s journey when he undergoes a transformation and returns to