Gilgamesh As A Hero Essay

In essence, many of Mesopotamia’s tales focus on Gilgamesh’s epic. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem that portrays Gilgamesh’s journey, and ultimate aspiration for immortality despite the inevitability of death. The poem reveals his quest for a purpose and identity, which in turn can be perceived from many different aspects, ultimately molding his character in the epic. He perceives himself as two-thirds divine and one third man at the start of the tale, and progressively gains wisdom on his quest to conquer his aspirations of immortality, until he comes face to face with reality. His state of mind at the beginning of the epic, along with how it changes and matures, reveals the true heroes and villains of the story.

The Epic of Gilgamesh shows and describe the journey of a successful hero. Throughout his quest, Gilgamesh goes through a departure, initiation, and a return stage. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu sets out to go on the heroic journey to defeat Humbaba he experiences the first departure stage. The initiation stage occurred when Enkidu died and Gilgamesh started the second heroic journey searching for immortality. Gilgamesh search for immortality was beyond the initiation stage he searched for it through every quest and journey he encountered. In the second initiation stage, Gilgamesh went through a significant amount of problems and hardships. The return stage occurred when Gilgamesh leaves his fantasy world and return to people back home with new knowledge and teachings. Utanapishtim's tale in (Tablet 11) of the great flood

First of all, when we read the beginning of the epic, we can conclude that Gilgamesh is very bad king and fully uses his rights doing bad things; sleeps with the virgins of his own town, kills the young boys, humiliate others, shows himself from the worst side. “He is king,

It is considered an epic due to the nature of the poem revolving a hero, his deeds, conquests, and history. The epic of Gilgamesh revolves around Gilgamesh or the Sumerians calls him, Bilgamesh. Gilgamesh was said to be the fifth king of Uruk, who was one-third man and two-third god. The early Gilgamesh was full of hubris as much as he is full greatness. But towards the end of the poem

The characters of Gilgamesh and Job are heroes in the sense that they sacrifice their own well beings for the good of society. Both characters help contribute to the epic tales that were passed down from generation to generation and gave members of society a sense of understanding especially when it comes to death.

Gilgamesh uses warrior values to motivate himself and those around him. The Sumerians, which were Gilgamesh’s people, were located in Mesopotamia. The Sumerians expanded and developed the city of Uruk. The Sumerians survived due to their expansion of wheat and irrigation system. They prayed to their gods and went to the temple to bring upon blessings. Though we see priestly values in The Epic of Gilgamesh, warrior values hold more power in Gilgamesh’s life through out the story.

Gilgamesh is an epic hero in the story Gilgamesh: A New English Version because he endured a long journey. A common trait that all epic heroes share is their long journey that they must travel in search of triumph, treasure etc. Some evidence for this is "At four hundred miles they stopped to eat, at a thousand miles they pitched their camp. They had traveled for just three days and nights, a six weeks’ journey for ordinary men." Ordinary people could never have traveled this length hence why they're epic.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, undertakes a quest to become the ultimate hero, a perpetual legend to his people and superior to the gods. Gilgamesh initially defines superiority by physical feats and conquests. When he finds that the gods can undermine his personal power by causing him tragedy and elucidating his eventual death, Gilgamesh, out of fear, shifts his quest to the achievement of immortality. He fails in his effort to achieve eternal life as well. Gilgamesh does not accomplish his quest to become a hero by his initial definition, physical prowess, and physical immortality. Instead, through great suffering, grief, and disappointment, Gilgamesh recognizes

Always encountering success, Gilgamesh was once a tyrant to his people. Reflecting on his rule, he recalls that, “He demanded from an old birthright/the privilege of sleeping with their brides” (15). His triumphs fostered arrogance. To him, everyone else paled in comparison. When he experiences defeat, however, Gilgamesh grows as a leader, seeing the similarities between him and his subjects, their common humanity. After losing the plant of eternal life, Gilgamesh returns to his kingdom of Uruk. There, Gilgamesh looks over his empire, and is astonished at what he sees. He, “looked at the walls, awed at the heights his people had achieved” (92). Gilgamesh, once believing he was almighty, becomes a greater man and leader through

Gilgamesh is afraid of what will happen to him when he dies. “ 'When I die, shall I not be like unto Enkidu? Sorrow has entered my heart. I am afraid of death and roam over the desert (Sanders 14). Gilgamesh has a great fear of death at this point in his life. He has gone from a terrible king that his subjects hated, to one that was a friend, to now being afraid of death. This fear of death is what persuades him to look for everlasting life. Eventually, Gilgamesh reaches Utnapishtim, who tells him of a " 'wondrous plant, Whereby a man may obtain his former strength” (Sanders 18). Gilgamesh becomes excited at the thought of being able to find the plant and to be able to take it back to Uruk. At this point, we see a kind, compassionate person, who was willing to share what he had found with others, someone who is completely different from the man that he was at the beginning of the epic. Gilgamesh find the plant and is excited, but that doesn’t last too long because a serpent comes and takes the plant away from him. “Gilgamesh sat down and wept, His tears flowing over his cheeks” (Sanders

In the epic, within which many episodes are interlinked, depicts an image of a kind who underwent development and tends to understand the world where he was living. Within the version of the Babylonian, hero Gilgamesh 's character is best compared to Achilles. While comparing the characters of Achilles and Gilgamesh, he (Gilgamesh) changed and his nature was affected duet the presence and absence (loss) of Enid his comrade, thus the nature of Enkidu was static. Achilles ' nature and character followed the same pattern as that of Gilgamesh as he was also influenced by the presence and loss of Patroclus his comrade.

Human suffering is one of the major themes in The Epic of Gilgamesh. When confronted with painful situations in our lives, we often ask ourselves why is life so difficult and wonder if suffering is necessary. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the two heroes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu both go through suffering either physically and mentally. There are many beliefs to the reason of why suffering is inevitable. In this epic, it is portrayed that the two heroes’ s sufferings are results of their fundamental flaws, such as their hubris and their attachments of being remembered. Through suffering, they learn the nature of reality and accept their limitations.

A hero was a figure in a literature who went beyond the human’s limitation. Among countless heroic literature that were published, The Epic of Gilgamesh was the first Western Literature that portrayed an epic hero. Since the epic was written between 2150 and 1400 BCE, Gilgamesh was the Western Literature’s first known hero. Although each hero had similar characteristics, each hero had different situations and personalities, which led to different heroic archetypes. Depending on each situation and journey, the hero had different roles in literature such as either an epic hero or a tragic hero. Despite the fact that epic hero and tragic hero were both heroes, they have distinct characteristics. An epic hero exceeded commoners’ talents. According

The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey have been a part of human literature for several years. Both poems are from the category of epic poetry and have a time difference of at least one thousand years apart. Their themes explore different aspects of human cultures and ideologies. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem from early Mesopotamian culture while the onset of the Greek civilization inspired The Odyssey. The main characters for these epics are Gilgamesh, a demigod and ruler of Uruk, and Odysseus a great warrior returning home to his wife from war. The two main characters of these epic poems, Gilgamesh and Odysseus share similar and dissimilar traits. Among the qualities these characters display in the respective poems, connection to the gods, pride and courage come as shared traits between the two of them. While strength is a primary trait of both characters, they differ in the degree of strengths they possess. Odysseus displays suburb mental strength while Gilgamesh has more than mortal physical strength.

“The Epic of Gilgamesh” by N.K. Sandars teaches the reader that the epic hero cycle is a heroic person’s journey throughout a piece of literature by illustrating concepts that fit into the series of events. For example, the article states, “Gilgamesh laments Enkidu’s death for seven days and nights… Then the grieving Gilgamesh leaves Uruk” (25) to demonstrate Gilgamesh’s call to adventure. The call to adventure is a part of the epic hero cycle where a person is given a reason to set out on an expedition. In Gilgamesh’s case, he ventures out to find immortality after the somber death of Enkidu (X). To further exemplify the epic hero cycle, the article describes, “So at length Gilgamesh came to Mashu, the great mountains about which he had heard