Compare And Contrast Beowulf And Gilgamesh

Beowulf and Gilgamesh Comparisons

Heroes, no matter how mighty and heroic they are, differ on what the people they defend consider a hero.The Battle With Grendel and Gilgamesh differ, and are equally alike, through their portrayals of what a hero is, the monsters they hunt and how they hunt them, and how they uphold themselves as moral paragons. Both pit glorious heroes against great creatures in the name of heroism and courage, but are strikingly different based on the ideals and perceptions put on both the villains and heroes. The mindsets and the abilities the heroes have reflect the society’s preferences written into them, with the creatures acting as a gauge on just what makes a creature evil. The two heroic tales are similar in general

plot, but take their own unique journeys on the quest.
The Battle with Grendel in Beowulf displays the hero of the story, Beowulf, as a mighty Dane who is a steadfast follower of Higlac.

He is fearless in his pursuit against Grendel, with lines such as: “Bound fast, Higlac’s brave follower…” (Line 109-110); another example of his fierceness during the battle: “But Higlac’s brave follower remembered his final boast and, standing erect, stopped the monster’s flight…” (Line 49-51). He is completely undaunted in fighting a terrible creature that leaves others terrified, seen in the line: “The high hall rang, its roof boards swayed, and Danes shook with terror.” (Line 58-59). Despite Beowulf displaying that fearlessness as a heroic trait, the twin heroes of Gilgamesh show the opposite. Gilgamesh and Enkidu display their fear in fighting the terrible creature of Humbaba, and need to support each other in order to pull through their hunting effort. When approaching the gate, the heroic king even falters: “Suddenly it was Gilgamesh who was afraid, Enkidu who reminded him to be fearless.” (Line 109-110). This display of emotion is shown in either character, with Enkidu being frightened: “Enkidu was alone with sights brought on by pain and fear…” (Line 96-98). The two heroic tales continue to differentiate themselves by their portrayal of the beasts they killed for glory, from who they were to how the heroes

reacted.
Despite Beowulf and Gilgamesh’s main focus is vanquishing terrible monsters, the monsters and motives of them differ. Humbaba, the monster that Gilgamesh seeks to kill, is described as a deformed slave of the gods: “He was the slave who did the work for gods, but whom the gods would never notice.” (line 170-171) is compounded with the fact that he is monstrously deformed: “Monstrous in contortion, he aroused the two to almost pity.” (line 172-173) Humbaba is less of a completely inhuman monster and is very nearly pitiful, and even begs for their own life when Gilgamesh raises his ax to finish them off. “...and stood over Humbaba with his ax, raised high over his head watching the monster plead with strangled sobs and desperate appeals…” (line 186-189). This is a contrast in Beowulf, Grendel is displayed a much more monstrous light. In addition, Grendel is described as “that shepherd of evil, guardian of crime…” (line 41) and a “sin-stained demon” (line 92), who is entirely animalistic in nature. Up to his defeat, Grendel is completely overpowered by Beowulf, who was “granted a new glory: Grendel escaped, but wounded as he was could flee to his den, his miserable hole in the bottom of the marsh…” (line 109-111). Despite the differences in character, however, Gilgamesh and Beowulf draw from the same ideas.
Both heroic tales share a similar base storyline, as well as attaining their end goal of earning trophies and renown through the their victory. Beowulf attracts a entourage of men from across the land to see the slinking away of Grendel as he sinks into his swamp, detailed in: “And then, in the morning, crowds surrounded Herot.... Men hurrying to behold the monster’s great staggering tracks. They gaped with no sense of sorrow, felt no regret for his suffering, went tracing his bloody footprints…” (Line 130-134). After the end of Gilgamesh’s encounter with Humbaba, he gains access to the cedar forest sought for earlier in the quote: “I will fight Humbaba, I will cut down his cedars.” (line 12-13). Another similar action was the taking of trophies from the monsters the hero slayed, like Gilgamesh taking a trophy of Humbaba. “Water sparkling like mica in a riverbed. In the slight breeze, the head of Humbaba was swinging from a tree.” (lines 206-208), which again is similar to another trophy that Beowulf kept, shown in the lines: “No Dane doubted the victory, for the proof, hanging high from the rafters where Beowulf hung it, was the monster’s arm, claw and shoulder and all.” (line 123-126). All of these similar acts reflect the ultimate treatment of their feats as heroic, and are reflections of similar beliefs of heroic attitudes.
In conclusion, Beowulf and Gilgamesh are tied by their base elements and flesh out in their own detail and performance. While Beowulf was a more fantastical, courageous tale about a courageous hero, Gilgamesh showed the faults in a hero’s attitude and a gray morality. The monsters counterpart each other in terms of humanity, with Grendel acting as a berserk animal, while Humbaba is a pitiful, unthanked slave of the gods. These (and many other) differences define the morals that these stories descended from, through the writers and the society that they lived in. The Anglo-Saxons clearly define their heroes much differently than the Mesopotamians, as well as what makes them the hero that they are.