Gilgamesh Hero's Journey Essay

N.K. Sandars, is a story about a classic hero named Gilgamesh. Sandars shows how Gilgamesh goes through the three stages of departure, initiation, and the return. For example, according to an American mythologist named Joseph Campbell, “A hero is someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself, or other than himself.” Throughout these three stages, Gilgamesh fights his way through many different obstacles, learns new things about himself, and makes new unexpected friends to make a name for himself.
The first stage of Gilgamesh’s heroic journey starts off with the departure from Uruk to find and destroy the ferocious Humbaba, the guardian of the Cedar forest. By doing this, Gilgamesh is trying to “Set up [his] name in the

For example, before he starts to return home he realizes how his dear brother Enkidu dies and does not want the same thing to happen to himself. Not only is Gilgamesh afraid of death, he sets off to find immortality by seeking Utnapishtim, a man who the gods gave eternal life too. Gilgamesh then tells Utnapishtim that he wants eternal life aswell, and how to receive it, “Because of [his] brother, [he is] afraid of death”(Sandars 32). Utnapishtim then takes Gilgamesh to Urshanabi, a ferryman who shows Gilgamesh how to receive eternal life by telling him about a plant that grows under the water and it shall give him the life he wants if he succeeds in taking it. Like the man Gilgamesh is, he goes into the water and grabs the plant so he can bring it back to Uruk to give to an old man, but also eat it himself to restore both their youth. Soon after, when Gilgamesh arrives back to land, a serpent eats the plant which makes Gilgamesh heartbroken, but then he remembers everything he learned on his journey and is appreciative of mortality. Once Gilgamesh arrives back to Uruk after his long journey, “He [became] wise, saw mysteries and [learned] secret things”(Sandars 38).
In conclusion, The Epic of Gilgamesh is a great example of a hero’s journey and how a hero goes through the three stages of departure, initiation, and the return. This epic poem is also an example of Joseph Cambpell’s