Hercules Vs Gilgamesh Research Paper

The Everlasting Pattern in Mythologies: Hercules versus Gilgamesh

Ancient quests have been told in many generations for over centuries. Each adventure brings strenuous challenges that the character faces in order to achieve their objective. These certain quests have been characterized as archetypes. Joseph Campbell, a literary philosopher, managed to study different types of archetypes ; Campbell revealed myths tend to have the same patterns or stages that are constantly repeated. Any type of archetypal myth has three stages that the character undergoes: birth/separation/departure, initiation, and the return (A Practical Guide to The Hero with a Thousand Faces). Birth/separation/departure consists of five elements that the character undergoes

before and during his quest. In this stage, the character is living in their ordinary world. Initiation consists of four elements that the character undergoes during their quest. During this stage, the character is entering a special world much different than the one they are currently in. The return ends with three elements that the character experiences after returning back to their ordinary world. Many myths express their stories in this form, and they are felt by everyone for centuries because of how uplifting they are.
The first ever archetypal mythology arose in Mesopotamia, with the creation of Gilgamesh. Hercules, a Greek mythology followed the same pattern as the very early formations of Gilgamesh. Both myths carried the alike qualities in the very first stage. In their ordinary worlds, both heroes face being misfits. Because of their unique abilities, they do not fit in with the other people. Both of them live with their non biological family. Hercules, does not know that his parents are gods. He is told by his step parents, unlike Gilgamesh were he knew that his parents were gods. Both of them although, have a special birth which makes them an outsider to their ordinary world. The call to adventure is very much similar in both myths. Gilgamesh and Hercules are facing a challenge to enter a world that they have never faced before. Fear is brought to both of the heros. The heroes do not know what is ahead of their journey. At the same time, their quest is only different in what their to trying to seek in their adventure. Hercules’s goal in his quest, is in order to join Mount Olympus with his family, he has to become a true hero. He has to go above and beyond out of his shell. Gilgamesh's goal in his quest is to try and find an answer to immortality. Both heroes have to step out of their ordinary world in order to achieve their goal. The refusal to call is the same for both Hercules and Gilgamesh. Hercules does not have a refusal because he wants to become a true hero and live in Mount Olympus. Gilgamesh, in addition, does not have a refusal because he desires an answer to immortality. Both of the heroes do not have a refusal in going to their quest.While they accept their quests, a mentor arises to acknowledge and train both heroes. Both of the mentors in Hercules and Gilgamesh are brought by gods. Their ultimate goal is to train both of the heroes mentally and physically in order for them to succeed across their quest. Hercules is given a mentor named Philoctetes or “Phil”. Phil trains Hercules until he is ready to fight real monsters. Phil is brought down by the gods. Gilgamesh's mentors are also wiser gods. They lead him to the places he needs to reach. They also give him knowledge during the quest on where to find immortality. In all, both mentors leave the heroes along the quest and eventually Hercules and Gilgamesh have to face their fear on their own.
As Hercules and Gilgamesh move along in their journey, they have furthermore of the same elements. They both are moving more deeper into the path of the unknown. As they’re moving closer to their goal, they stumble upon obstacles, inner darkness, and their supreme ordeal. Hercules’s main obstacles are going to the underworld and saving Meg from being a slave to Hades. Hercules along the way, kills a series of monsters that were ordered by Hades. The inner darkness or the “belly of the whale” is when Hades finds that Hercules weakness is Meg. Hercules offers to trade Meg’s safety for his strength for one whole day. Hercules makes this agreement with Hades because he loves Meg. Hercules’s supreme ordeal is when he has to fight giant cyclones without his strength. This is extremely crucial for Hercules because he never once lost his strength. As Meg’s safety was broken, his strength remained and he saved her and went along to save Olympus. Aside from Hercules, Gilgamesh continues further to find the answer to immortality. Like Hercules, Gilgamesh faces obstacles, inner darkness, and the supreme ordeal. Gilgamesh’s obstacle are crossing the Mashu Mountains filled with serpents. In the Battle of Humbaba, Gilgamesh kills the giant, Humbaba, by the help of a god named Shamash. Gilgamesh’s inner darkness or “Belly of the Whale” is him going to the bottom of the ocean to get a plant that would give him immortality. The inner darkness is really him entering the ocean, unknown of what lies ahead of him. The supreme ordeal is Gilgamesh losing his plant. After he loses it, he knows that he has to face death and he will not become immortal. Hence, both heroes undergo obstacles that affect the way they view things and how they acted before. They enter the hardest area in their quest and win it or learn something from their defeat. They not only gain more secret knowledge, but also change their perspective.
In the final stage, Hercules and Gilgamesh both have an event that leads them to the end of their quest.

The final stages consists of understanding, resurrection and a lesson. With Hercules, as he is dieing from saving Meg, he transforms into a god because of his sacrifice. He is reborn, and his strength is significant than ever. This serves as his resurrection. As he saves Meg and defeats Hades, Hercules is now immortal and has the ability to live in Mount Olympus. But, he gives up his immortality and decides to live in the ordinary world with Meg. He learns that it takes a lot to be a true hero. For his heroic actions, Hercules image was created in the stars. Yet, Gilgamesh’s understanding is that death is a necessity, and another part of life. His resurrection was losing the plant ; he knew that he wouldn’t become immoral. He decided that he needed to become a better king. From his quest, he learns that immortality is not possible and people should live life everyday. For both Hercules and Gilgamesh, they learn to become better people and face their inner demons. They traveled across lands that no human ever crossed before. From these experiences, they bring stories and knowledge to the people of their world. From their heroic actions, they are not outsiders of their ordinary

world.
Hercules and Gilgamesh have many of the same elements that occurred during their quests. Both being mythologies, they created a story that has been uplifting people for over centuries. Both had the same stages that went along with archetypes. Inside the stages, both of the stories had similar elements. the only downside of the myths were the heroes goal. Each hero had a different goal. But, in the end, Hercules and Gilgamesh did not become immortal ; they decided to live the life that they chose, they changed not only for themselves, but for the people as well. This is the upliftment that has been repeated for centuries and it will continue on for many more generations.