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A contrast between Greek mythology and Norse mythology
Gilgamesh and beowulf comparison
Gilgamesh and beowulf comparison
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The Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf contain everything we can expect from a great epic literature. It portrays fantastic geographies, exotic characters, exhausting quests, heroic battles with monsters, supernatural beings and natural forces. Most important of all, they are two outstanding stories of a great epic hero who is compelled to meet his destiny and who rises to every challenge with courage and determination.
Beowulf is the earliest surviving epic poem written in a modern European language. It was written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D. The poem describes the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. Beowulf is described as a perfect hero who fights for his people and gets rid of evil with his extraordinary abilities to bring peace and justice. Unlike Beowulf, The Epic of Gilgamesh was one of the first pieces of literature known to man. The epic was found among ruins in Ninevah in the form of twelve large tablets, dating to 2,000 B.C. The epic is believed to be based on the Archaic Sumerian king Gilgamesh who ruled the city of Uruk around 2700 B.C. The main character in The Epic of Gilgamesh is a very powerful man who is two-thirds immortal and one-third man. He too is thought to be a hero and possesses many of Beowulf’s heroic values, but he also possesses many differences. Beowulf is a hero in the eyes of his fellow men through his amazing physical strength and courage. He fought in many battles and won all besides his last. Beowulf was powerful enough to kill the monster Grendel, who had been terrorizing the Danes for twelve years, with his bare hands. When the two battled off Beowulf grabbed Grendal’s arm and ripped it off at the shoulder. Beowulf then fought Grendel's ...
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...essed with becoming a hero. He set out to destroy Humbaba, his only ambition being to leave an enduring name. The one thing Gilgamesh feared was death. After his friend and companion, Enkidu, died Gigamesh became obsessed with death. He wept for seven days and seven nights before starting a great journey to find everlasting life. He searchers for a man named Utnapishtim, who was given eternal life by the gods, to find out how he escaped death. Beowulf's strength, and his ability to put his people’s welfare before his own, and the fact that he does not fear death makes him revered by all, especially those of his time.
In both epics the heros possessed god-like strength and defeated many evil beings. Both were courageous and feared no man or creature.Beowulf stuck to a stricter code of ethics.Beowulf is the prime example of an epic hero, and he embodies the conduct.
Beowulf is among the earliest surviving works of literature. It was written in Old English and dates back sometime before the tenth century A.D. The poem is set in Scandinavia, and tells the story of the heroic warrior, Beowulf. Beowulf was the perfect hero. He fought for his people and defeated evil with his ability to bring on justice. Three of Beowulf’s traits that serve as evidence of this were his remarkable physical strength, his ability to put the well-being of others before his own well-being, and his courage.
Beowulf is able to do something that no one else has ever done even though many people have tried. He is able to kill Grendel because he uses Grendels own size to hurt him. Beowulf grabs Grendels arm and pulls it until Grandel finally escapes. "He twisted in pain, And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder Snapped, muscle and bone split And broke"(Beowulf 34). Grendel was so big that when Beowulf pulled his arm there was too much pressure on it and it started to tear.
There is an epic hero in almost every legend ever told. The hero could be a mortal human who came from nothing, a creature that used to be evil, an immortal god, or even a group of people. In Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, the mortal man-of-the-hour is Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow. After he settled the feud for his father, he then carried out more amazing deeds and accomplishments. Beowulf portrays great strength, bravery, and is also very faithful to his kingdom. The totality of these qualities is not just a large mass of adjectives; each characteristic plays a special part.
Both Beowulf and Gilgamesh make for great representatives of the term “epic hero” by showing near legendary levels of greatness, might, and strength. However, their differences are significant enough that one can clearly
Immortality, monstrosity, infamy, catastrophe, might, and courage are all aspects of the epic legends of Beowulf and Gilgamesh. Though they subsisted in two utterly different historical eras, these epic heroes have numerous similarities and differences. For example, while they were booth deemed epic heroes, their mortalities were not equal. Beowulf had superhuman qualities such as having the strength of thirty men, but was born a mortal man. On the contrary, Gilgamesh was a demigod as he was born two-thirds god and one-third human by Ninsun, the goddess of dreams and cows. This is only one of the various instances of similarities and differences of these two epic idols.
There are three main characteristics that make The Epic of Gilgamesh an epic. The first be...
“Staring at his grotesquely muscled shoulders--stooped, naked despite the cold, sleek as the belly of a shark and as rippled with power as the shoulders of a horse--I found my mind wandering...He was dangerous” (155). Even from the first day Beowulf showed up at Hrothgar’s kingdom, Grendel knew he was dealing with something worse than a hero. Once they finally start to battle, the monster in Beowulf is fully revealed to Grendel and Grendel sees again the stupidity and meaninglessness in the human’s definition of a hero.“Grendel, Grendel! You make the world by whispers, second by second. Are you blind to that? Whether you make it a grave or a garden of roses is not the point. Feel the wall: is it not hard?...Hard, yes! Observe the hardness, write it down in careful runes. Now sing of walls! Sing!” (171). Beowulf forces Grendel to make a fool of himself and unlike Unferth who longs for a heroic death, Beowulf knows he is going to win and has no desire to die. His mindset of victory, groups him with monsters who have one goal, to kill and never be killed. This shatters the Anglo-Saxon ideals of heroism and in Grendel’s death, when he is surrounded by oblivious creatures who don’t have a purpose, the meaninglessness of it all, including the meaninglessness of heroic deeds becomes evident to the
known in the Bible as Erech (now Warka, Iraq). According to the myth, the gods
The character Beowulf, “a man of great strength and bravery” (Magill 388), is a hero in the way he defends his neighboring country, Denmark. When the word that a hostile creature, known as Grendel, was killing tons in Denmark, Beowulf set sail to help defend the people and rid them of the hideous monster.
...fend off death. The spirit of warriors grew its roots deep into his soul. His values of honor and valor would not let him die a peaceful death; no he would die in battle. Beowulf knew he would die in the midst of battle the day he chose to be a warrior. To die in battle was the greatest honor that he could
An epic hero demonstrates effective relations with his people; and in Beowulf, Beowulf takes that role. Throughout life and death, Beowulf uses his strength to empower his people as heroes should. With traits commoners desire, Beowulf utilizes his power while still maintaining the modesty required from an epic hero. Aside from extraordinary mental ability, Beowulf exemplifies heroic traits through his strength, reputation, and death.
Gilgamesh, The Epic of. Vol. A. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner, et al. 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2012. 95-150. Print.
In the beginning of the story, a mythical monster named Grendel who is attacking King Hrothgar’s mead hall Herot. When Beowulf hears of this tragedy, he volunteers to go and fight the mythical beast. The author wrote, “So Beowulf chose the mightiest men he could find the bravest and the best of the Geats, fourteen In all.” Once Beowulf arrives, he is given a feast and then decides to stay in Herot overnight to confront Grendel. Grendel then arrives and kills one of the Geats before Beowulf can get into the battle. Beowulf then goes hand-to-hand against Grendel and ends up tearing off Grendel’s shoulder. Grendel then retreats to his lair to die. This is only a mere example of why Beowulf is a hero.
The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey both are held in high respect by literature analysts and historians alike for the characterization of the hero and his companion, the imagery brought to mind when one of them is read, and the impressive length in relation to the time period it was written in. The similarities that these two epics share do not end with only those three; in fact, the comparability of these works extend to even the information on the author and the archetypes used. However, The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh contrast from one another in their writing styles, character details, and main ideas. Both epics weave together a story of a lost man who must find his way, but the path of their stories contrast from one another.
Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. Ironically, no one can lay claim to being the author of this amazing example of literature. The creator of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was, since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. When the first English monks heard the story, they took it upon themselves to write it down and add a bit of their own thoughts. Thus, a great epic and the beginning to English literature was born.