Asher
Paper #1; LIT 230
24 January 2018
Paper #1, Topic # 2
Introduction.
The first work is The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem composed by an anonymous group of authors from ancient Mesopotamia. This story follows Gilgamesh the King of Uruk, and his struggle to avoid death and his obsession with his own inevitable mortality. The depiction of the underworld in this epic comes from the nightmares of a dying Enkidu. In these nightmares, Enkidu is snatched by a creature with hands like lions and nails like an eagle’s talons, turned into a dove, and led to the underworld, termed The House of Darkness. Enkidu describes the underworld, “house where those who enter do not come out, /along the road of no return, /to the house where those who
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This epic tells the tale of the Greek hero Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. Though only briefly mentioned in Book 11 when Odysseus travels to Hades on the advice Circe who tells him that he must sail to Hades, speak with the spirit of Tiresias, a blind prophet who will tell him how to get home. Similar to Irkalla the lives of the souls that reside in Hades were very neutral, there was no social classes nor political positions, and no one’s previous positions in their lives gave them an advantage in the underworld. Bodies of deceased Greeks would often have coins somewhere on their person so that they could pay the Ferryman Charon to get passage to the Gates of the underworld where the Judges of the Underworld decide where to send the souls. Elysium was a place for more notable figures of Greek history or mythology like demigods or heroes. Afterlife in Elysium was relatively easy and involved no labors. The Asphodel Meadows was a place for the souls of the common, or ordinary people who did not commit any great crimes nor did they accomplish any greatness or recognition. Tartarus was the place where the truly awful people were sent, and where they would experience punishment for their sins for all eternity. While in Hades Odysseus also speaks to a number of other souls including Agamemnon, Achilles, Patroclus, Antilochus, and Telamonian Aias whom he had fought with or against during the Trojan War. Before he goes, Odysseus also sees Minos, Orion, Tityos, Tantalos, Sisyphos, and Herakles well known mythical Greek
The Epic of Gilgamesh is generally regarded as the greatest literature about tales of a great king. The Epic of Gilgamesh served to show us a lot of things. The time period of BCE is very blurry, and this story attempts to describe many different things in not only Sumerian beliefs, but also Sumerian's culture as a whole. Like many stories from BCE the truth itself is questionable, even though a lot of the information is fact. The factual information that Gilgamesh teaches us about Sumerian Civilization is that had had many craftsman and artistic skills, and also a strong belief in Gods.
The main character in the book The Epic of Gilgamesh, is Gilgamesh himself. In the beginning of the book one realizes that Gilgamesh is an arrogant person. Gilgamesh is full of himself and abuses his rights as king. He has sexual intercourse with the virgins of his town and acts as though he is a god. Throughout the story, many things cause Gilgamesh to change. He gains a friend, he makes a name for himself by killing Humbaba, and he tries to become immortal because of the death of Enkidu. Through these main actions his personality changes and he becomes a better person.
There has long been a fashion among critics and historians, including Sir James Frazier and Graham Hancock, to insist upon taking the account of Odysseus' voyage to Hades in Book XI of the Odyssey at near face-value as a description of people and places familiar to a Greek audience of Homer's day. Both linguistics and comparative history have been employed to discover exactly how accurately this originally oral epic conveys this gritty realism. Something, however, is not right with this purely empiric approach. What is missing is an examination through the lens of ancient religious practices. Surely a literary work so teeming with deities-wise Athena, spiteful Poseidon, impish Hermes, omnipotent Zeus-deserves such study.
Ancient world literature and early civilization stories are mostly centered on human’s relationship with higher beings. Ancient civilizations were extremely religious, holding the belief that their very lives were in the hands of their almighty god or goddess. This holds true for both the people of biblical times as well as those of the epic era. However, their stories have some differences according to cultural variation but the main structure, ideas, and themes are generally found correlative. It is hard to believe that one work did not affect the others. The first great heroic epic poem of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament are parts of two cultures that are hundreds of years apart. Whereas Gilgamesh is a myth and the book of Genesis is the basis of many religions, they both have notably similar accounts of symbols, motifs, meaningful events according to the relationship between the divine and humans in literature.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus rejects the offer of immortality from the goddess Calypso long after he discovers the true nature of the afterlife after travelling to Hades. In Hades he meets Achilles who tells him “I’d rather slave on earth for another man. than rule down here over all the breathless dead’ (“Odyssey”, 265). Given such strong words from someone who has experienced the afterlife first hand, all of horrifying sights of the underworld, and the fact that Odysseus himself flees the underworld; one would be lead to believe that Odysseus would take up any offer that would him to dodge a fate in the underworld. Along with these reasons, Odysseus has endured many trials and tribulations over the course of his travels that might convince him to accept the offer of immortality.
In many literary works we see significant transitions in the hero's character as the story is developed. This is also true in the Epic of Gilgamesh with its hero, Gilgamesh. In this narrative poem, we get glimpses of who Gilgamesh is and what his purposes and goals are. We see Gilgamesh act in many different ways -- as an overbearing ruler resented by his people, a courageous and strong fighter, a deflated, depressed man, and finally as a man who seems content with what he's accomplished. Through all of these transitions, we see Gilgamesh's attitude toward life change. The goals he has for his own life alter dramatically, and it is in these goals that we see Gilgamesh's transition from being a shallow, ruthless ruler to being an introspective, content man.
Dante’s Inferno is a narrative poem, with a very complicated rhyme scheme, originally written in Italian. It documents the author’s, Dante, trip through hell, where he learns how hell is organized and the way in which sinners are punished. Dante is guided by the great poet Virgil, who leads him throughout hell. The Odyssey, is an epic authored by the Greek, Homer. The epics centers on Odysseus’ protracted journey home. The protagonist, Odysseus, visits the underworld for a very short amount of time. The two literary works contain many common elements, such as characters being punished, the protagonists interacting with those in the underworld, repeating characters, and the misery of the underworlds. There are also differences between the two works including the types of interactions between the protagonists and those they encounter, the reasons for each protagonists visit to the underworlds, and how the underworld operates. These differences and similarities can be attributed the Dante’s and Homer’s religion, the time period and culture in which they wrote their respective works, and the purpose for the visits to the underworlds in each work. Although there are many similarities between the underworlds in Dante’s Inferno and The Odyssey, the two works ultimately offer two different visions of the underworld due to the authors’ different religious beliefs and culture, as well as the role of the underworld in each literary work.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story that deals with various sub conflicts that are known to create a lasting impression on how we view the characters and their status in the general schemes. Sub conflicts like Immortality vs mortality, betrayal, death, violence and sorrow, gives us a grand perspective of how negative and pessimistic the general schemes and plot of the Epic truly is. Today I will be arguing that The Epic of Gilgamesh takes a pessimistic view on mortality. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the main character Gilgamesh is conflicted with the death of his best friend Enkidu, in fear of death; he goes to Utanapishtim who is an immortal that is also human. Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh about the cure and where to find it; Gilgamesh finds the cure but sets it
Perhaps one of the main reasons the Epic of Gilgamesh is so popular and has lasted such a long time, is because it offers insight into the human concerns of people four thousand years ago, many of which are still relevant today. Some of these human concerns found in the book that are still applicable today include: the fear and concerns people have in relation to death, overwhelming desires to be immortal, and the impact a friendship has on a person’s life. It does not take a great deal of insight into The Epic of Gilgamesh for a person to locate these themes in the story, and even less introspection to relate to them.
In The Epic of Gilgamesh the main character, Gilgamesh, is searching for immortality. This want is brought about by deep feelings held by Gilgamesh for his dead friend Enkidu. From this, Gilgamesh finds himself being scared of dying. This fear pushes Gilgamesh to search for the power of immortal life, which is believed to be held only by women because of the fact that they can reproduce. This takes him on a long and tiresome journey to a land where no mortal has gone before. The search by Gligamesh is fueled by the desire to play a part in reproduction. His journey begins at Mount Mashu, the mountain which describes a woman in the part that her "paps reach down to the underworld." Referring to two women’s breast’s hanging down. Before he may enter the mountain, he meets two half female, half dragon figures guarding the entrance. They begin asking why he has come; "No man/ born of woman has done what you have/ asked, no mortal man has ever gone into the/ mountain." This mountain is off limits to mortal beings, he should not be there Gilgamesh is alloud in and goes through twelve leagues of darkness before he reaches the golden garden of the goddesses.
Achilles once said to Odysseus when he entered the underworld on his journey home to Ithaca, "Do not speak soothingly to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should choose to serve as the hireling of another, rather than to be lord over the dead that have perished". In reference to the River of Forgetfulness, Plato said "They were all required to drink a measure of the water, and those who were not saved by their good sense, drank more than the measure, and each one as he drank forgot all things". Therefore, the Underworld is a place of internity. The Greeks believed strongly of the Underworld and displayed it in their myths and legends.
As Stephen Mitchell stated, “(Gilgamesh is) the oldest story in the world, a thousand years older than the Iliad or the Bible” (Mitchell, 1). Gilgamesh is the oldest text we have from the B.C./B.C.E times. Majority of scholars believe that the main theme of the book is Immortality. Therefore, it is arguable that other themes are much more important. Gilgamesh is by far the oldest known text in today’s age. Through analyzation, we know one of the main themes of the story is immortality; however, that is not the only theme nor is it the most important.The book stands the test of time because of a topical and relatable theme to today’s society. Numerous characters display that human growth is achieved through loss and journeys.
Myths have been a great example of the hero’s journey. Many heroes have journeys and trials to face throughout their life. Most of their journeys start out with their origin and end with the return. However, the hero’s role remains identical to every other hero. Most heroes like Gilgamesh has heroic traits because of the stages in the hero's journey. Gilgamesh is a man who can turn into a hero by changing himself, even when he has unusual circumstances surrounding his birth. Gilgamesh is viewed as a hero due to the stages of the hero's journey.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a moving tale of the friendship between Gilgamesh, the demigod king of Uruk, and the wild man Enkidu. Accepting ones own mortality is the overarching theme of the epic as Gilgamesh and Enkidu find their highest purpose in the pursuit of eternal life.
Many themes are incorporated into the story line of Gilgamesh. These include three very important concepts: death is inevitable, immortality is unachievable, and friendship is a necessity.