What Are The Similarities Between Gilgamesh And Beowulf

The two great heroes Gilgamesh and Beowulf are two different people from different stories, but they share a lot of the same characteristics. In addition to these similarities they both have multiple notable differences. The two men both faced challenges where they had to fight heinous monsters to achieve a goal. They both fought monsters but they fought for different goals, Beowulf for glory and Gilgamesh for fun. Both men had death shoved in their faces since day one and they have to deal with it constantly throughout their lives, but they handle it in two different ways. Gilgamesh is afraid of death and seeks immortality, while Beowulf doesn’t fear death and seeks glory in his name for when he is gone. In addition, the two men also had

followers that helped them on their journies. Beowulf had a group with him that didn’t help much while Gilgamesh had Enkidu who helped Gilgamesh out with almost everything. Although Gilgamesh and Beowulf are both epic heroes, their differences outweigh their similarities because of their reasons for doing what they do in their respective epics.

Both Gilgamesh and Beowulf fought giant monsters and great foes but the thing that ties them together here is that each enemy they fought they killed.

Now both of the men had fought their fair share of these monsters and together they fought and killed many. Beowulf fought and killed Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon, and each of those monsters died after the battle. Gilgamesh fought and killed Humbaba, The Bull of Heaven and many others, and he bested every one of those monsters. Now they both fought multiple enemies but they fought these enemies for different reasons. Gilgamesh fought these enemies because he was either bored or he was seeking immortality. Beowulf fought these monsters for glory and to help out the people of his nation and neighboring nations. In the end Beowulf fights for glory and gilgamesh fights because of his boredom. They both won all of their fights but since these are mortal men they have to have died at some

point.

Both of our epic heroes dealt with death in the end, but they dealt with death in completely different ways.

All this fighting and strenuous activity took a tole on their bodies and both of them died at the end of their respective stories, but the way they died was a key factor in figuring out how their views on death differed. Gilgamesh fought all his life, doing what he pleased and taking what he wanted to but eventually it caught up to him during his journey for immortality. The serpent took the flower from him which would in turn keep him mortal. Gilgamesh died of old age after his journey. Beowulf, on the other hand, died in battle fighting for glory in his name and fighting for the betterment of his people’s nation. Beowulf went out fighting and seeking glory and doing so caused his name to live on. The differences between these two men can be simplified into two different things, Beowulf wanted glory at the price of death, while Gilgamesh wanted immortality at the price of his physical strength. Beowulf achieved his hard fought glory while Gilgamesh sought immortality and

failed.

Many of their wins in battle can be partially credited to their base of followers, and the reason that these men had followers is because their followers believed that these men were something greater and these people wanted to be a part of that. Both of these men were great leaders which allowed them to have followers. These followers helped them during fights and encouraged or advised their leaders when the time called for it. Some of the followers even decided to sacrifice themselves for the glorification of their leader's name, such as when Grendel kills one of Beowulf’s men in Harot. Now the followers of each party varied in size, shape, and reasoning. First off, the size of the following group was very different, Gilgamesh had one follower and Beowulf had fourteen followers. Both of these groups would sacrifice themselves for their leader and helped out in a multitude of ways. Enkidu helped Gilgamesh take out Humbaba and the Bull while Beowulf’s men helped him out with Grendel and The Dragon. In the end Beowulf had more followers but Gilgamesh’s follower helped a lot more than Beowulf’s followers combined.

These two epic heroes are very different and similar in very unique ways. Although these men have many basic similarities, the differences between the two outweigh these similarities because the differences are in fundamental aspects of their beliefs. Gilgamesh fights because of boredom while Beowulf fights for glorification. Beowulf wasn’t afraid of death taking him while Gilgamesh spent a good portion of his life running away from death and trying to escape his fate. GIlgamesh had one useful follower while Beowulf had many less useful followers. The differences between these two men outweigh their basic similarities and even though they are in different stories they still share some key values. .