Gilgamesh as a Hero

A detailed Summary of Gilgamesh as a Hero

"When the gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body. Shamash the glorious sun endowed him with beauty, Adad the god of the storm endowed him with courage, the great gods made his beauty perfect, surpassing all others, terrifying like a great wild bull. Two thirds they made him god and one third man.(pg.13)" The historic poem of Gilgamesh is labeled the "first great heroic narrative of world literature.(pg.10)" It details the story of a super-human King who embarks on a journey and after many trials and tribulations returns home and engraves his story in stone before dying. By some definitions Gilgamesh is considered a hero however; I find that Gilgamesh's decisions, arrogance and selfishness prevent him from being a true hero.

Joseph Campbell describes a hero as a powerful human being embarks on a quest to win a war, gain a mystical object or to gain an understanding, then returns home with some type of wisdom and self-knowledge. Based on this definition, the title character in Gilgamesh could be labeled a hero. However, I disagree with Campbell's definition in one aspect that I believe to be the key to heroism. A hero should carry the attributes of courage, wisdom and strength as Gilgame

"How can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best I can to find Utnapishtim whom they call the Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of gods. (pg.30)"

sh did, however, a true hero should also carry compassion, and selflessness. Poor decision making, arrogance, and selfishness lead to Gilgamesh's demise, are his harmatia and the reason why I do not believe him to be a hero.

In addition to his poor decisions, arrogance hinders Gilgamesh's classification as a hero. A hero should be someone who tries to sympathize with ordinary people, or at least does not flaunt their arrogance. Gilgamesh clearly believes himself to be far better than average people, and his people know that he feels this way. "Gilgamesh the king is about to celebrate marriage with the Queen of Love, and he still demands to be first with the bride...for that was ordained by the gods from his birth, from the time the umbilical cord was cut. (pg. 16)" His people are aware that he believes that he was far superior to everyone else from the day of his birth. In another instance Gilgamesh is informing the counselors of Uruk that he is embarking on a journey to kill Humbaba, the counselors reply "Gilgamesh, you are young, your courage carries you too far, you cannot know what this enterprise means which you plan...Why do you crave to do this thing, Gilgamesh? It is no equal struggle when one fights with Humbaba, that battering-ram. (pg.19)" "When Gilgamesh heard these words of the counselors, Gilgamesh looked at his friend and laughed. (pg.19)" These passages again show Gilgamesh's arrogance. He believes that there is not any force that he can not destroy to the point whe

Some common words found in the essay are:
Queen Love, Joseph Campbell, Bull Heaven, Gilgamesh Hero, Kingdom Gilgamesh's, Gilgamesh Ishtar's, World Literature, poor decision, kill humbaba, journey kill humbaba, NK Sandars, celebrate marriage queen, queen love demands, marriage queen, queen love, hero carry, love demands, marriage queen love, celebrate marriage, king celebrate marriage, returns home, story stone, gilgamesh labeled,

Approximate Word count = 1194
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English