Is The Difference Between The Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Odysseus Journey

1327 Words3 Pages

In both, The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh, the protagonist goes on an arduous adventure that changes his inherent persona. In The Odyssey, Odysseus embarks on a journey with his crew to return home to his wife Clytemnestra after the fall of Troy. A notable incident he goes through is being courted by Circe but he is able to escape by rejecting her. However, he and his crew go through a lot of obstacles in their journey, some of which includes how Odysseus witnesses the death of his beloved crewmembers. These adventures produced a glorious life story that is similarly close to that of Gilgamesh’s. (Chamberlain 7 Jan. 2011) In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh goes on adventures with his friend Enkidu. They kill the monster Humbaba and later on, Gilgamesh is courted by the goddess Ishtar. However Gilgamesh rejects her and she vows revenges which causes her to call upon the bull of heaven to destroy Gilgamesh’s country. Enkidu kills the …show more content…

These people would argue that life might not seem meaningful if one is always afraid much like how Gilgamesh was afraid of death. They would also point out that Gilgamesh went into a deep depression once he lost the plant of immortality and his friend Enkidu. Although Gilgamesh had to go on a journey to obtain the plant of immortality, he was miserable when he realized that a snake ate the plant. He felt the same way when Enkidu died so that’s another instance where Gilgamesh felt pain. There is also the probability that after death, Gilgamesh might be able to see Enkidu in the afterlife. This might suggest that in order to be with his friend, it would be a lot wiser for Gilgamesh to die instead of living through what he currently faces. These reasons are why people might believe that life actually doesn’t give comfort to the fact that death will

Open Document