Compare And Contrast Epic Of Gilgamesh And Old Man And The Sea

In order to gain a proper perspective on the concept of what a tragic hero is, we must synthesize information from the following play’s, “The Death Of A Salesman”, and “Oedipus The King”. Both plays takes the stance on the idea that validates the ultimate notion,  “tragic hero. From Willy’s hubris personality to his questionable and mysterious death, to Oedipus dynamic and complex choices and kingly personality that determines his fate. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement that leads to his/her downfall. In other words, even though both characters made incredible contributions and left a very noble legacy, their choices and decisions determined their ultimate fate. In today’s world tragic heroes are commonly present,

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Mesopotamian myth and the oldest known narrative there is, originally created on clay tablets written in cuneiform. The story focuses on two individuals. Gilgamesh, who is the tyrannical ruler of the kingdom of Uruk. Then his counterweight, Enkidu who resides in the forest and was raised by animals. It may seem that neither would have much in common, considering one is royalty and one is a wild man. However, these two characters balance each other despite their differences, which results in a beautiful friendship, but both will lose as well as gain in the end.

Gilgamesh was said to be written around 3300 to 2990 B.C., while the Bible was said to be written around the 6th century B.C. The Bible has around 40 contributors, but only one real author, which is God. According to the authors of “Who Were the Authors”, “Humanly speaking, the Bible was written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the course of 1500 years.” God guided these men to write this piece of literature for future Christians. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew while the New Testament was originally written in Greek. No specific person has ever been named to be the author of Gilgamesh, which was written in cuneiform, as it is one of the oldest pieces of literature in the world. Pictured in Figure 1, is one of the original tablets. The Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh can be compared in many ways; however, the most common way is by the similarities and differences in the floods that occur. “This [Gilgamesh] story contains the closest parallels to the biblical account…” writes Lloyd Bailey. Both Gilgamesh and the Bible have two big floods that change humanity in more ways than one. To really understand and compare the floods in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible, both pieces of literature need to be thoroughly examined in every way that their natural disasters are similar and different: the creators and their reasons for making the floods, the hero of the flood, the period of grace, the two arks and their passengers, and the bird scene.

“He did not truly feel good because the pain from the cord across his back had almost passed pain and into dullness that he mistrusted.”(74) Once both the fish and Santiago had reached the breaking point of conflict the story seemed to slow down in time to exemplify the adverse conditions that both characters were suffering from. The old man proves himself worthy of personal suffering with the cuts and scars on his hands and back along with all of the pulling and slipping the cords had upon his fragile body. Hemmingway shows in a big way how an out of proportioned conflict with an old fisherman and an 18 foot long marlin helps to magnify the significance of Santiago searching for his rebirth to manhood. With constant abstraction describing the fish and the sea in relation to brotherhood create interesting questions for Santiago to ponder. His rationalization for his fishing is that he was born to do it. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” (103) Hemmingway proves that this fish represents all of Santiago’s built up tension to total the size of a gigantic marlin that is perceived as devastating but not unconquerable. The old man’s hopes and aspirations can overcome the adversity of the marlin’s size, along with the conditions of the old, hungry, and exhausted fisherman. Through outright suffering Santiago achieves a goal above his previous manhood by combating pain and

In the text that has been covered in class we often see how the gods so often turn their backs on their heroes i.e. “Odyssey” by Homer. However, our God promises He will never leave us or forsake us. There are many gods in the Greek mythology yet one god could be for the hero and one could be against; they can completely counter act what the other god is doing. They lack in communication i.e. “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Our God is three in one Father, Spirit, and Son, yet there is no lack in communication because they are one. In the Greek stories there are monsters and all other sorts of enemies and they all do whatever their little hearts desire (this is seen in the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Epic of Gilgamesh). We believe in one enemy his name is Lucifer (Satan, The devil). He is the king of lies, deceit, and temptation. He is the deceiver. He is everything bad rolled in to one creature. People may not

Sacrifice for the greater good is the natural inclination for heroes and protagonists in stories; however, in order to subsidize and materialize the profits for forfeiting one's humanity which is a drastic step towards lowering one's abilities and the perception other people have of that individual. A false hero practices charisma, a desire to succeed and the need to be placed on a pedestal adorned by arbitrary individuals. These practices serve as the root for this “Hero” to forward his ideas on those closest to him, even if those close individuals are regarded as rational and clear-minded. These followers hurl themselves at the whims of the “Hero” willing to sacrifice their dreams and aspirations for the “Heroes” own gratification and elation.

(1) The black demon saw a beautiful woman and out of all the nobel women. He picked the one that was about the be married. He kidnapped her on her wedding night. It shows that the black demon does things impulsively. He does not care of the consequences. It shows that since he is a demon. He does not fear the consequences of men. When he saw her he could not longer live without her. When he kidnap her. He locked her in box showing that he does not trust the women he kidnap with other men. It also means he wants to keep her pure. She was kidnap on her wedding night so she did not have sex yet so the demon believed she was pure. The untainted virgin that has not been violated by men was his and his only. When he traveled he took her out of the box and wanted to sleep beside her. It shows when he his comfortable. He would sleep better beside her. The women was the demon's most prized possession. It is like comparing the women to a boy's secret toy. When a boy is around someone he would hide his secret toy from everyone. When the boy is alone he would take it and worship it. This meaning is similar to Metamorphoses when Apollo wanted Daphne. Even though she refused him. He impulsively try to rape her. She was turned into a tree, but he still tried to rape the tree. Another text with the similar meaning is in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Any women Gilgamesh desired he would take married or not. Since he was part god and king. He did not care of consequence like the demon.

The literatures ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’ and ‘Everyman’ both address the issue of the meaning of life and its purpose from different perspectives. Both of the main characters' fear death and search for something out of both of the main characters control. Gilgamesh wishes for immortality after the death of a friend, but soon realizes that he can only change his ways while he still has time to live the best life. Everyman meets a series of characters who symbolizes the things we long for in everyday lives. From there on, Everyman experiences the trials and tribulations in order to learn which ones will lead him to salvation and thus, everlasting life. Believing in something greater after death is the purpose and meaning of one’s life.

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.

Still, Santiago returns to his small fishing village with the skeleton of the fish.  He achieves a spiritual victory instead of  a material one, surviving the ordeal of battle, and arriving with proof of his struggle strapped to his boat-the skeleton of the fish.  Rather than a huge profit from such a large fish, he gains the admiration of the town for his valorous fight.  Violence and disorder prevail, but Santiago honorably defends his catch in the midst of what will be a losing battle. Oscar Wilde once said, "Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot.  In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you" (n. pag.).  Santiago finds fulfillment by proving his manhood and his worth to both the town and Manolin, a local boy who admires him greatly.

Their fatal flaw or weakness in their character that brings about their downfall, is the main characterstic of these heroes. Many factors play major roles into these personas. Since these heroes experience a “downfall”, they must come from noble birth or some high ranking position, and the path to their downfall is often plagued by one or a series of poor choices. Towards the end of the work, the readers might feel sympathy or pity for these characters, which is an indication that the punishment for these heroes was too harsh for their shortcomings. The aim of the difficulty of the tragic heroes is to teach the readers valuable lesson.

Despite his failures, he sets out in his boat after having caught no fish for eighty-four days. Nevertheless, Santiago never loses his confidence in his fishing abilities. Hemingway describes the humble Old Man with, “His hope and confidence had never gone.”(pg 13) Ernest Hemingway goes on to say, “He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.” (pg 13)

Following this, on one side of the debate, some critics believe that the primary theme of The Old Man and The Sea is pride. Admittedly, there are many scenes where pride is shown. Nevertheless, it’s critical to understand that pride was one of the many reasons why Santiago persevered so much. For example, Litcharts.com claims that, “After he kills the first shark, Santiago, who knows he killed the marlin "for pride," and wonders if the sin of pride was responsible for the shark attack because pride caused him to go out into the ocean beyond the usual boundaries that fishermen observe (Litcharts 1).” Although the quote expressed many examples of the theme pride, it shows perseverance even further. When the quote claimed that pride

The nobility of character of the old man prevents him from feel hate and rancor toward the other fishermen. Despite the taunts of the other fishermen, Santiago is quiet and admits having a bad streak of luck. This makes him an honorable man, which avoids any conflict and is able to recognize his flaws as a fisherman. Although the sea has given him several bitter drinks, he is able to keeping on loving it. “A man is honest when he acts honestly, he is humble when he acts humbly, he loves when he is loving or being loved.” (Waldmeir 165). Perhaps, the crowning act of humility in Santiago is when he is forced to recognize that by his own forces he will not be enough to grab the fish, and decides to carry out prayers to the Almighty. At the end of the hunting of the big animal, Santiago does not become conceited. His simple and humble soul thanks with a prayer for the outcome of his effort. Although the fighting has been severe and bloody, the old man was not self-styled "hero”. Santiago humbly considers himself as one fisherman more, and the categorization as a hero depends on the readers. “It is the knowledge that a simple man is capable of such decency, dignity, and even heroism, and that his struggle can be seen in heroic terms, that largely distinguishes this book.” (Young 131). The evident relation between his humility and dignity helps to place Santiago as a perfect

The heroes in The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, and Oedipus are all men that share many traits, but are not the typical heroes that 21st century readers today may relate to. Instead, they are flawed men who must overcome great challenges. However, heroes play a vital role in the ancient epic texts that are still enjoyed today. Without the hero, there would be no tale to tell, and the stories of Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Oedipus, would be unknown to us. Understanding the role of the hero, and the differences between heroes is useful to better understand the literary masterpieces within the context of the times they were written in as well.