Theme Of Pride In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf contain everything we can expect from a great epic literature. It portrays fantastic geographies, exotic characters, exhausting quests, heroic battles with monsters, supernatural beings and natural forces. Most important of all, they are two outstanding stories of a great epic hero who is compelled to meet his destiny and who rises to every challenge with courage and determination.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the world’s oldest existing stories that were collected in Mesopotamia. It is a story about a heroic king named Gilgamesh, who treated his people in a nasty way. He was a domineering, and cruel leader, feared by many because of his unnatural strength. He forced his people into labor in order to expand his kingdom. The people cried unto the gods and they created Gilgamesh’s equal Enkidu, who they later became friends. Gilgamesh witnessed the death of his close friend Enkidu, and this made him to search for immortality because, he was afraid to die. However, he learnt that, no human was immortal, and that he was destined to die, just like his friend Enkidu.

In the latter, however, some of his more ignoble traits are revealed: he is a braggart, he almost dishonorably uses poisoned arrows, and he shows conceit in his victory over the Cyclops. It is sometimes difficult to reconcile this man with the one who willingly gives up eternal life for the moral condition and the chance to return to his wife. Largely, the problems with understanding the moral position of Odysseus stem from his immense experience and cleverness, which make him at once mortal and fantastic.

(Gilgamesh 71)” Gilgamesh's grief for his friend was natural, but he shouldn't have abandoned his people and his royal duties. As ruler, his people have to follow his decree, and need his support to thrive. By forcing them to grief, and abandoning his position, he left them in a very vulnerable position. His last and final abandonment of his people began with Gilgamesh's quest for immortality. He was so upset and shocked by what occurred to Enkidu's body after death, that he vowed he would never die. His selfishness has grown so far, that when he finds his cure for mortality, he chooses to let an old man test the plant in case it brings death instead. “I will bring it to Uruk-Haven, and have an old man eat the plant to test it. The plant's name is “The Old Man Becomes a Young Man.” Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth. (Gilgamesh 106)” Gilgamesh was a powerful man with a lot of ambition, and potential. It was just ruined by his selfish nature. He was, all-in-all, a famous and great ruler... but not a just one.

Further analysis of the poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, described the characteristic of king Gilgamesh from the beginning, middle, and end. Throughout the poem, there are immature and petrified moments of Gilgamesh, but more importantly he learned to grow as he explore his journey. Friendship, love, and fear appears to be essential in this poem. Why are those terms relevant ? and how does it connect with the trait of Gilgamesh ?, let’s continue to find out the truth about Gilgamesh.

Abusch perceives Gilgamesh to be a man, hero, king and god who acts in a manner that accords limits and responsibility imposed upon him by his society. Abusch illustrates that: “Gilgamesh is aggressive and courageous, even impetuous, and he shows little or no concern for his own safety and focuses all of his energy upon battle, obligation, honor, and victory” (3). The author explains that even with the greatest power and achievements there is no humanly possible power that is able to withstand death. Abusch’s analysis talks about Gilgamesh coming to terms with his nature and learns about death. The main conflict in the article is between Gilgamesh being an epic hero and his ability to obtain moral growth. Gilgamesh exists in

In the Odyssey, Odysseus exemplified strong leadership and outstanding noble qualities. Like Achilles, Odysseus carried some flaws at the beginning of the story. A strong case can be made that his biggest flaw as a character was pride as it caused him unnecessary risks that only delayed his journey and possibly endangered his men. This is evidently shown when Odysseus and his crew wander around in Polyphemos ' cave. After the confrontation with the Polyphemos, Odysseus and his men escaped by stabbing Polyphemos’ in the eye while he was asleep. Once Odysseus and his men were safe on board on their ship, Odysseus took it upon himself to reveal his true identity and proceeded to taunt Polyphemos. At

Gilgamesh is not a completely flawed character; he possesses, and obtains through his adventures, many positive qualities or virtues. For example, he is courageous. This virtue is evident during his battle with Humbaba. This forest giant is a fearsome adversary, aided by the gods, with a considerable size and strength advantage. Defeat of Humbaba takes the combined efforts of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. To succeed, Gilgamesh had to gain the courage to undergo this task. Enkidu rallies his friend by saying, “O Gilgamesh, remember now your boasts in Uruk. Forward, attacks, son of Uruk, there is nothing to fear.” (Sandars 20) With this, Gilgamesh’s “courage railed” (Sandars 20). He defeats and eventually kills Humbaba for which he is subsequently praised.

Odysseus is described as a god-like man. He is cunning, sly, suave, strong, confident and self-possessed. He accomplishes many great events like that of defeating the Trojans, slaying the suitors and travelling to and back from Hades. When on the beach in Phaeacia he confidently “stalked as a mountain lion exultant in his power strides through wind and rain and his eyes blaze and he charges sheep or oxen or chases wild deer” , and when he sees Nausicaa “He launched in at once, endearing, sly and suave” . Athena found him to be “so winning, so worldly wise, so self possessed!” . Neither does he lack in ingenuity, King Nestor said that “No one...could hope to rival Odysseus, not for sheer cunning–at every twist of strategy he excelled us all” . Odysseus has a large and gallant reputation to fulfil, but when he first makes an appearance in the book he is crying on Calypso’s island. Crying is often seen as a weakness in a man, but this makes Odysseus more endearing as it reveals the labour of his love.

As the epic starts, Gilgamesh is portrayed as a self-centered, self-admiring leader who believes that he is the only individual that can lead the city of Uruk. Gilgamesh believes that he is a god-like figure and often refers to himself as one. He believes that he is above everyone else in the city of Uruk. For example, in the epic there is a scene where Gilgamesh enters the city of Uruk, the epic describes the scene as; “He entered the city of Uruk-the-Town-Square, and a crowd gathered around. He came to a halt in the street of Uruk-the Town-Square, all gathered about, the people discussed him” (15). This quote is a good example of how Gilgamesh expected those around him to respect and look up to him as a god-like figure. He did not lead the city of Uruk humbly; he wasn’t a leader who strived to feel like a normal citizen of the city. Instead, Gilgamesh felt that he was entitled to more privileges than the average person. Early on in the epic, Gilgamesh is described as a “tall, magnificent and terrible, who opened passes in the mountains, who dug wells on the slopes of the uplands, and crosses the ocean, the wide sea to the sunrise” (2). This demonstrates how selfish Gilgamesh truly was, and how all

We know that Odysseus has had problems with the god of the sea Poseidon, as with his son the Cyclops. When Polyphemus eats two of Odysseus’s men, “He knocked them dead like pups.” (Page 220, Homer) the crew knows that he is trouble. Odysseus gets the giant drunk, and when the cyclops asks Odysseus what his name is, he says that he is “Nobody”. The men shove a sharpened stick into the Cyclops’s lone eye and escape. This Cyclops, being Poseidon’s son, was not someone that Odysseus should have crossed. We also see Athena, daughter of Zeus, take pity on Odysseus, and helps him and Telemachus many times, though disguising herself as mentor when talking to

This suggests that Odysseus is not a forgiving person and that he will punish anyone who is in the way of his wrath. His uncontrolled anger is a hazard to his life and those around him. Narcissism (hyperephania) is also characterized in the book, and it can allow a person to always have an expectancy for praise and adulation from others, and this can lead a person to think too highly of oneself, when truly one is not able to be compared to that esteem. In “The Cyclops” Odysseus had not told Polyphemus his name, but when he was sure of success, Odysseus proclaimed his name with pride, “...how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye’ (503-504):” Odysseus once again cannot leave without the cyclops knowing who did this atrocity to him, so that when he gets home people will know his name and of the great things he did. This tells us that Odysseus is a man that needs other people to know his accomplishments and achievements for he himself to feel accomplished. This means that everything that Odysseus does, he will need to receive praise from others, for it to mean

The epic of Gilgamesh is a tale that displays multiple didactic messages throughout the course of the story. These morally oriented instructions that shape the epic’s characters are very much applicable to our current lives. Messages like: the importance of perseverance, that drive that pushes you to excel, the down side of sexual passion when not tempered, and how we need to keep our pride under control, not letting it cloud our judgement. These principled themes, among others, are clearly visible to the eyes of the audience.

Odysseus’ hubris played a negative role when Odysseus revealed his identity to Polyphemus. Odysseus and his crew had just managed to escape from the Cyclops, Polyphemus, after driving a stake into his eye. But then, Odysseus told the blinded Cyclops his identity by shouting, “Cyclops – if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so- say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out you eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca” (9, 558-562). Odysseus managed to tell Polyphemus his name, father, and home. Polyphemus then prayed to Poseidon, his father, to get revenge on Odysseus. Poseidon ended up killing Odysseus’ entire crew and delaying Odysseus for 10 years. None of those terrible consequences would have happened if Odysseus had suppressed his enormous pride. Odysseus’ hubris resulted in a lot of suffering for many people. Odysseus’ hubris prevents Odysseus and his crew from getting back to Ithaca again when Odysseus did

This passage from Tablet II takes place shortly after Enkidu and Gilgamesh first meet, and it illustrates Gilgamesh’s blind pride by his shaming of Enkidu for objecting to his proposal to fight Humbaba. This excerpt serves to characterize Gilgamesh as brash and overzealous in his support for a seemingly impossible quest. Gilgamesh eventually coaxes Enkidu to go along with his plan which inadvertently leads to Enkidu’s death through Gilgamesh’s inability to hold his tongue. This later episode further supports the reckless mindset displayed by Gilgamesh in the excerpt at the beginning of this paper. Judging by this excerpt it can be inferred that one’s pride and honor played a very important role in ancient Mesopotamian culture. This is because Gilgamesh attacked Enkidu’s pride and honor in the last six lines of the excerpt to cajole Enkidu to assist him. Gilgamesh also asserted to Enkidu that he was going to fight Humbaba, even at the cost of his own life, regardless of if Enkidu decided to help him.