Heroes recorded throughout the ages are a sort of written version of an archaeological footprint of that specific society within the layers and layers of meaning within the texts. Heroes in this way are not depictions of people, but rather a society’s structure, culture, and standards. The tale of a hero shows the attitude of a society towards adversity, how problems should be dealt with, and what kind of rewards they should strive to earn, whether it is knowledge, riches, love, or power. Beowulf, Gilgamesh, Orpheus, Achilles, Aeneas, Rama, and Genji are all footprints of their respective societal legacies who follow their own hero’s journey through the path that their respective society follows as a whole. As these heroes are a representation
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The Mesopotamians built their culture around The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Indians used the Ramayana to provide a teaching on how to live their lives according to their dharma. Gilgamesh taught the Mesopotamians about dominance through his ruling of his city (32-33), love of your fellow man through Enkidu (38-39), mortality through Enkidu’s death (56), strength through Gilgamesh overcoming his grief and moving on, and leaving behind a legacy. Gilgamesh is the ideal Mesopotamians due to him being so central to the formation of Mesopotamians culture and society. His humanity lies within being able to make bonds that are unbreakable with those he loves and experiencing a plethora of mortal emotions that make him relatable to people even though he is a demi-god. Though much of Mesopotamians history has been lost to time; pieces of their world still stand the test of time. Similarly, Rama represents the ideal Hindu Indian. This story does differ in the respect that it is a product of Indian society for Indian society rather than Gilgamesh’s Mesopotamian origins, but still serves as a guide for people to base the foundations of their entire lives around. Rama teaches to live life according to the principle of the cosmic order, accepting your position in this life and striving to gain enough good karma to move up in this world and to eventually attain Moksha …show more content…
Though they are not heroes in a traditional warrior style and don’t share the same views on what desire is, Genji and Orpheus represent the desire of the flesh behind their specific cultures. For Genji, his desire was to meet a woman who looked like his mother to fulfill his life and banish his demons. To this extent, the demons he refers are deeply ingrained into chinese culture to represent negative emotions or psychological problems such as his Oedipus Complex and the best way in The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu to get rid of these demons is to party so that the demons are repelled(578-580). Genji’s desire of the flesh as well as the complexity of dealing with emotions that are rarely shown in works involving heroes reflects on the complexity of chinese literature and aids in seeing it as an art form through the realism that is portrayed. Unlike The Tale of Genji, a much more romanticized type of desire is present in book 10 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses where Orpheus goes after his true love, to hell and back. This sentiment of fighting for true love with passion and genuine emotion is prevalent in Greek culture as all literary pieces in that world show support for emotion and passion. Not all love in Greek culture is monogamous, such as the gods engaging in sexual acts with many humans, echoing the sentiment that those with power have more fertile beds to lay
The Mesopotamians built their culture around The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Indians used the Ramayana to provide a teaching on how to live their lives according to their dharma. Gilgamesh taught the Mesopotamians about dominance through his ruling of his city (32-33), love of your fellow man through Enkidu (38-39), mortality through Enkidu’s death (56), strength through Gilgamesh overcoming his grief and moving on, and leaving behind a legacy. Gilgamesh is the ideal Mesopotamians due to him being so central to the formation of Mesopotamians culture and society. His humanity lies within being able to make bonds that are unbreakable with those he loves and experiencing a plethora of mortal emotions that make him relatable to people even though he is a demi-god. Though much of Mesopotamians history has been lost to time; pieces of their world still stand the test of time. Similarly, Rama represents the ideal Hindu Indian. This story does differ in the respect that it is a product of Indian society for Indian society rather than Gilgamesh’s Mesopotamian origins, but still serves as a guide for people to base the foundations of their entire lives around. Rama teaches to live life according to the principle of the cosmic order, accepting your position in this life and striving to gain enough good karma to move up in this world and to eventually attain Moksha …show more content…
Though they are not heroes in a traditional warrior style and don’t share the same views on what desire is, Genji and Orpheus represent the desire of the flesh behind their specific cultures. For Genji, his desire was to meet a woman who looked like his mother to fulfill his life and banish his demons. To this extent, the demons he refers are deeply ingrained into chinese culture to represent negative emotions or psychological problems such as his Oedipus Complex and the best way in The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu to get rid of these demons is to party so that the demons are repelled(578-580). Genji’s desire of the flesh as well as the complexity of dealing with emotions that are rarely shown in works involving heroes reflects on the complexity of chinese literature and aids in seeing it as an art form through the realism that is portrayed. Unlike The Tale of Genji, a much more romanticized type of desire is present in book 10 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses where Orpheus goes after his true love, to hell and back. This sentiment of fighting for true love with passion and genuine emotion is prevalent in Greek culture as all literary pieces in that world show support for emotion and passion. Not all love in Greek culture is monogamous, such as the gods engaging in sexual acts with many humans, echoing the sentiment that those with power have more fertile beds to lay