A Hero’s Humanity
Throughout history humanity has been the creation and ruin of many great societies. “By virtue of being born to humanity, every human being has a right to the development and fulfillment of his potentialities as a human being.” (Ashley Montagu) In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, the demi-god struggles to accept his humanity and the faults that come with it, while chasing immortality. Similarly, Odysseus in The Odyssey by Homer comes to realize that he isn’t impeccable and that all people have faults, while fighting to come home to the people he loves. In both stories these men’s strengths, weaknesses and humanity are what fashion them imperfect, but nevertheless heroes.
All men have different strengths, it is what gives …show more content…
Great king Gilgamesh has his obsession with immortality, and the noble king Odysseus has an excessive amount of pride. To be immortal is to be a god, which is exactly the idea Gilgamesh struggles with "Who is the mortal who can live forever? The life of man is short. Only the gods can live forever.” (The Epic of Gilgamesh, pg. 57). Once his beloved friend Enkidu has died, he strives to never become comparable to him. “Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that? " (The Epic of Gilgamesh, pg. 56). With his fear he brought great unhappiness upon himself and others, when he could have lived a long happy life of a mortal, he lived the painful half-life of trying to change destiny. Odysseus may have been smart in tricking the Cyclops, although his pride gained the best of him and it later led to the death of his colleagues “I cried to him: "Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities. Laertes is his father, and he makes his home on Ithaca." (Odyssey, lines 500-5). With this exclamation he brought the wrath of Poseidon upon him and his crew. They both face difficult shortcomings, and their flaws almost overtake both of them. Yet they still have a certain characteristic that their gods never seem to grasp,
Throughout history humanity has been the creation and ruin of many great societies. “By virtue of being born to humanity, every human being has a right to the development and fulfillment of his potentialities as a human being.” (Ashley Montagu) In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, the demi-god struggles to accept his humanity and the faults that come with it, while chasing immortality. Similarly, Odysseus in The Odyssey by Homer comes to realize that he isn’t impeccable and that all people have faults, while fighting to come home to the people he loves. In both stories these men’s strengths, weaknesses and humanity are what fashion them imperfect, but nevertheless heroes.
All men have different strengths, it is what gives …show more content…
Great king Gilgamesh has his obsession with immortality, and the noble king Odysseus has an excessive amount of pride. To be immortal is to be a god, which is exactly the idea Gilgamesh struggles with "Who is the mortal who can live forever? The life of man is short. Only the gods can live forever.” (The Epic of Gilgamesh, pg. 57). Once his beloved friend Enkidu has died, he strives to never become comparable to him. “Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that? " (The Epic of Gilgamesh, pg. 56). With his fear he brought great unhappiness upon himself and others, when he could have lived a long happy life of a mortal, he lived the painful half-life of trying to change destiny. Odysseus may have been smart in tricking the Cyclops, although his pride gained the best of him and it later led to the death of his colleagues “I cried to him: "Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities. Laertes is his father, and he makes his home on Ithaca." (Odyssey, lines 500-5). With this exclamation he brought the wrath of Poseidon upon him and his crew. They both face difficult shortcomings, and their flaws almost overtake both of them. Yet they still have a certain characteristic that their gods never seem to grasp,