Compare And Contrast Gilgamesh And Noah

Every now and then, people are faced with a problem in which they have to decide whether to do one thing or the other. Sometimes the answer is easy and simple, but there are other times when it is not as easy. In the stories of Gilgamesh, Rama, and Noah, every single one of these people had to make a tough call, maybe one that is harder to make than the other. They all had other choices and they could have easily followed any one of these choices but they did not. It was their duty, their destiny to follow through the decisions the gods had made for their lives. Not many people believe the idea that their lives are predestined. However, stories such as The Epic of Gilgamesh from ancient Mesopotamia, The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan, and Noah 's …show more content…
Gilgamesh was afraid to meet his end and went looking for immortality. He meets a goddess named Siduri who told him he will never find the life he is looking for and advises him to “fill [his] belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let [his] clothes be fresh, bathe [himself] in water, cherish the little child that holds [his] hand, and make [his] wife happy in [his] embrace; for this too is the lot of man” (The Epic of Gilgamesh 11). Siduri basically told him that people, as well as all living things, will eventually die and a person should learn to just enjoy the life they still have. Gilgamesh should spend his remaining time with the people he cares about and the ones that make him happy. Everyone should do the same and do the things they love, with the ones they care about, so they leave no regret after they have gone. And by doing so, an individual can make sure to leave the ones he left behind with better memories than of him ridiculously chasing an unattainable dream, such as …show more content…
Gilgamesh was the one who neglected his duty to his people in pursuit of something that was impossible to achieve in the first place. Thinking that he is a mere mortal and he will eventually die frightened him and the way Enkidu described the place he saw where he was going only furthered Gilgamesh 's fear. In Enkidu 's sleep he saw “the palace of Irkalla, the Queen of Darkness, to the house from which none who enters ever returns, down the road from which there is no coming back” (Epic of Gilgamesh 10). And while Rama, as well as Noah, would have accepted this destiny whole heartedly, Gilgamesh fled and tried to beat the gods. If this was what the gods had in mind for anyone 's future, then there was no point in trying to change it. The only thing a man can do at all times is to live as best as he could without harming or compromising other people 's