Essay Comparing Beowulf And Gilgamesh

Beowulf and Gilgamesh are both unique epics in their own ways, yet share a connection. Gilgamesh, a long narrative poem written over five thousand years ago from Mesopotamia, now present day Iraq, is among the earliest known works of literature. Regardless, of losing over a thousand words from its ancient text, it is still a great story about the protagonist, Gilgamesh king of Uruk. Beowulf, written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D., describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. It known as the oldest surviving epic in literature and is commonly cited as the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature. Beowulf exists in only one manuscript that survived a fire in 1731, which belonged to Sir Robert Cotton, the owner who signed his name on the first page. This manuscript later became known as Vitellius A.XV after Cottons death in 1631. Today, it is located in the British Library with edges scorched
One common similarity that is quite peculiar is they both show body parts of the monsters they fought. “The victory, for the proof, hanging high from the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the monster’s arm, claw, and shoulder and all” (lines 515-517). Gilgamesh’s case was very comparable to Beowulf’s situation. “And late that he reached again to see if he was yet asleep, but there was only quiet breathing. The stars against the midnight sky were sparkling like mica in a riverbed. In the slight breeze the head of Humbaba was swinging from a tree” (lines 50-55). Difference is, both Gilgamesh and Beowulf killed their enemies in two dissimilar ways. Gilgamesh used an ax to behead Humbaba and Beowulf used his godly powers to take Grendel’s arm. Second difference between the two in this situation is Gilgamesh had help from his partner in crime, Enkidu. While on the other hand, Beowulf fought all his battles alone without the aid of