Gilgamesh
Ashley Torres
11/4/12
English 220
Gilgamesh and the 21 Century Hero
A hero is someone who tries the best to help everyone and will do everything in his or her power to help out another person. The term hero means different things to different people. Today many people believe that a hero is a person who can accomplish what others cannot or a person who puts themselves on the line for the other people. Men, women and children can all be heroes if they truly feel in their hearts the need to help others in even the smallest ways. In our modern world heroes are defined in so many ways. Anyone can be a hero, a best friend, a devoted mother/father, a teacher, etc. On the other hand, in the older days, before laws and technology, heroes were the men who fought against evil things, who rescue damsels in distress; they were the manly men, the king's knights, god like creatures, brave warriors. As criteria for any epic story a hero must be involved in the story. Furthermore, these heroes had to meet also specific criteria. The definition of an ancient time hero is very different than a hero today yet in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh meets many of the traits in today’s hero. Gilgamesh, is much like the heroes of today he achieves many acts of skill, which makes him famous and fulfill the requirements todays hero by being consistently relating to a human society and demonstrates immortality, friendship, grief, ect. It is human nature for people to want to excel in life and strive to make a name in this world for themselves such as Gilgamesh strives to do.
Gilgamesh is a portrayal of people and how they act out of human nature, he like many of us, does not want his existence to end when he leaves this world. He is not content with what he has, good looks, money, and power and desires more in life. In the story of Gilgamesh we, as people, can relate to this. There are similarities between Gilgamesh’s journey and our own journey through life as well as the heroes
11/4/12
English 220
Gilgamesh and the 21 Century Hero
A hero is someone who tries the best to help everyone and will do everything in his or her power to help out another person. The term hero means different things to different people. Today many people believe that a hero is a person who can accomplish what others cannot or a person who puts themselves on the line for the other people. Men, women and children can all be heroes if they truly feel in their hearts the need to help others in even the smallest ways. In our modern world heroes are defined in so many ways. Anyone can be a hero, a best friend, a devoted mother/father, a teacher, etc. On the other hand, in the older days, before laws and technology, heroes were the men who fought against evil things, who rescue damsels in distress; they were the manly men, the king's knights, god like creatures, brave warriors. As criteria for any epic story a hero must be involved in the story. Furthermore, these heroes had to meet also specific criteria. The definition of an ancient time hero is very different than a hero today yet in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh meets many of the traits in today’s hero. Gilgamesh, is much like the heroes of today he achieves many acts of skill, which makes him famous and fulfill the requirements todays hero by being consistently relating to a human society and demonstrates immortality, friendship, grief, ect. It is human nature for people to want to excel in life and strive to make a name in this world for themselves such as Gilgamesh strives to do.
Gilgamesh is a portrayal of people and how they act out of human nature, he like many of us, does not want his existence to end when he leaves this world. He is not content with what he has, good looks, money, and power and desires more in life. In the story of Gilgamesh we, as people, can relate to this. There are similarities between Gilgamesh’s journey and our own journey through life as well as the heroes