Heros_Gilgamesh_Essay

Jared Adams October/10/09 Hero Paper In stories such as Beowulf, Gilgamesh and the Iliad there are three visible types of heroes. A hero is someone that is strong, intelligent, handsome, and daring. Upon closer examination, many different qualities than these become apparent. Courage, honesty, bravery, selflessness, and the will to try are just a few of the overlooked qualities of a hero. Heroes of the past are not necessarily heroes of present time and vice versa. But a hero’s motivation is what categorizes him as a moral hero, the basis of which is the choice of right and wrong. The hero Beowulf uses his beyond human strength to defend the weak and helpless. In this story it speaks about how he uses his powers to save the Danes. He smashes several bones and removes body parts from the beasts he kills (105-110.4). Grendel’s mother begins to attack the people after he slew Grendel. Beowulf holds his breath for hours just to hunt down Grendel’s mother and save the people again. (179-182.6). Beowulf in this story is seeking more glory for his already enormous ego. (14-15 Bacground). After Beowulf wins he proceeds to rip Grendels arm off, he has earned more glory. (109-110.4). Beowulf has another challenge, of which is to defeat Grendel’s mother, and if he wins he will be rewarded with fame and riches (175-178.). Beowulf begins to feel weak and is almost defeated by her. Then his strength is renewed by his desire for fame and fortune and he proceeds to cut her head off with a giant sword (219-225. 7). The next hero Gilgamesh is the leader of a city of people, but because of his pride he has become tyrannical. The gods send the beast Humbaba to both humble and terrorize the city. Gilgamesh is two thirds god, and he has to save his people from Humbaba and his own self. (1-6 Background) Gilgamesh is chalenged by the great Humbaba, he must fight him because of his pride fullness. He is a pride driven hero (5-10.1). he also is being driven by something else, the fear of his very own life. From the beginning he has to have his pride strengthened by Enkidu (1-5.1). in the end it is his pride that overpowers his fear and he slays Humbaba easily (195-201.6) Enkidu, who is Gilgamesh’s sidekick driven by fame(10-12 Background). Enkidu is afraid of the beast itself, and also has to be reminded to be brave by Gilgimesh (65-75.2-3). Achilles is hunting for hector, running hot on his tail with great speed. If he kills hector he will have avenged the death of his best friend and also put Greece closer to winning the war (5-10.1) aside being really fast and one of the greatest warriors who ever lived, Achilles has another tool that he uses to help the Greeks. He is favored by the gods (25-30.2). The goddess Athena helps him to finally catch hector so he can defeat him (70.3). Achilles is motivated by vengeance and hate for hector because he killed his best friend Patroclus(158.5) hector offers a pact but Achilles refuses because he hates him(85-90.4). Right before Hector is killed he begs for him to return his body to his family for a proper burial. Both Achilles and hector believe that this means that his body won’t find rest. Achilles refuses and kills him (184-195.7). As you can see all of these great heroes have some sort of power, and motives that are used to help rescue people who are in distress. Beowulf has superhuman strength and is motivated by the desire for fame and fortune. Achilles has speed and is an experienced warrior and has vengeance, Gilgamesh is part god and is motivated by the challenge of Humbaba. They all use their own power to defeat their enemies