The reader has to understand how it was to be a hero, what qualities should be possessed, and how it was necessary to behave under certain conditions. So, the character of Gilgamesh becomes a kind of a tool to attract the reader and prove its urgency in modern society. What the reader may rely upon nowadays is several versions that are considered to be the product of multiple authors’ works, which are refined into meaningful versions with an intrinsic message to be delivered to the audience. There were many different versions of Gilgamesh, and he was then given one single definitive version as he was recorded. Though the stories about Gilgamesh’s adventures existed on their own, they were also altered by the author to teach the audience values. The stories existed before they were collected, and their popularity was used to the advantage of the people recording the stories to give them additional meaning (Tigay, 2002). The collection of the various Gilgamesh stories into a single defining text needs to be considered. While Gilgamesh is a part god, the reader can see him as a person with a number of human qualities that ordinary people may also possess in everyday life. ![]() It demonstrates that people can be better people, and that even kings have lessons to learn. This story proves that people have the ability to grow and they are not stuck forever in repeating the same mistakes. This was to demonstrate to the audience the proper way to live one’s life because “such teachings…indicate the didactic character given to ancient tales that were of popular origin, but which were modified and elaborated under the influence of the schools which arose in connection with the Babylonian temples” (Jastrow & Clay, 2003, p.12). Gilgamesh was a hero because of his character growth through his story arc. It was the only time he abandoned the quests that he was able to return to his throne and his responsibility and function as a proper king. Gilgamesh is a character who was lost when attempting to surpass the limitations of his partial humanity. When he faced with the fragility of life, he wanted to find a way to escape his own death. ![]() ![]() When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh decides to search for the secret of eternal life, only to be told that “the life that thou seekest, thou wilt not find/ When the gods created mankind/ Death they imposed on mankind/ Life they kept in their power” (Jastrow & Clay, 2003, p.12).Īs a part god, Gilgamesh had always been striving for a challenge, something that he could be able to test his own strength. Enkidu, his equal, is sent to calm him, but he and Enkidu continue follow Gilgamesh’s campaign of various conquests. As a part god, he rules over his kingdom as a tyrant, taking women as he pleases and living in a perpetual state of war. When the reader first meets Gilgamesh, he is introduced as a highly flawed character. The characters from The Epic of Gilgamesh help to realize a true essence of heroism as a concept and accept heroes as ordinary people, who are able to develop good relations, set goals, and be obedient to the norms set by society in comparison to such image of a hero, the ideas discussed in modern culture and the characters like Batman seem to be more aggressive and even provocative as these heroes do not find it necessary to follow a certain order but make use of their skills and possibilities to improve the world they have to live in. It is possible to draw some parallels between the narratives introduced in Golden Age comic books and The Epic of Gilgamesh in order to learn more about our own understanding of heroism, our cultures, and a variety that may spawn these characters. Many comics’ fans understand that the idea of a true hero is not new and has a long history still, not all of them know much about the roots of heroic characters, for example, about Gilgamesh and Enkidu from The Epic of Gilgamesh. They know a lot or at least hear something about such fictional characters like Batman and Superman (Haslem, Ndalianis, & Mackie, 2007). Of course, young people are more familiar with the events and traits discussed in the comic books. It is interesting to take literary examples from different periods: the stories about the heroes with supernatural abilities that are offered in the comic books during the Golden Age such as Batman or Superman and the stories with more than 2,000-year-old history like The Epic of Gilgamesh.
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