Archetypes In Epic Of Gilgamesh

A hero was a figure in a literature who went beyond the human’s limitation. Among countless heroic literature that were published, The Epic of Gilgamesh was the first Western Literature that portrayed an epic hero. Since the epic was written between 2150 and 1400 BCE, Gilgamesh was the Western Literature’s first known hero. Although each hero had similar characteristics, each hero had different situations and personalities, which led to different heroic archetypes. Depending on each situation and journey, the hero had different roles in literature such as either an epic hero or a tragic hero. Despite the fact that epic hero and tragic hero were both heroes, they have distinct characteristics. An epic hero exceeded commoners’ talents. According

He was called into his adventure when someone told Oedipus that he was not he real son of Polybus. One man that Oedipus had met in a feast had prompted him into an adventure for truth. Oedipus was a notable tragic hero. Tragic hero comes from a noble family, very limited in thinking that leads the hero to mistake, and the fate is determined and chosen by the gods because tragic hero is an individual who could endure the misfortunes in his or her fate. Oedipus also did not choose his fate, but he managed to accept his fate. In The Identity of Oedipus the King, Alister Cameron proved Oedipus as a tragic hero. He specifically wrote, “[f]or whatever his faults, Oedipus is noble. And after all, the acts he performs he is condemned to perform in ignorance. Therefore, whenever he acts, necessarily he acts blindly. Blindness is given him in his situation” (Cameron 140). Oedipus was a victim of his fate, and he did not anything to make his life worse; every act he did in life was not done on purpose. Beowulf’s call to adventure in Beowulf was when Grendel began to attack the Heorot, and Beowulf heard about the attack. He was willing to travel to the land of the Danes to liberate the Danes from the malice of Grendel. Beowulf is an epic hero who is a hero as a warrior. He fought enemies for safety of others and also presented as a god-like figure. “Throughout the epic narrative, the emphasis is placed on the solitary nature of the hero’s task. Beowulf appears to live and fight alone” (Fisher). He became the savior of the Danes and the Geats because he saved the people from great