What Is The Epic Of Gilgamesh Hero's Journey

A hero’s demeanor is as important as the storyline itself. The Epic of Gilgamesh a story that takes on the persona of the Hero Journey’s structure. Which states that there is a specified hero, sidekick, wise-old-man, and a villain and his army. Also, that the hero has a call to adventure which leads to a meet with supernatural forces, the hero beats the force, somehow, and comes back safe with an abundance of pride. The Epic of Gilgamesh follows the trek of Gilgamesh the king of Uruk during Sumerian rule. He meets his almost equal, Enkidu, this event gets him away from his erroneous ways. They enter the supernatural world together to defeat monsters terrorizing his city. And, somehow they defeat both monsters they were in conflict with. Then, Enkidu dies and Gilgamesh takes a journey of grief, where he meets a wise old man by the name of

But, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, there is no clear hero. This subject is debatable. But, a hero as described in the Hero’s Journey is someone who saves the day against a supernatural challenge, treats his people nicely, and doesn’t come back empty handed. A hero’s characteristics are perceived by the people around him. Even though Gilgamesh is the main character, his treatment of people was unacceptable and made his people hate him. “ As king, Gilgamesh was a tyrant to his people... he had the privilege of sleeping with their brides.”(15). Gilgamesh was not a good person, even when he came back he was not seen as a hero by his people, the past hurt the present. Also, usually a hero comes back with pride and gifts but in the epic, “As the end of his journey. And returned to Uruk. Gilgamesh was alone again.”(86). There is no evidence that suggests he was a hero especially when he came back to Uruk. A hero is greeted with a warm welcome, but with Gilgamesh, he wasn’t greeted at all. There is no hero in the epic which does not coincide well with the Hero’s