In the stories of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, and Arthur, readers see that each story has a heroic character and problems they have to overcome. It is shown in Gilgamesh that he goes on a great adventure to the ends of the earth to figure out how to become immortal. Beowulf jumps into a bloody lake and doesn’t surface for a couple days in order to find and kill Grendel’s mother. Lastly, Arthur goes home to reclaim his throne from his son, Mordred, and kills him. There are also other similarities. Beowulf and Arthur were respected by their people. Arthur’s people always looked up to him because he was a great ruler. Beowulf had the respect from all of his men, which can be clearly seen when his men sat by the bloody lake until he returned because they knew he would return. Gilgamesh and Arthur are similar in the way that we learn of their end. In both Gilgamesh and Arthur, readers do not know for sure if they die. Arthur just floats away and Gilgamesh returns to Uruk. These similarities tie the three stories together in a way. …show more content…
Gilgamesh fights for mainly the fun of killing things, whereas Beowulf fights to protect others and his own. Gilgamesh killed Humbaba because Enkidu told him to, whereas Beowulf went after Grendel because he was terrorizing Hrothgar’s people. Arthur always fought for the best interest for his country and himself. He and his men fought to gain territory and increase their power. Throughout the stories, readers see that the stories shift a little bit more towards the interest of the people rather than how awesome just that one person