Human Condition as Seen in Beowulf, Gilgamesh, and Iliad - Research Paper Example

Human condition as seen in Beowulf, Gilgamesh and Iliad Many cultures in the ancient and medieval worlds found courage as a value and virtue associated with warriors. To a great extent, western cultures also find courage as an attribute of warriors. This courageous cultural tendency gets its imaginative manifestation in literature of heroic societies such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, homer’s Iliad and Beowulf. These Epic heroes which show human conditions are Gilgamesh, Achilles from Homers Iliad and Beowulf. Although the actions and lives of these warriors occurred at different times in history, their stories are passed on from generations to generations and they share a lot of commonalities but with some discrepancies based on their lives, their choices, ideals and beliefs. These warriors present human conditions in terms of their heroism, weaknesses and mortality. All demonstrate the nature of humans and their constant struggles with understanding and curiosity which drives their internal hunger. The struggle of understanding and the curiosity drive is faced with difficulties and the greatest one is that of facing their fears head on. Gilgamesh, Beowulf and Achille are heroes who possess extraordinary powers. Gilgamesh and Achilles are the products of divine mothers. Their divine blood gives them unrivaled strength and skill needed to be outstanding warriors. As a hero, Gilgamesh is admirable in the same measure as he is arrogant and tyrannical. He saves his people by preventing catastrophic outcomes to the people of Uruk by fighting the beast. He also makes sacrifices when he engages in a battle with Humbaba. Moreover, He deems himself an equal by establishing friendship with Enkidu who is just a commoner but calls him a ‘brother’ and grieves at his death. This shows that he has a human compassionate heart. However, Gilgamesh, who is more divine than human, uses his powers as if he was a god where his actions had no consequences. He turns into a tyranny more by the passing day, becomes abusive, exploits newly-weds sexually, insults the goddess, kills a forest guardian who is divinely appointed for the role, which is responsible for the death of Enkidu, his warrior companion. Gilgamesh’s turning point in his character and role in guided by the flood myth, after he abandons his city in selfish search of immortality, he is awed at hearing the flood myth where the chief god, Enlil had caused tragedy, deaths and destruction of innocent people. Upon realizing his mistakes, Enlil acknowledges he made mistakes and rewards the floods hero with immortality for preserving lives of both humans and animals. At this point, Gilgamesh realizes the need of a hero to save lives as opposed to destroying it. He returns to his city with more wisdom and appreciation of his responsibility to guide and protect his people and to serve the gods. In Beowulf, human conditions are portrayed by a combination of tragedy of misunderstanding and the destructiveness of fear. Beowulf is faced with the task of protecting people and delivering them from terrifying forces such as Grendel. Grendel is a true manifestation of fear; he is described as half human and half beast with a frightening physical aura around him. Grendel has no morals and is cruel, vicious, insatiable, vengeful, and cannibalistic and does not quench his blood thirst as he terrorizes people every day. As the hero, Beowulf must protect the people by fighting Grendel physically despite his less physical powers with no weapon at all. Beowulf confronts Grendel, holds him tightly and stands firms. Grendel finally pulls out of Beowulf tight hold and destroys himself. At this point, the hero conquers the fear and wins the battle. Beowulf is faced by Grendels mother, who attacks Heorot, King of the Danes, for vengeance of his son. This woman symbolizes moral evil in the society. His vengefulness presents the moral concept of revenge in the society which justifies his thirst of paying an eye for an eye to the killers of her son. Although she is driven by vengeance, she is also driven by fear as she takes a victim and flees so as to escape danger in the hall. Beowulf doubts his own capacity of confronting her as he feels she has a moral justification of seeking vengeance for her son, he has to fight this by using her sword. This is a sign of moral sin which initiates him to the complexities of adulthood where there is a question of moral choices. In Iliad, Hector and Achilles are used to depict the human conditions with Hector as a sad medium while Achilles is depicted as a human being capable of changing in a meaningful sense. Homer presents Achilles as a human being who is capable of bringing inner change and also in their world. Achilles represents a classical experience of heroes who have engaged in inhuman activities but have to deal with the savage situation of it. Achilles acknowledges that there are no victors in war but there are painful deaths which can be avoided. Achilles depicts moral change as a result of spiritual and moral evolution. Hectors is Achilles counterpart who is fighting to protect his fellow people. He is both a warrior and a prince and is idealistic in his quest. Homer uses hector’s character to enable the reader to realize that human conditions may at times supersede instincts and the aspects involved in it such as pride, responsibility or fear. Fear is seen as a great divider in terms of war. This means that as much as fear should never be eradicated from human emotions, it should not be allowed to play the dominant role. He acknowledges that he has fear for the conflict with the Greeks but he cannot allow fear to control him. Obligation is a powerful drive that motivates hector to set aside his fear despite the fact that Achilles had killed all Andromakhe’s direct male relatives to weaken him. Putting his conflict with Achilles aside, hector is driven to weather the storm which is looming from the Greeks. According to hector, human conditions are worth fighting for and restrain him from giving up his struggle to fear. Gilgamesh, Beowulf and Achilles, although they are heroes, are portrayed as mortals. This sets to show that human conditions are more than mere survival. Heroes should fight for human conditions but to a limit after which death should be welcomed. When Gilgamesh escaped his city in search of immortality, he realizes that death was inevitable as immortality was not easy to find. Also, when Beowulf is faced by the dragon, he realizes that his time was up, he slays the dragon and dies. Achilles is also not able to achieve immortality. Although these heroes are not able to transcend death, they die after winning all the battles and saving their societies. Work cited ALEXANDER, M. (ed. trans.), Beowulf. A Verse Translation. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 1973. Bradley, S. A. J. (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Poetry, London: Dent, 1982. George, Andrew. The Epic of Gilgamesh. London: Penguin Group. 2000. Homer, and Robert Fitzgerald. The Iliad. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1974. Print Homer. (800 BCE). The Iliad: Translated by Samuel Butler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. Schein, Seth L. The Mortal Heroes: An Introduction to Homers Iliad. Berkley: U. of California P, 1984. Wilkie, Brian, and James, Hurt. Literature of the Western World. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pren tice Hall, 2001. Print. Read More