The Epic of Gilgamesh as a Quest - Essay Example

The Epic of Gilgamesh as a Quest In the article d Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not), Thomas C. Foster states that very often a narrative is actually a description of a particular quest a character has to complete. He presents the common structure for a quest and describes each of its components. In short, there are five elements of a quest, such as a quester, a place to go, challenges along the way, a stated reason, and a real reason to go. Having analyzed one of the oldest epic poems, namely The Epic of Gilgamesh, it is evident that it is a quest for all the five elements distinguished by Foster can be found in the structure of the piece under consideration. In the first chapter of his book titled How to Read Literature Like A Professor, Thomas C. Foster analyses the structure of a narrative. From the very title of the chapter, Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not), the reader may get the main idea of the piece written by Foster. More specifically, in the article, he claims that structurally every narrative is actually a quest for something, and the structure of any quest is one and the same for almost any narrative. From this, it follows that the majority of narratives, whether they are epic or written by a single author, are comprised of the same structural elements when it comes to the analysis of their plot. In the very beginning of the piece under consideration, Foster presents the hypothetical scenario of a book about a teenager set in 1968. The plot seems rather simple, even predictable, and it may remind a reader of a story of a knight who has “a not very suitable encounter with his nemesis” (Foster). In other words, as Forester puts it, “a quest just happened”. In fact, using this simple example, the author shows that despite the setting, authorship, time when narratives were created and many other factors, they fit one and the same structure. Stating this point, Forester introduces the schema of a quest. In accordance with the author of the article, there are five elements within the structure of every quest. In particular, the structure of a quest is comprised of the following components: a quester, a place of destination, a declared aim to engage in a quest, a route full of trials and challenges, and a true reason to start a quest. The second and the third elements of the structure should be taken together: “Go there, do that” (Foster). At the same time, Foster writes, one should pay attention to the fact that the stated reason and a real reason to start a quest are not the same things. While the first is declared and explicit, the second one is implicit and never mentioned. The audience gets to know it only with the outcome of the quest. Accordingly to Foster, the character himself does not know that the stated reason is not the one he goes for; it is the real reason that should be regarded as a driving force of a narration due to the fact it is deeper and more important. Specifically, “the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge”, and this fact explains why questers are usually inexperience and young people (Foster). The last significant thing that Foster mentions in regard to the reasons of a quest is that as a rule, a stated reason tends to fade away with the development of the plot and forthcoming of the denouement. Then, using Thomas Pynchon’s novel Crying of Lot 49 as an example, Foster analyzes the plot of this narrative to show how the structure of a quest works in practical terms. Finally, the author mentions that sometimes it happens that a quest does not take place or a protagonist fails to complete it. However, as it follows from the entire article, it does not happen very often. In this regard, The Epic of Gilgamesh appears to be a quest as well. In fact, it may be regarded as the first great quest of a fictional hero known to people. Overall, this epic poem is a great quest, which includes a number of other smaller quests. The first example of a kind of quest in the epic poem is Enkidu’s journey to the city Uruk from the wilderness he used to live. The way to the city is full of challenges. For example, his encounter of shepherds may be regarded as a kind of a challenge presupposed by the structure of a quest. When “they placed food in front of him,/ they placed beer in front of him”, the giant did not know what to do with all that because “he had not been taught” (Kovacs). It is a challenge due to the fact that Enkidu has to fight his ignorance on his way to Uruk. The reasons, both stated and real, are also clear. Enkidu’s stated reason to defeat Gilgamesh and “shout out in Uruk: I am the mighty one!” (Kovacs). The real reason, however, is to make friends with Gilgamesh and become a civilized person. The second significant quest of the epic poem is Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s journey to the Cedar Forest (place of a quest) to kill Humbaba and, by this, become even more famous, which is the stated reason for a quest. The characters’ trials are both their inner conflicts as well as the fight with the guardian of the forest. The real reason becomes evident with the development of the plot, mostly through the dialogues of the two characters, from which it follows that they go there to confirm their friendship, make it even stronger and show that they are a team. During the quest, they get the understanding that “a slippery path is not feared by two people who help each other” (Kovacs). The final and, perhaps, the most important quest of the entire Epic of Gilgamesh. It is the main character’s trip to the underworld to talk to Utanapishtim, the immortal human being, and to get to know the secret of immortality. Therefore, the quester is Gilgamesh, the place of the quest in the underworld, and the stated reason of the quest is the following one: “About Death and Life I [Gilgamesh] must ask him [Utanapishtim]!” (Kovacs). The way to the underworld is full of challenges and trials for Gilgamesh: he has to convince the scorpion-beings to open the gate in the Mashu Mountains, to travel fast not to be burnt, and to cross the Waters of Death with Urshanabi. When he reaches Utanapishtim and has a talk with him, the real reason for the quest is revealed. More specifically, the reason for the quest is to learn that no man can be immortal for it is the Great Gods’ decision. Thomas C. Foster’s theory of a quest within the structure of a narrative appears to be cross functional and applicable almost to all the existing narratives. The analysis has shown that The Epic of Gilgamesh is not an exception from the rule and is a quest itself. The structure of the epic poem meets the requirements of the structure of a quest within a narrative and comprises such elements as a quester, a place to go, challenges and trials on the way, a stated reason to go, and a real reason to engage in the quest. Works Cited Foster, T. C. How To Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper Collins, 2009. Print. Kovacs, M. G. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989. Web. . Read More