Essay: The epics of Gilgamesh and Odysseus

Epics are an essential part of the contemporary literature genres that are widely studied in modern times whereby literature has been diversified and various genres gained popularity. Bearing in mind that epic is an ancient genre it clearly represents embellishments that are clearly and skillfully woven with various contexts of the societies from where they originate from. Most of these epics share a number of similarities and differences that make them to be similar in quite a number of ways and their significance in society is enormous. In this essay, the epics of Gilgamesh and that of Odysseus are going to be explored with the aim of establishing various similarities and differences that they share as ancient epics that are still popular in the modern literature.
The authors of these amazing poems focus on the poetic format in their literary work and the two poems deliver their message through characterization process whereby the characters are subjected to sufferings that seem to be unending in nature despite the fact that the two epics were created on different times. From close examination of the nature of characters in this poems it emerges that the two were heroic characters who are subjected to hard tests of proving their heroism by being subjected to tasks that force them to embark on missions that are were fully of dangerous encounters before they could finally reach their goals and also to be able to proceed with their daily encounters and to thrive in their leaderships to be symbolic and for other things to work on their favor.
This is evidenced in the way the story of Gilgamesh  subjects its main character to life threatening task of  confronting as well as killing Humbaba , the famous demon like ogre graced with the role of guarding the forest of cedar that was  famous for among locals for it was considered a sacred place according to the context of the story. On the other hand, Odyssey is also subject to the similar situation after landing in foreign land which in the text is referred to cyclopes where he gets trapped in a cave together with his men thus the big task for him was devising a plan of how he could successfully devise a better plan that would see him come out of it successfully with his close associates who were his men. For Gilgamesh, his trying moment was triggered by his failure to obey his mother and fellow friends when he was devising a plan to have the demon-ogre dead. His plan in this context was formulated by Gilgamesh so that he could have the opportunity of making himself fame, something that wasn’t easy either. On the side of Gilgamesh, his troubles were brought about by his saving heart whereby he was trying to have his men rescued from the man eating creature which was referred to as giant cyclops and this according to him could only be possible by blinding the creature and at the same time finding means of escaping with his remaining men.
Culture continues to play a crucial role the two epic poems since the authors of these literary works seem to have been highly influenced by their cultural backgrounds which highly determined what to include in their work. Gilgamesh which was written based on Mesopotamian culture, it is evident that their culture valued religion so much to that extend that their daily lives were highly influenced by the presence of supernatural beings which determined their fate. The heroes in both poems also seem to fear the presence of gods when doing their missions and thus they would occasionally consult the gods to ensure whatever they indulge in is with approval from gods. In Gilgamesh, the role of gods was that they both had a positive and a negative significance on the lives of those who were, living in the society of this poem. They gods had to be worshipped in order for them to guarantee the society peace failure to which people would get severe punishment. A good example of a god that highly influenced how people including heroes like Gilgamesh would co-exist was the Humbaba and was also believed to be in charge of the most feared Cedar forest which people believed was occupied by gods. On the other hand the Greek culture in which Odyssey was based on also relied on gods that were influential to them but when the two are compared, the reliance of gods in Gilgamesh was more detailed since every bit of their lives was determined by gods unlike that of the society in odyssey. For instance, Odyssey would get punishment wherever he messed up in a place far away from home such that the effect couldn’t reach the family meaning that he was held fully responsible for his own mistakes without including other people. A unique character about odyssey is that he would do much as he could whenever faced by trying moments brought by the  gods and through his strengths that made him to be declared an hero, he would still look for ways of overcoming such obstacles despite the magnitude of the challenges ahead.
However, despite the fact that these groups heavily relied on cosmos as well as supernatural, they believed that among them some people had supernatural powers that these heroic characters portrayed in both thus they had the capacity to protect them as portrayed by both Gilgamesh and Odysseus. The two heroes had devised their own heroic means that they would use to deal with gods and find ways of emerging victorious when trying to save their communities from the monsters and also the evil powers. Some of the common tricks they would use during these encounters were things like, lotus flowers and also tricking monsters to get drunk thus making them unconscious before proceeding and murdering them. This is a clear indication that cultures can highly manipulate the people`s way of thinking especially when such cultures are inspired by supernatural beings that cannot be seen with naked eyes and which require much wisdom to be dealt with.
There is also another unique aspect that makes the culture to be one of the main arguments in this two epic poems. This is because there is presence of role models in both cultures. The two accounts clearly show that these two communities didn’t just live without people whom they could borrow ideas and seek leadership guidance from when things went in the unexpected ways. This two role models in this case were the leaders of their communities and went further to showcase their heroism which put them ahead of the other  people in their communities. In addition the main argument about culture in both contexts shows there are expectation that had to be met by an individual before one could qualify and be declared a hero for the particular community. For instance bravery was a core requirement that an individual had to acquire before he or she could finally be declared a hero by the community. For instance, Odysseus brave characters is depicted in the poem when the author says “you must not cling to your boyhood any longer-its time you were a man.”P.78.This just shows how crucial it was for any person willing to become a hero and the challenges that such calls come with. The practice of looking for heroes in Greece had influenced all men and they all aspired to become like Odysseus but some wouldn’t make because of the obstacles. From this perspective it is right to say that the Greek culture and that portrayed in Gilgamesh still influence the way modern cultures are tied to the people who are associated with them in a number of ways.
The dominance of supernatural forces is perceived in various contexts explored in this epics especially by the granted the title of heroism in both contexts. The two characters, Gilgamesh and Odysseus embark on deadly adventures whereby they are not only accompanied by their gods of favor since in both cultures gods had both negative and positive Impacts that come with the act of  being accompanied by those gods. For instance, Enkidu who was referred to as wild man was the one who accompanied Gilgamesh and the Enkidu himself had been created by the goddess of creation which the author refers to as Aruru. Enkidu being more of a wild beast rather than a human being enters into a conflict with Gilgamesh and then Gilgamesh sends prostitute to have a total confusion on the giant and transform his ways of spending life that resembles that of animals and thus Gilgamesh was in mission of making him be human. Their conflict later leads to eruption of fight between the two thus forcing Gilgamesh to change his characters towards better way ways. The control of the demon in Gilgamesh life in that it would change him from doings things that the devil; considered to be negative and instead focus on molding his character to a more meaningful member of the society. Although Enkidu lost most of the battles he had with Gilgamesh, the later would spare it following his realization of the fact that Enkidu was only concerned on making him a more upright person in the society. On the other hand Odysseus, Odysseus on his adventure would also not make it alone but would be accompanied by the his men who comprised on shipmates as well as his close friends and while in their adventures, they would be faced by troubles which he himself had to intervene and save them.
Therefore, as depicted in the above essay, the two epics had more influence from their community cultures which dictated what an individual had to do before he or she could qualify to be referred to a hero. Therefore in order for a person to be recognized he or she needed to combine the power of his people in the society, his own power and also the supernatural powers from gods which played crucial role in both societies.