Beowulf, Gilgamesh and The Odyssey are all great epics written by different cultures in different time periods. But being from different civilizations, they share certain values that make them similar. These similarities can be seen through the actions, appearance and fights of the epic heroes enemies.
Both Humbaba from Gilgamesh and the Cyclops from The Odyssey had certain human aspects to them. Like any human Humbaba pleads for his life, as hes about to die, making the reader feel pity for him. The monster plead in strangled sobs and desperate appeals (188-189). For one moment we feel that Gilgamesh should let the monster live. If we were in that situation, we would also desperately plead for our lives. By personifying the sobs as strangled, the author is describing the magnitude of the sobs and screams. Humbaba was screaming as loud as he could, and pleading for his life. But the pity we feel doesnt last long because Ekidu tells Gilgamesh Humbaba is deceiving him, and he has to die. Also the Cyclops from The Odyssey is depicted with certain human aspects to him. When all these chores were done, he poked the fire (195). The Cyclops does chores like any human does. And the most interesting thing is that he has a set routine. He is very organized, and after doing chores, he makes a fire and gets ready for dinner. But unlike the Cyclops and Humbaba, Grendel from Beowulf has less human characteristics defining him. He is described as being Mankinds enemy (79), which would meke him an anti-human. But in the beginning of the story, he is described as being impatient, a human characteristic. So there is a certain contrast in Grendel that w dont see in the other monsters. By saying hes mankinds enemy, means he is barely human, but because he is one of Gods creatures, he has a certain human aspect to him.
And at the same time he can feel no guilt, and has no restraint in killing. Also these monsters appearances are worth mentioning for their similarities and differences.
The monsters physical appearances can tell a lot about these epics. In Beowulf Grendel is depicted as very fearful. Snarling and fierce, eyes gleamed in the darkness (300-301). A powerful monster (1). This monster can instill fear on any human that looks at him. From this quote it can also be inferred that he can see in the dark. He is a gigantic threat to anyone who gets close to him. The quote says he is fierce and snarling, ready to rip apart the first human he sees. It can be inferred that he is hungry and his would give him the desperate element, which would make him even more dangerous. Just like Grendel, the Cyclops is also a very fearful monster, not to be messed with. Giants, louts (110), Layed down like a mast (243). First, the Cyclops is a giant, so even with all his men, Odysseus cant take on him. The Cyclops was a giant, and a lout. By comparing the Cyclops to a vandal, it means he caused destruction and havoc wherever he went. Meaning he didnt have a law to abide by, so he did whatever he wanted to do, and could feel no quilt. Like a killer, who has been doing it for a long time, can feel no guilt, this lout couldnt feel guilt either. Beat their brains out and Dismembered them. He can have a human side, but this isnt it. He is a ruthless monster that does what he feels like doing. What we now see as monsters is different from what these people saw as monsters. They thought giants were monsters, and we still do. But now we have more realistic monsters, like the wall street mortgage giants, or serial killers. But the basic idea is still there. Moster is all about a person with more power who can instill fear on us. But unlike these monsters, Humbaba has an almost comical appearance. Giant head like a water buffalo huge clumsy legs, flailing arms (163-164). His description would cause laughter if we were to see him in person. Even though he is a giant, by describing him this way, it makes him less frightening. Maybe, the author who wrote this wanted to mock evil. He wanted to show people that being on the bad side made them weaker, or less scary. Maybe he wanted to send a message to people that being bad was a joke, and they shouldnt do it. In the same way, the battle details in the epics also provide us with insight and values that are worth comparing.
The battles in these epics have many details that are dying to be mentioned. First off, in Gilgamesh, the battles are not too bloody and gory like in Beowulf and The Odyssey. And swung it in a perfect arc into Humbabas neck (200-201). Gilgamesh just killed Humbaba and left. There was no arm ripping, bone crunching action like in Beowulf and The Odyssey. This epic is more about the friendship and not so much about fights and killing. After killing humbaba, Gilgamesh goes right to help his friend Enkidu. The author of this story valued friendship over entertainment and blood and guts. But unlike Gilgamesh, Beowulf has many blood shedding and killing and violence. Ripped him apart, cut his body to bits and drank the blood from his veins (315-318). We can assume that the author of Beowulf wanted to Idolize Beowulf and portray him as a super-human. By showing what kind of ruthless threat Beowulf was up against, it made Beowulf seem like a bigger hero than he already was. This also makes Beowulf seem very brave for going after a beast of this magnitude mankinds enemy. Also The Odyssey has some gory details like Beowulf. To beat their brains out spattering on the floor (235). Unlike Grendel, The Cyclops kills to eat. He dismembered them and made his meal (236). We dont know why Grendel kills, but since the author doesnt tell us, and he is the biggest evil, we can assume he kills for his own sadistic pleasure. But the Cyclops, being that he is a little more civilized, kills to satisfy his hunger, thus differing a little from Grendel. Most likely, the reason why the story has gore, is because it is written from Odysseus point of view. But to the Cyclops, killing the men is like killing and eating a chicken.
In conclusion, Beowulf, Gilgamesh and The Odyssey have many similar aspects when it comes to their enemies. The battle details, their physical appearance, and their human aspects. But also there are certain evident differences. But in the end they are all great epics that changed the course of our perception of heroes, and literature in general.
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