Heroes are the persons, personalities, and characters in a certain setting who are lauded as the victors or champions of a given course, particularly in attempting to build and display a specific moral or virtue in relation to a specific group in their culture. Zeroes are the polar opposites of heroes because they are perceived as individuals who do not deserve the credit that they claim for themselves. They are represented as losers or inadequate in carrying out the numerous jobs that they were assigned to emphasize in their line of action. Odysseus and Gilgamesh are some of the characters that are going to be embraced in trying to recap the aspects of heroism and “zeroism” from literature covered in the Compact Anthology of World Literature. Gilgamesh is thus the hero of the two considering their tales being that they were leaders of their people and had power to do good or bad.
There are some vivid similarities and differences between Odysseus and Gilgamesh and the most acclaimed journeys that they undertook in life. For a start, Gilgamesh was king in a land known as Uruk; one of the greatest urban development within Mesopotamia. It is believed that two-thirds of his being was a demigod, i.e., only a third of him was human. Gilgamesh ruled his people that lived in the city of Uruk with an iron fist; making his people work to death and having sexual relations with all the women irrespective of whether it was consensual or coerced. After suffering for a long time under the yoke of Gilgamesh, the people of Uruk beseeched their gods for a deliverer, and the gods respond in kind giving them Enkidu. Their prayer to tame the delirious habits of their king was answered the moment Enkidu was created and then an induction made to link him to Gilgamesh(Getty and Kwon, 76). Enkidu became the best of friends and companions with King Gilgamesh, but they often had differences since life is not all a walk in the park but rather characterized by ebbs and flows. To find out the extent of his courage and strength, Enkidu and Gilgamesh set out on a quest to kill Humbaba. Gilagamesh is characterized by a lot of hubris and hurls profanities at a goddess; this culminates to his untimely demise. Being a son of the City of Uruk features of Gilgamesh revolve around physical strength, a lot of arrogance, subjects his people and Uruk at large to an iron fist style of ruling, is full of courage, arrives at solutions to challenges with absolute force, and is very much loyal toEnkidu (Getty and Kwon, 76).
On the flip side, the History of Odysseus talks about him as being the one true King of Ithaca, a coastal development of the Mediterranean Sea. Odysseus is also a well acclaimed hero on or after the Trojan War and is attempting to get back home after the war is over. We get to learn that there is a twist of fate and now Odysseus is unable to get back home to Ithaca. Odysseus also uttered a multitude of profanities at a god and had to go through the burden of making such a terrible decision. Notice that both Gilgamesh and Odysseus hurled insults at a god out of pride but Odysseus was more kind to people (hero) unlike Gilgamesh (zero) (Getty and Kwon, 237; 76).
Upon reading his story, audiences can tell that Odysseus is very wise and makes use of his brains to get a hold of anything that he wishes for hence very much deserving of the hero title. He is characterized by a reasonable amount of pride and desires that all glory goes to him even in instances when he should not deserve credit. Like Gilgamesh, Odysseus desired to return home after his mission.
Odysseus together with his crew anchored their vessel on the territories of the Cyclopes. Looking for an adventure they go in unasked for into the abode (cave) of one of the Cyclope's. They make themselves comfortable as if they were in their own homes within the cave and the moment the Cyclopes comes back home he discovers that his household is in a mess. Furiously, he gobbles up some Odysseus’ ship crew members, he is starving, and they went into his cave without any invitation. The fact that the Cyclopes as part of his crew made Odysseus very angry; he got the feeling that a loss of his men is a personal abuse of his masculinity as a commander.
Makin use of his wits, Odysseus decides to get the Cyclopes intoxicated with drunkenness and play a few cruel trickeries on him. Odysseus gorges out the only eye of the Cyclopes, and in one piece gets away together with the remainder of his men in the cover of the beloved sheep of the now sightless and furious Cyclopes. In his moment of pride in the course of the glorious escape, Odysseus shouts out that he is called "Odysseus" and this moment of foolishness makes the father of the Cyclopes very angered, the god Poseidon(Getty and Kwon, 237). He becomes infuriated, and a curse is placed upon Odysseus. What does this tell say regarding Odysseus of Ithaca? (a question that all audiences who come across this story ask themselves). He is smart because he made use of his brains to christen his being as "No Man," making the Cyclopes become intoxicated with drink and finding an escape route under cover of the sheep. Odysseus and his son Telemachus participated in the mission of attacking the Cyclops that had wreaked havoc and hence causing a lot of alarm in the vicinity. They bound them and then escaped Calypso during the wartime. He was able to endure the appalling moments he experienced at sea when Poseidon interfered with his journey. He plucked the courage to handle the stormy and tumultuous high seas with a good deal of sobriety and solidarity. He was not moved at all when he faced the suitors of his wife, Penelope, despite their significantly high number. He tackled the numerous suitors of his wife with the huge amount of composure and preparedness, and that made him carry the day ultimately (Getty and Kwon, 237).
Odysseus was looking for glory (a trait that is very much characteristic of Gilgamesh) and in the end, he had to have his name known all over Greece.He is loyal to his crew (just in the same way Gilgamesh is loyal to Enkidu), and has their best interest at heart and in mind as he gets them out of the reckless state of affairs. Looking back both Odysseus and Gilgamesh are looking for the true essence of life on earth and it is evident that all of them thirst for magnificence and interminable prominence: they desire that their names last forever.
Looking at both these tales from a lens of mortality vs. immortality we can tell that Odysseus is mortal, and he even refuses a chance to realize immortality. He is pretty much human-like. Gilgamesh is half human, and half god and is very much concerned regarding the direction his life will take in the end. What’s more, he questions his fate from time to time. It is worth mentioning that both Gilgamesh and Odysseus insulted their gods and had to go through the repercussions. Gilgamesh crossed paths with Ishtar while Odysseus came across Poseidon(Getty and Kwon, 76).
Both tales also describe the meddling with the affairs of certain gods who have heartened, helped, or gave ambition to the two heroes regarding the paths they ought to take and concerning the comparatively immaterial mortal beings. Gilgamesh comes to finally learn a lesson that immortality is to some degree meant for the god-like beings a lone. Considering his limited human parentage, he has to die and that he ought to, as a result, take liking and egotism in what the best things in life are as opposed to worrying about living forever.
On the same note Odysseus being the hero that he is, isbent on bringing back law and order through going home and in doing so, he creates the best of his human life, coming to terms with fate and finally demise. All through the story, Odysseus was confident that he was to go back to Ithaca despite the monumental challenges that awaited him. He believed that he had what it takes for him to make it back due to the machinery and the weapons that he had at his disposal. He trusted that all was possible given the mechanics that he had in place to ensure that the process became a success. He had conviction coupled with ambition that at one point he was to reunite with the family in spite of the wind that there numerous suitors who were hanging out with his wife, Penelope (Getty and Kwon, 237).
Odysseus and Gilgamesh were some of the greatest leaders mythologized in history due to their extraordinary and superhuman nature. They had qualities that surpassed the character of the common man. They exuded properties that were worth emulating. Most people tried to borrow a leaf from their accounts so that a complete society can be fostered. Odysseus stands out more as a hero while Gilgamesh is portrayed and a selfish individual who rode on other people's shoulders in order to build a name for him. This is because he always used the people in achieving his subterranean and unorthodox selfish ambitions. Odysseus had the people at heart, and his efforts can be reflected currently due to the significant impact that had on the early civilization(Getty and Kwon, 237).
In summary, both Odysseus and Gilgamesh led a life that was momentarily punctuated with dramatic turns, twists, and tosses of life. Odysseus was better at handling life’s situations and is thus the hero; Gilgamesh on the other hand was very self-centered and thus the true depiction of a zero. They had the mettle or real men because they managed to pull through most of the difficulties that stood in the way of their progress only that they sought different ends. Moreover, they exuded immense courage in all the feats that they engaged themselves in. As such Odysseus and Gilgamesh are among the world’s most celebrated, ancient literature that has served as the requisite for the development of Civilization. They present tales of self-styled legends who have an inherent and intense passion to averse hopelessness that at times comes with negative situations.
Work Cited
Getty, Laura, and Kyounghye Kwon. "Compact Anthology of World Literature." (2015).
