Wisdom Destiny In Literary Works Essay, Research Paper

The hunt for fate is reflected in the literary plants such as & # 8220 ; The Epic of Gilgamesh & # 8221 ; , Homer & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; The Odyssey & # 8221 ; , and Virgil & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; The Aeneid & # 8221 ; . The hero of each narrative travels to the land of the dead in order to fulfill their single demands. And even though each 1 has a different motivation for the journey, they portion two things in common. First, each hero seeks to cognize something about his hereafter or fate. And 2nd, their discoveries are non precisely what they were looking for. The nature of the pursuits into the underworld by the heroes Gilgamesh, Odysseus, and Aeneas range from immortality, felicity, and the demand to cognize he is making the right things in life but respectfully discover emptiness, unhappiness, and opinion.

After his friend Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh realizes that decease is besides at hand for him since he is portion human. Therefore, terrified of his hereafter, Gilgamesh journeys into the underworld in hunt of immortality but alternatively discoveries

emptiness. Gilgamesh believes Utnapishtim, who resides in the underworld, holds the secret to avoiding decease, since he himself was given immortality by the Gods after the & # 8220 ; Great Flood & # 8221 ; .

However, Gilgamesh finds the underworld to be empty. This emptiness is foreseen in his journey through the conference of caves. Shamash flat out Tells Gilgamesh that he won & # 8217 ; t happen what he is looking for. But Gilgamesh is besides given more elusive warnings. For case, Siduri asks Gilgamesh why he is & # 8220 ; in hunt of the air current & # 8221 ; ( 38 ) . Furthermore, the caves have & # 8220 ; no visible radiation & # 8221 ; ; anticipating that Utnapishtim will hold no cognition or secret about immortality ( 37 ) . And the writer repeatedly writes & # 8220 ; nil in front and nil behind & # 8221 ; ( 37 ) . This implies that Gilgamesh must larn to prehend the twenty-four hours. He will non happen life after decease. Despite all these warnings Gilgamesh continues with his ocean trip. This bravery to go on helps specify Gilgamesh as a hero. After all Gilgamesh is a airy and must go on his journey heroically ( Norman, 213 ) .

Once in the far off underworld, Gilgamesh finds merely Utnapishtim and his married woman. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about the inundation and one clip gift of immortality. Gilgamesh slumbers for six yearss and seven darks in Utnapistim & # 8217 ; s

abode. It is after this slumber that Gilgamesh sees the relationship between his dreamless slumber and decease. He eventually comes to recognize there is no life after decease. There is nil.

Even though Gilgamesh doesn & # 8217 ; t happen precisely what he was looking for he does happen and come to accept a different sort of immortality. Gilgamesh can & # 8217 ; t make anything about decease but he can populate his life to the fullest and be remembered as a great male monarch. In other words, & # 8220 ; Gilgamesh has the continuance of celebrity as a legendary male monarch & # 8221 ; ( Thompson ) . He has the power to travel back to his people to be a great function theoretical account and portion his rebirthing experience. He learns that without decease life is nonmeaningful.

On the other manus, the hero Odysseus travels to the underworld in hunt of felicity but alternatively finds heartache. For Odysseus, felicity is his married woman, Penelope, his boy, Telemakhos, and his land, Ithaca. And he believes the prophesier, Teiresias, who like Utanpishtim resides in the underworld, can demo him the manner place.

Like Gilgamesh, Odysseus & # 8217 ; journey into the underworld helps specify him as a hero. This thought is supported throughout the chapter entitled & # 8220 ; The Call to Adventure & # 8221 ; in Joseph Campbell & # 8217 ; s The Hero with a Thousand Faces & # 8221 ;

( Campbell, 1973 ) . Odysseus knows he is about to travel into a land from which no person returns. And he is fearful. But he bravely continues on his ocean trip.

Odysseus views the underworld as a sad topographic point. He frequently weeps for the familiar dead he encounters. He particularly finds heartache when he sees his female parent, whom he did non cognize was dead. And he becomes even more grief stricken when he tries to encompass her. But like all the dead she was a apparition & # 8220 ; hesitating like a dream & # 8221 ; ( 336 ) .

When Odysseus finds Teiresias thi

nanograms do non acquire any better. Although Teiresias tells Odysseus the manner place he besides informs him that there will be more unhappiness and grief on his journey. For illustration, his work forces will be killed after eating Helios’ cowss and he will happen that suers have taken over his place.

Odysseus besides leaves the underworld with a better apprehension of life. He spent 20 old ages seeking for place. And he doesn & # 8217 ; t recognize that felicity is right in forepart of him. For illustration, he had sexual brushs with Kirk. And when he was stuck on Calypso & # 8217 ; s island he sleeps with her at dark and lies on the beach all twenty-four hours. This would be viewed as Eden for most work forces. But Odysseus still weeps for his place and married woman. About half manner through the

film version of the Odyssey, Odysseus, played by Armand Assante, meets up with Teiresias. And the blind prophesier Tells Odysseus that his yearning for place blinds him and he

does non see that it is the journey itself that makes up his life ( 1997 ) . Thus Odysseus is revealed the manner place and the manner to happiness.

Like Gilgamesh and Odysseus, the hero of The Aeneid, Aeneas besides voyages into the underworld to happen out about his fate. After go forthing Dido he is diffident of his determination and needs to cognize if he is making the right things in life. He is caught in a battle between his romantic desires and his responsibility. Thus, before perpetrating himself to anything, he seeks out the underworld and the wisdom of his dead male parent, Anchises.

Aeneas is besides a hero for embarking into the unknown. And he views the underworld as a dark and glooming topographic point. The dead are much like the dead that Odysseus found, & # 8220 ; empty images, vibrating bodiless & # 8221 ; ( 868 ) . And he excessively meets lost comrades.

Furthermore, Aeneas finds opinion. It is represented in the underworld by two distinguishable waies. One way leads to punishment and the other leads to the land of the blessed. Therefore, there are separate locations for the good and the

bad. And unlike the underworlds in Gilgamesh and The Odyssey, The Aeneid & # 8217 ; s land of the dead provides a distinguishable issue for the hero. Therefore, it represents the possibility of reincarnation.

When Aeneas eventually meets with his male parent he learns the significance of his mission. Anchises tells his boy about the hereafter of Rome. It is a destiny non of Aeneas & # 8217 ; taking. But more significantly, he learns that it is his epic responsibility to accept it. Aeneas seems to travel through a catharsis procedure as he speaks with his male parent. And when he leaves through the issue of the underworld it & # 8217 ; s as if he himself has been reincarnated.

In decision, all three heroes sought the land of the dead for replies about their hereafter. And even though they didn & # 8217 ; t needfully happen what they expected, they all submerged with a better apprehension of life. They went through a transmutation procedure. But more specifically, it was merely a affair of each of them subjecting to their fate.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New

Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Homer. & # 8220 ; The Odyssey & # 8221 ; . Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. The Norton

Anthology: World Masterpieces. 7th erectile dysfunction. Vol.1. Ed. Sara Lawall. New York: Norton, 1999. 209-514

Norman, Dorothy. The Hero: Myth/Image/Symbol. New York:

World Publishing Company, 1969.

The Odyssey. Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky. Perf. Armand

Assante, Greta Scacchi, Isabella Rossellini, Vanessa Williams. Videocassette. Hallmark, 1997

Drum sanders, Nancy K. , Trans. & # 8220 ; Gilgamesh & # 8221 ; . The Norton

Anthology: World Masterpieces. 7th erectile dysfunction. Vol.1. Ed.Sara Lawall. New York: Norton, 1999. 16-46.

Thompson, Diane. Gilgamesh Study Guide. 07 July 1999.

Online. Internet. 10 Feb. 2000. Available: novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/eng251/gilgameshstudy.htm

Virgil. & # 8220 ; The Aeneid & # 8221 ; . Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. The Norton

Anthology: World Masterpieces. 7th erectile dysfunction. Vol.1. Ed. Sara Lawall. New York: Norton, 1999. 814-895