The Journeys of the Ages - Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Gawain, and Dante - Essay Example

The Due The Journeys of the Ages A journey in the scope of ancient story telling serves a very different purpose than our interpretation of the world today. We think of journeys as trips or vacations. We leave to explore new places for own amusement. We pack up into our car or board a plane and travel with a generalized amount of comfort and convenience compared to our ancestors. In history traveling was a difficult thing. It could be dangerous. A burden forced upon someone against their will. It was something done with the knowledge that making it to the desired destination is hardly a guarantee; which is, probably, why the greatest of journeys were resigned to the greatest of heroes. These people were often more than simple men. They may have been, partially, divine or blessed above others in some way. Or they may be very average individuals whose inner virtues or vices are able to teach a relevant lesson in their normal existence within extraordinary circumstances. The characters in the great stories of our ancestors are, very much, detailed fantasy epics; we cannot focus on the fictional elements of the tales but on what they represent. These are the cases with the Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Gawain, Dante and Jonah. Their journeys are representing much more than the miles traveled or feats completed. It is the universal metaphor for the inner journey of the individuals and the ideologies of the times and cultures that they lived in. Gilgamesh was three-quarters God and only one-quarter human. This made him more than a man. At the beginning of his journey Gilgamesh is a spoiled, selfish, tyrannical king. He bullied and killed his people. He raped the woman of his kingdom with little regard, acting as if it was his right. Once he meets Enkidu he makes a friend who is his equal on many levels, Enkidu, the savage turned civilized, teaches him human compassion. (Brown)Through this friend he learns to use his special abilities to help his people. When Enkidu is punished by the Gods and ultimately dies, Gilgamesh, accustomed to not caring about anything other than himself, experiences loss for the first time. This is a lesson that all mortal humans must learn, regardless of your social status or whether, or not, you are partly divine. Gilgamesh is, also, troubled by the images of the afterlife that Enkidu had shared with him. Gilgamesh then decides that he does not want to die, that humanity should have the same immortality that the Gods possessed. His journey takes him far and wide; much farther than any mortal human could ever travel. He does not succeed in gaining the secrets of immortality, essentially because he is told outright that that was not something intended for human beings to have. However, he does gain the location of a plant that will grant eternal youth. If you cannot avoid death then at least he could postpone it for himself and for his people. However, that plant is stolen by the serpent. Gilgamesh returns to his kingdom completely empty handed. It teaches readers that no matter who you are and no matter how far you go some goals are forever unattainable. Gilgamesh truly returned with nothing tangible, however, he does gain a new understanding of human life and, in a sense, the purpose of it. He realizes that that the road to human immortality is not through avoiding death it comes with the passing of generational traditions. Humanity is supposed to live and leave behind something for the next generations to come. Gilgamesh is transformed by his journey into a productive, giving, and passionate member of a civilized society Beowulf is very much the classical archetype of a hero. He is strong, just, and honorable. He epitomizes the ideal person of his time. What others should aspire to become. Beowulf conducts himself throughout his journey with the ideal perception of his society’s honor code.(Lawall, and Mack 1632) When Beowulf fights Grendel, who is frightening and freakish, Beowulf could have taken up his sword and easily have defeated his opponent. He did not. His logic being that he did not need his sword to defeat him so there was no real need to use the blade. This speaks volumes to the importance of honor and how heavily revered expectations of honor was to the peoples of Beowulf’s time. (Lumbowski )The overall message could, very much be, It was less important what a person did, but how they went about doing it. Gawain is, also, subject to a very high standard and ideals of honor. Arthurian legend is, very often, most people’s image of Knights, royalty, damsels in distress, and the Age of Chivalry. The character Gawain appears several times in these tales. His experiences with the Green Knight is presented a true challenge of his honor and integrity.(Lawall, and Mack 1993-2045) Gawain managed to resist the Knight’s wife’s advances, but when it comes to an opportunity to save his own life, he fails to be as honest. Now given the necessity for following the strict honor codes heavy in early Christian morality, his lie should be punished. But he is not. In the story the Green Knight does not take his head only draws a little blood. In fact, the Knight seems to show very little affront to his honor when Gawain's dishonesty is presented. It is more as if Gawain’s actions made him more of a “spoiled sport” who did not obey the rules, as opposed to a liar and sinner.(Weiss 6) The whole challenge was more of a game than test of virtue. This shows that there may have been room at this time in the perception of this society that saw that, although honor was important it may not directly be linked to sin; that the desire for self preservation is not such terrible reason to tell a lie, and, therefore less of a sin. There is also a possibility that this story was intended not to encourage the knightly codes but to mock them. When Gawain, a knight of the Arthurian legend, is willing to betray his own code by lying to save his own life, it shows a lack moral character in Gawain. The writer may have wanted to reveal that the codes and virtue of the knighthood is a facade, “…is a knight’s chivalry authentic or just public posturing.(Weiss 6) Of course, it is up to the reader to decide what they believe the elements in any story represents. The story of Dante is a bit different in that he does not journey around the world, but, instead, journeys through the entire afterlife. He visits purgatory, heaven, and hell. He evens tells the readers what famous historical people he finds there and where they found themselves in the afterlife. (Lawall, and Mack 1836-1942) It, also, differs in that Dante wrote the story, autobiographically with himself as the main character. We can either perceive this as a little narcissistic or rather inventive attempt to make a point.. Dante’s representations of the different layers and tiers of sin and virtue, finds all of its roots in Christianity, However, on some levels, his work had less to do with religious mythos and more about sociopolitical views on the society that he lived in. Heaven is the image of a well-ordered, working, successful society, while the differing degrees of hell reflect a society that is dysfunctional and a torment to live within. The fact, that Dante broke the sin of greed into several subsets of itself, including violence against others, treachery, and fraud is a unique to his work. This is a creation of Dante’s mind as he saw the different offenses that humanity commits on a day to day basis. Lying is a biblical sin, Greed is a biblical sin. However, fraud is a something created by man’s dealings with man in business and political circles.(Ferrante ) Overall, Dante’s tour of the afterlife is an intention to visually play on the spiritual fears of people to elicit a societal response that could manifest itself in tangible societal changes.. Of course, the vision is Dante’s. This may mean that he saw a need for change of some kind and that he may have been malcontent with the society he lived in and that the course he saw for humanity could easily become that image of hell, but had the potential to be more heaven-like. The last journey, to be discussed, is that of Jonah. His journey differs from the others because unlike Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Gawain, and even Dante, Jonah was not on a journey with a decided destination. The majority of Jonah’s journey is him trying to run away from the journey he was supposed to make. God had asked him to do something and he was, quickly and admittedly, defying that request. He was told to go the city of Nineveh and warn the people there that must repent their sins or God would destroy the city. Jonah did not want the Nineveh citizens to have that opportunity so he refused to do so. The most likely reason for Jonah’s behavior was that he had issues with the people of city. The city of Nineveh was under the control of the Assyrians, who were an enemy and potential threat to Jonah’s people. Jonah had decided that they were sinners, they were evil, and they could be a problem in the future, so it would be better if they were destroyed. He feared that if he delivered the message to repent they may, in fact, do so and save themselves from God’s wrath.(Shuchat 49-50) So Jonah’s journey was a continuous test of his stubbornness to attempt to avoid God. Ultimately he finally accepts that he cannot defy God and he delivers the message despite his personal feelings. This, like most, biblical stories represents the continuous presence and power of God, but, also, attempts to show that even the most religious of men, even a Prophet, can be tempted by their own interests. That one cannot outrun their responsibilities, they will find you. It, also, is an opportunity to share biblical benevolence in the wisdom of God. He argues with Jonah that it would be unjust to condemn the people of the city for things they had not yet done and a threat they had not yet become. They would still be given the opportunity to repent, regardless of all else. In the end, all of these stories rely heavily upon fantasy and mythology to tell the tales that range from understanding human mortality, honor, sociopolitical admonishment, or responsibilities, and divine humility. Each one is a testament to his times and respective cultures of which they lived. What is most interesting is that such journeys of myth and metaphor are something we long for and still aspire to. This can be seen in how we retell the stories over and over again throughout the generations. We still need the feats of heroes and the great meaningful journeys that they take to inspire us. They are no longer orally passed from village to village or town to town. They are shared in the mass media through the entertainment we embrace, in literature, film, and television. The names, locations, and origins may change, but the tales seldom diverge from the classic ideal. Today we look to epics like the “Lord of the Rings” and far into the future in “Star Wars.” These stories mirror the heroes’ journey on many key points. A sojourn in strange places, filled with strange characters, littered with obstacles and challenging opponents that must be overcome. These stories and the ethics, ideals, moralities, and societal lessons they aim to teach, whatever they may be, are part of humanity. In a huge way they are very much part of the lesson that Gilgamesh learned from his journey. The immortality of what it means to be human is passed on through generations and the stories we tell are an immense part of that legacy. This being said the heroes’ journey will live on through the ages just as it always has. Works Cited Brown, Arthur A.. "Storytelling, The Meaning of Life, and the Epic of Gilgamesh." Exploring Ancient World Culture. N.p., 1996. Web. 24 Jun 2012. Ferrante, Joan. The Political Vision Of the Divine Comedy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993. Web. . Lawall, Sarah, and Maynard Mack, comp. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2002. 1632, 136-1942, 1993-2045. Print. Lumbowski, Neil A. "Its All About Respect: Social Codes in Beowulf." Symposium: Great Books Student Scholarly Journal. 1 (2006): n. page. Web. 24 Jun. 2012. . Shuchat, Raphael. "Jonah the Rebellious Prophet: A look at the Man Behind the Prophecy Based on Biblical and Rabbinic Sources." Jewish Bible Quarterly. 37.1 (2009): 49-50. Web. 25 Jun. 2012. . Weiss, Victoria L. "The Play World and the Real World: Chivalry in ." CBS Interactive Business Network Resource Library: Philological Quarterly. (1993): 6. Web. 24 Jun. 2012. Read More