Death is a very large theme in both The Epic of Gilgamesh and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Gilgamesh is very pride, arrogant and unscrupulous at the beginning of the epic, but as soon as his best friend Enkidu dies, he’s fear of dying. He begins to looking for everlasting life. Sir Gawain also faces death after he takes the challenge of the Green Knight. He shows his fear of death in the book.
He is the complete opposite to Gilgamesh. While Gilgamesh seeks to be divine and seeks for immortality, Enkidu seeks to support his friend and his ideas through life. He aids Gilgamesh to kill Humbaba even though Gilgamesh is in the state of fear. He dies instead of Gilgamesh after the killing of the creature. This is where the thought of this famous quote comes into mind, “a good friend who can find” and some friends are more than brothers and sisters.
The gods themselves possess human traits such as love, jealousy, and hate. Though in this epic, they were nearly not too helpful; in reality, all their actions were of destruction. Gilgamesh’s anguish was caused by the god, Ishtar, and her spite. A superhuman to rival Gilgamesh named Enkidu was created and ended up being his dearest friend, yet he died in his own opinion a shameful death from the curse of the gods. Gilgamesh loved him like his own brother and mourned his death for the longest time.
When they are fighting Humbaba, Gilgamesh says, “you will surpass all of them... a friend who knows battle understands fighting... stand, friend, we will go up together.” Gilgamesh also shows that he does have a sensitive side when Enkidu dies. He says, “For Enkidu, for my friend, I weep like a wailing woman, howling bitterly... an evil has risen up and robbed me.”. As a result of Enkidu’s dying, Gilgamesh shows that he is afraid of death and denies the fact that he too will die one day. He goes on a quest searching for immortality, where he finds out it is pointless. Through these actions Gilgamesh shows he is denying that he is mortal.
It takes a true person to look past the horror and terror of the monster Grendel. This shows that our society is quick to judge things that they are unfamiliar with. Grendel is a horrifying monster, but acts like this because that is where he comes from. He receives no love and attention from the human society in which he wants to be a part of, so his actions are taken out on that, depicting him as a savage beast. If our society wasn’t so quick to judge from the outside appearance, maybe they would see a lost, lonely creature, just craving and searching for a way to fit
Almost everyone in this story kills people. There are many reasons why Grendel is viewed as evil, but one of the main reasons is because Grendel is born as an outcast from the rest of society. Combine that with being categorized with another outcast who was seemingly just as evil in Cain from the Bible, and people don't question the evil label that Grendel receives. In Beowulf, Grendel is portrayed as evil because he is categorized with Cain and is born as an outcast. The first reason why Grendel is portrayed as evil in Beowulf is because he is categorized with Cain.
Enkidu was to be two-thirds divine and one-third human. Despite the fact Enkidu and Gilgamesh look like twins they think very differently. When Enkidu discovered how Gilgamesh was taking virgin brides in their wedding beds he felt as though he had to put a stop to it, immediately. When confronted by Enkidu the two men fought and in the end Gilgamesh lost to Enkidu. Not only did Gilgamesh and Enkidu become the best of friends, but Gilgamesh saw the error of his ways and was humbled by the experience.
But later as a result of rejection and bigotry, leads him to hurt others and become a dangerous creature. Lastly the society can also be considered to be monsters by discriminating and judging the creature because of its unnatural way of creation and outlook without really knowing or understanding his intentions and just assuming he was
John Proctor's fatal flaw was his great amount of pride, and that slowly tied a series of unfortunate events which eventually made John Proctor succumb to his death. Unfortunately, Proctor dies for a crime he did not commit. Another necessary part of the tragic hero is that he or she has a complete reversal of fortune brought by the hero's own flaw. Proctor's life completely turned upside down when Abigail accused his loved ones who then were sent to jail, or executed. At the end of every tragic play, the audience must feel pity or remorse for the deceased hero.
At some point in life humans will realize the reality of death, and they will want to find a way to escape it. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu dies leaving Gilgamesh shaken and scared. Gilgamesh says, "For Enkidu, I loved him dearly, together we endured all kinds of hardship on his account, for the common lot of man has taken him" (p98). He fears that he will have the same fate as Enkidu and die. He decides to embark on a journey to find Utnapishtim, who survived a terrible flood and is the only mortal to gain immortality.