Gilgamesh And Antigone Analysis
In the epics of Gilgamesh and Antigone, the main characters both deal with a death that is personal, but the way the react to that death, and how it drives their respective stories. In Gilgamesh’s story, it breaks him, the death of his beloved friend intensifies his fear of death, so much so that he tries to become immortal to get away from it, which is arguably, what he's been trying to do all along. While for Antigone, the death ignited her, she ran towards death, almost embracing it. Which is completely opposite of what Gilgamesh did, but while a close brush with death is the catalyst, one could argue that both of them express the need, to be seen and not forgotten, in response to their respective tragedies. First, the establishing their
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I will stamp my fame on men’s minds forever.” (Gilgamesh, pg.94) this quote supports the fact that there are ulterior motives to his endeavor, because of the fact that he is focusing on the I of it, and not the idea that it’s for the good of the people. If Gilgamesh were really looking to simply drive the evil out of the world, why would he care for people to know? He would be satisfied in knowing that he fulfilling his duties. The answer is his fear of death, Gilgamesh, at this point, has not become so afraid of death that he seeks out immortality, but it still does manifest itself in his need to never be forgotten, and thus, may hold some lower level of fear for …show more content…
As it is shown that even though Gilgamesh had stated at first that he was not afraid of death, and was even willing to die a heroes death, he had been harbored his fear the whole time that he was on his journey, this manifested itself in his strong need to be remembered, as well as his breaking point later in the book with the death of Enkidu, in which his fear transitions from being remembered forever, to actually desiring eternal life, so that he would never actually have to face his fear. While Antigone stuck to her word the whole time, she was unafraid of death, made challenges left and right, and eventually did die. Although her lack of fear for death does not negate the fact that she wanted to be remembered, and in fact may actually be a part of her not fearing
I will stamp my fame on men’s minds forever.” (Gilgamesh, pg.94) this quote supports the fact that there are ulterior motives to his endeavor, because of the fact that he is focusing on the I of it, and not the idea that it’s for the good of the people. If Gilgamesh were really looking to simply drive the evil out of the world, why would he care for people to know? He would be satisfied in knowing that he fulfilling his duties. The answer is his fear of death, Gilgamesh, at this point, has not become so afraid of death that he seeks out immortality, but it still does manifest itself in his need to never be forgotten, and thus, may hold some lower level of fear for …show more content…
As it is shown that even though Gilgamesh had stated at first that he was not afraid of death, and was even willing to die a heroes death, he had been harbored his fear the whole time that he was on his journey, this manifested itself in his strong need to be remembered, as well as his breaking point later in the book with the death of Enkidu, in which his fear transitions from being remembered forever, to actually desiring eternal life, so that he would never actually have to face his fear. While Antigone stuck to her word the whole time, she was unafraid of death, made challenges left and right, and eventually did die. Although her lack of fear for death does not negate the fact that she wanted to be remembered, and in fact may actually be a part of her not fearing