Gilgamesh, Medusa, and the Hero's Journey.
A comparative essay by Adelaide Cameron.
The hero’s journey is a very well-known narrative, though it’s been around longer than you might think. In the ancient Mesopotamian text Gilgamesh, as translated by Stephen Mitchell (though he was not the first to translate it), we follow a story much like the hero’s journey many know today. In fact, it may have influenced other stories down the road. For instance, the Greek myth of Medusa, another classic tale of man versus monster, which is quite comparable. In fact, Gilgamesh and Medusa are very similar in their plot and essential themes, while they do differ in characters.
The first aspect in which the two texts are similar is in their plot. In Gilgamesh, the main character decides that he must slay Humbaba, an ancient monster of the Cedar Forest, placed there by the gods. He dons specialized golden armor and heads off to fight the beast with his companion, Enkidu. Once they arrive, a god tells them to beware of Humbaba’s “Seven auras with their paralyzing glares”(pg. 117). They fight the beast, and Gilgamesh brings home its head as a trophy, mentioned in the text as “Gilgamesh carried Humbaba’s severed head”(pg. 129). In the myth of Medusa, Perseus, the main character, is tasked with slaying the gorgon, Medusa. He is gifted special armor from the gods, one piece of said armor being a reflective shield, and journeys to Medusa’s lair. He uses his shield to avoid looking directly at Medusa, for those who do are turned to stone. After he finally kills her, he takes her head with him as evidence of his success, a trophy, and, later, a weapon. We can see many obvious similarities between the two stories, such as a mission to kill a monster that was created by gods, receiving armor and weaponry specifically for the task, the monster having the capability to paralyze its targets, and our hero taking the beast’s head after killing it. To add to these more surface-level connections, we can also notice many threads that run deeper than the play-by-play of what happens in the story, such as the essential themes these tales share.
Both of these stories have an underlying theme of the hero’s journey. In Gilgamesh, there is this idea of both killing Humbaba for the greater good and to be remembered. Despite the different nature of these two motivations, they both play into the narrative of “man versus monster”. Gilgamesh exemplifies this when he says, “‘We must kill [Humbaba] and drive out evil from the world’”(p. 191). In Medusa, Perseus’s mission to kill Medusa is fueled by a hope to save his mother and because he was sent to do it by the king of his homeland. Even though he is a bit of a reluctant hero, the theme still stands. Beyond that, there is an element of the fact that both Perseus and Gilgamesh are fighting for only partially noble reasons, and that those around them see their missions as foolish or impossible. Another idea that is presented in both texts is divine intervention, and, furthermore, this kind of “battle of the gods”. Though it’s subtle, both hero’s quests extend beyond their own motives. They are fighting creatures put into existence by the gods, whilst receiving assistance from other gods along the way (not to mention the fact that both Gilgamesh and Perseus are half-gods, so there’s a lot of layers and potential motives). This could be a way of showcasing how the pantheons of both Mesopotamian and Greek gods may have used humans as pawns to act out their squabbles or plans. However, despite the many similarities between the two stories, there is one glaringly obvious difference, and that is the characters.
While the journeys that Gilgamesh and Perseus partake in are rather similar, the actual contents of their characters are rather different. Gilgamesh is a wealthy king who is disliked by his people. He is powerful, self-centered, and attention-seeking. This is exemplified in the line “The city is his possession, he struts through it, arrogant, his head raised high, trampling its citizens like a wild bull. He is king, he does whatever he wants, … no one dares to oppose him”(p. 72). His motivations lie in making a name for himself-- at least, more of a name for himself than he already has. He wants to be remembered, and his quest is pursued less for the greater good, and more for his own self-fulfillment. He makes this clear when, addressing Enkidu, he says “‘Whether you come along or not, I will cut down the tree, I will kill Humbaba, I will make a lasting name for myself, I will stamp my fame on men’s minds forever’”(p. 94). Alternatively, in the myth of Medusa, Perseus is quite the opposite. Although he is half-god, he comes from a very low social status. His mother works as a servant for a corrupt king (who is much like Gilgamesh) for whom it was prophecized would be killed by his grandson. Wishing to wed Perseus’s mother (and wanting to live through it), the king sends Perseus on a suicide mission to slay Medusa. Perseus is on this mission because he has to be. He knows that it’s near impossible, but that if he somehow manages to kill the gorgon, he may be able to rescue his mother. He is noble and humbled by his experiences. His motives are that of obligation, kindness, and loyalty, and very unlike those of the vain Gilgamesh.
In conclusion, while they have rather different main characters, the stories of Gilgamesh and Medusa are both quite similar in terms of their plot and essential themes. For the plot, we observe that both texts follow a hero who is assisted by the gods to slay a beast that can paralyze its victims. Looking deeper than that, we see that they both have themes of the well-known hero’s journey, as well as many ties to divine intervention and each story’s respective pantheon of gods. The narratives begin to contrast, however, when we analyze our main characters, namely their motivations and personalities. Perseus and Gilgamesh have morals, values, and backgrounds that are very unlike each other. Nevertheless, through the lens of the first two points, we can see that Gilgamesh, or at least some version of it, definitely could have been an influence on the classic and often-referenced myth of Medusa, and potentially could have also been a guiding light for other writers throughout history.
