Comparing Gilgamesh and Harry Potter
Theo Canada
Gilgamesh is very similar to a lot of stories we read today. One of the books that I will be comparing and contrasting is the epic of Gilgamesh. The other text that I will be comparing and contrasting Gilgamesh to is Harry Potter. Gilgamesh and Harry Potter are similar in their idea of magic and immortality while they differ in how their villain develops. Gilgamesh and Harry Potter both have very similar themes of corruption. In Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh becomes a king and rules over Mesopotamia. It doesn’t take long for power to get to him though, he starts abusing his power for bad things.“ The city is his possession, he struts through it, arrogant, his head raised high, trampling it’s citizens like a wild bull.” In Harry Potter one of the main drivers for Voldemort is becoming immortal. This starts by him just dabbling in the dark arts to create horcruxes but later in the story he becomes corrupted with power and turns into the main villain of the story.
In both Harry Potter and Gilgamesh immortality is present. In the end of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh obtains immortality with a magic plant. ``What you seek you shall never find. For when the Gods made man, They kept immortality to themselves. Fill your belly. Day and night make merry. Let Days be full of joy. Love the child who holds your hand. Let your wife delight in your embrace. For these alone are the concerns of man. ``In Harry Potter, Tom Riddle searches for immortality throughout the series in the form of horcruxes and magic objects. Specifically the connection between the two is in the objects. In Harry Potter Voldemort uses the stone to try to regain his body. In Gilgamesh Gilgamesh uses the magic plant to gain immortality.
One way that the two stories differ is how Voldemort and Gilgamesh changed. Gilgamesh stopped abusing his power for personal gain and started to understand that he had to be a proper king and lead his subjects.
In Harry Potter however Tom continued in his lust for power. He started making even more horcruxes and then finally to complete his dark path he attempted to kill Harry. To summarize, Voldemort continued his quest for power and Gilgamesh didn’t. Gilgamesh and Harry Potter are similar in their ideas of magic and immortality but they differ in how their villain deals with power. Tom could have turned good like Gilgamesh if not for power. In both Harry potter and Gilgamesh there is a lot of immortality and magic. Gilgamesh learned how to become a good king unlike Voldemort who went deeper into the dark to become more of a villain. Gilgamesh could have influenced JK Rowling to make Tom Riddle's character evil with power like the beginning of the epic.
