Beowulf-Key Facts, Symbols and Motifs

Key Facts, Symbols and Motifs

Setting: Denmark and Geatland
Motifs: Monsters; mead-hall (Herot)
Symbols: the golden torque (golden cup), feasts/banquets (bring Grendel to Herot)

Themes:

• establishing identity (what is its importance?)
• the difference between a good warrior and a good king
  

Beowulf-Principal Characters

Principal Characters

• Beowulf-Geatish hero, kills Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon; main character of the book
• Grendel-demon/monster that terrorizes Hrothgar's kingdom for many years; killed by Beowulf
• Hrothgar-king of the Danes, awards Beowulf with treasure, has lost many people to Grendel and has suffered from this
• Unferth-Danish Warrior, jealous of Beowulf, but later realizes that he is inferior to Beowulf
  
• Wiglaf-helps Beowulf fight the dragon, very loyal to Beowulf; proves himself to be worhty of taking Beowulf's place as king
• Welthow-Hrothgar's queen; she is wise
• Grendel's mother-another demon/monster that resides in the swamplands; is also killed by Beowulf
  

Beowulf-Plot Overview

Plot Overview

Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, has ruled his kingdom well, and the kingdom has prospered. However, their celebrating and songs of success angers Grendel, a supposed demon and monster that dwells in the swamplands around the kingdom. Grendel kills and terrorizes the kingdom for years until Beowulf, a hero and leader of the Geats sails to Denmark to kill the monster Grendel and end Hrothgar's kingdom's suffering. Beowulf is accepted into Hrothgar's kingdom and a feast is held to celebrate. Unferth, a great warrior, is suspicious of Beowulf's greatness and claims that Beowulf's stories of his heroic acts are possibly false or over-exaggerated. Beowulf responds by boasting about the time he killed nine sea monsters while racing against Brecca for five days. There is cheering and celebrating in Herot that night until Grendel arrives, and Beowulf rips/cuts Grendel's arm off. Grendel dies, and the kingdom thinks they are safe again. However, Grendel's mother seeks revenge for her son's death. She goes to Herot and kills one of the king's right hand men. Beowulf goes to the swamp intent on killing Grendel's mother. He battles with her, and finds a mighty sword on one of the walls where she (Grendel's mother) dwells. With this mighty sword, Beowulf decapitates Grendel's mother's head. The suffering in the kingdom has subsided. Heaped with gifts of thanks, Beowulf and his band of Geats head back to Geatland where he presents his many gifts and treasures to his king, Hygelac. Through the years, Hygelac dies, then his son, and the crown goes to Beowulf. Beowulf rules the Geats, and they prosper. When Beowulf is an old man, a thief steals treasure from a cave where a dragon resides guarding the treasure. The dragon is mad about the treasure being stolen and burns and brings destruction to the Geats. Beowulf goes after the dragon, although old, and cuts the dragon in half. However, Beowulf is injured, and the dragon's venom begins to kill him. Beowulf's loyal friend, Wiglaf, tried to help Beowulf battle the dragon, although he couldn't do as much as Beowulf. Beowulf asks Wiglaf to gather treasure from the cave so that he may die with it. He also tells Wiglaf to bring gold and treasure to his people. Beowulf is cremated, then buried with treasure.

Themes in Gilgamesh

The Hero’s Companion: Enkidu is Gilgamesh’s dearest companion, his equal, his soul-mate. “He turned to Enkidu who leaned against his shoulder and looked into his eyes and saw himself in the other, just as Enkidu saw himself in Gilgamesh. In the silence of the people they began to laugh and clutched each other in their breathless exaltation.” (pg. 24, Gilgamesh) They both do everything together as a team from the time they become friends up until Enkidu dies. Enkidu is very in tune with nature, more so than Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is more in tune with the ways of being courageous and powerful; the ways of society as well. In this way, the two balance each other out really well when they become a team. The purpose of a sidekick or a companion to the hero is to have that someone that will watch out for you and you to them. You take care of each other; you protect each other. One may be more experienced at one thing, the other at something else to form that balance that Enkidu and Gilgamesh share. In companionship, Enkidu and Gilgamesh become the best of friends, each other’s equal. Enkidu is a highly esteemed helper to Gilgamesh.
Love: Gilgamesh and Enkidu share a love in their friendship. They are so much like each other; they are “soul-mates.” The whole reason Gilgamesh goes looking for immortality is to bring Enkidu back to life because without him, Gilgamesh feels no further purpose in his life. He grieves for him all the time, and wants him to be alive again. This dedication to his friend shows his love for him. Also, the two always have each others’ back when they are fighting Humbaba, and also later when they are fighting against the Bull of Heaven. They look out for one another. “Don’t be afraid, said Gilgamesh. We are together. There is nothing we should fear.” (pg. 28, Gilgamesh)
Loss of Innocence: Enkidu loses his innocence and becomes a man after he sleeps with the prostitute. However, in becoming a man, Enkidu loses himself a little. His animal friends shame him, and he leaves the life he has always known to go to Uruk where he meets Gilgamesh and leads this new life up until he dies. When he is dying, he talks about how he used to know life in everything and how his life before the prostitute had been a simple, familiar, comfortable one. He feels he is dying in shame because he is now a man who sees death in things. “He became bitter in his tone again: because of her. She made me see things as a man, and a man sees death in things. That is what it is to be a man. You’ll know when you have lost the strength to see the way you once did.” (pg. 49, Gilgamesh) This is even a little parallel to Christian belief dealing with loss of innocence in that once you lose your innocence, a part of you is stripped away that you can never get back.
Intervention of the gods; gods relationship with mortals: The gods intervene two major times in Gilgamesh. Once when Ishtar and Anu send the Bull of Heaven down on Earth and after Gilgamesh, and another time when the gods send a great flood down on the mortals. Ishtar and Anu send down the Bull of Heaven because Ishtar wants man to suffer on account of Gilgamesh refusing her love. “But a little hunger will replace their arrogance with new desire. Then Anu acceded to her wish. The Bull of Heaven descended to the earth and killed at once three hundred men, and then attacked King Gilgamesh.” (pg. 45, Gilgamesh) The gods also send down the huge flood when men begin to search for immortality and defy their natural conditions. The gods send the flood to exterminate mankind and to show that only gods are to be immortal, not men. The flood is meant to put men in their place; to teach a lesson.
View of the afterlife; pessimistic and optimistic: In Gilgamesh, there are both pessimistic and optimistic views on immortality. Gilgamesh tends to take a more positive view on immortality. He thinks it would take care of any fears about death for him. He also thinks that if he can find out the secret of immortality, he can find a way to bring Enkidu back to life. So, Gilgamesh’s view on the afterlife is more that life shouldn’t end, at least not for himself and Enkidu. However, we also hear Utnapishtim’s view on the afterlife and immortality, and his view leans more towards pessimism. He never desired to be immortal like the gods, he was chosen to be immortal, and he doesn’t want to be. He is lonely, and he has suffered great losses. He even tells Gilgamesh that he envies him his freedom as a mortal man. “I think compassion is our God’s pure act which burns forever, and be it in Heaven or in Hell doesn’t matter for me; because Hell is the everlasting gift of His presence to the lonely heart who is longing amidst perishing phantoms and doesn’t care to find any immortality if not in the pure loneliness of the Holy One, this loneliness which he enjoys forever inside and outside of His creation. It is enough for one who loves to find his Only One singled in Himself. And that is the cup of immortality!” (pg. 74, 75, Gilgamesh)
The Common Flood Story: Utnapishtim’s story about the flood is very similar to and parallel to the story of Noah’s Arc. The gods decided to send a great flood down on men because men were searching to be like the gods; searching for immortality and defying their natural or human conditions. For this, the gods see it fit to remind men of their place on Earth, and that’s when they send the floods. Utnapishtim is warned about the flood by Ea, though, because he is a man not desiring immortality. Therefore, when the flood is over and Utnapishtim and his family survive the flood in a giant boat built by Utnapishtim for the duration of the flood, the gods “choose” him to be like the gods and make him immortal merely because he had no desire of it in the first place. “The war god touched my forehead; he blessed my family and said: before this you were just a man, but now you and your wife shall be like gods. You shall live in the distance at the rivers’ mouth, at the source. I allowed myself to be taken far way from all that I had seen. Sometimes even in love we yearn to leave mankind. Only the loneliness of the Only One who never acts like gods is bearable.” (pg. 79, Gilgamesh) It is after the flood that the gods decide to make Utnapishtim immortal because he survived the flood, and he does not desire immortality.
Legacy: Gilgamesh leaves behind his sorrows and returns to Uruk a new and wiser man than he was before. He looks at the walls his people have built around the city; their accomplishments. “He looked at the walls, awed at the heights his people achieved and for a moment-just a moment- all that lay behind him passed from view.” (pg. 92, Gilgamesh) This makes him look more towards the future rather than living in the past as he had been. The wall will serve as protection for his people. The wall was built during his life, and will be left behind after him to the kings that will rule after him.

Gilgamesh-Literary Archetypes

Literary Archetypes

Hero/Antihero: Gilgamesh suits both. He is viewed as a good king by his people or rather his people don’t seem to have a problem with him. He shows his power and strength by killing Humbaba. He also goes on a journey in search of the secret of immortality. Killing Humbaba and going on this journey are two main things that demonstrate Gilgamesh’s courage and also his determination. Howver, Gilgamesh can also be viewed as the antihero because of his loss of faith and hope in everything after Enkidu dies. After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh, although on a quest for immortality, does a lot of aimless wandering, sleeping, grieving, etc. The book says Gilgamesh wanders without a purpose; he is directionless. It isn’t until after his conversations and help from Utnapishtim that he undergoes a transformation that leaves him a more optimistic, changed man. This is what makes him an antihero as well as a hero.

The Wise Fool: The wise fool is Utnapishtim. He is a seemingly wise character in Gilgamesh, especially regarding his views on immortality. When Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh the story of the great flood and how he was chosen to be immortal, but did not desire it, this displays the passing down of knowledge from Utnapishtim to Gilgamesh. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that immortality or to be like the gods is not something to be desired. It is not, should not, be the place of men. Once you are immortal, there is also loneliness. Especially for Utnapishtim who lost all of his fellow people in the great flood.
The Devil Figure: Ishtar displays many “devilish” thought processes and actions in Gilgamesh. She is the one who wants to send the Bull of Heaven down to earth and kill three hundred men and kill Gilgamesh. She does this because Gilgamesh will not marry her. She is a very vengeful character, it seems. Also, she is an attributor to the great flood. She thinks it is a good idea to wipe out mankind; to put them in their proper place.
The Outcast: Enkidu is an alienated character both when he is living with the animals and when he becomes a “man;” a member of society. He is viewed as an outcast by the town of Uruk and by society when he is like an animal because he is a man who looks and acts as an animal would. He is stand-outish in that way. He also frees the hunter’s animals from the traps, and this makes the hunter want Enkidu to just become a man so that he will stop doing this. Thus the prostitute comes into play and makes Enkidu a supposed “man” by sleeping with him and taking his innocence. Now it’s the animals that view Enkidu as the outcast, the shameful one for sleeping with the prostitute and leaving behind a familiar and comfortable life to join in on the ways of society. So, really, the only place Enkidu ever fits in is with Gilgamesh, and that’s only for a short time.
The Double: I believe that although Ishtar is devilish, conniving, and vengeful, she also has a less dominant soft side in that she comes to realize the enormity of her impulsiveness, but only after she’s done something dreadfully wrong. An example would be when the great flood is sent down on mankind, she realizes that although men were in the wrong, to kill off all of mankind was a terribly rash and impulsive decision on her part. “Ishtar cried out like a woman at the height of labor: O how could I have wanted to do this to my people!” (pg. 78, Gilgamesh) This quote displays Ishtar’s softer side, which is definitely not a dominant characteristic of hers; at least not until she is seeing firsthand the effects of her actions.
The Scapegoat: Enkidu serves as the “sacrifice” or the scapegoat that appeases the gods. The gods say that either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die on account that they killed both Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. The gods choose Enkidu to die. One reason they do this is because he is already wounded, weakened by Humbaba. Another reason is because Gilgamesh is two thirds god, and apparently that excuses him from any kind of “punishment” like what Enkidu ends up receiving. Enkidu knows that the gods are going to choose him to die, and he doesn’t fight this knowledge or protest against it in anyway, but merely accepts it. He quietly fades away, and as he is dying, he sorrowfully speaks about how his life was before the prostitute took away his innocence; how he knew life in everything at one point in time.
The Temptress: I think the temptress is immortality itself, especially in this story. Immortality is what men strive for, what they crave. Even today, there are those who desire immortal life whether it be because they fear death, or for another reason. Immortality just seems to be an appealing idea to some. In Gilgamesh, only the gods have immortality, and when men begin to defy mortality and go in search of immortality, the gods are not very happy. This would mean that men would be like the gods, and then nothing would set the two apart. The gods send a great flood to wipe out mankind and put men back in their rightful place; to teach them a lesson. So, in desiring immortality and pursuing it, men brought forth their own destruction.
The Good Mother: Although Ninsun is literally a mother and is also protective and worried over Gilgamesh, (and also Enkidu) she is a smaller part and does less physically for Gilgamesh in nurturing and such. The character who nurtures, gives guidance, and all together helps Gilgamesh is Siduri, the barmaid he meets on his way to Utnapishtim. She rubs his back, bathes him, clothes him, feeds him, and lets him sleep and grieve for Enkidu.

Gilgamesh-Book Four

Book 4

After a time, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk and wonders if anyone even knows or remembers Enkidu. He asks a passerby if he remembers anyone by the name of Enkidu, and the passerby only shrugs his shoulders. Gilgamesh looks to the walls of his city, at his people’s achievements, and for a moment, he forgets his past sorrows.

Gilgamesh-Book Three

Book Three
Gilgamesh is in extreme grief over the death of his dear friend, Enkidu. He felt he was "no longer a king, but a man who had lost his way." Gilgamesh goes a little crazy with grief and to find eternal life and bring Enkidu back to life become his life's mission. He goes to talk to Utnapishtim, who knows the secret to eternal life. Gilgamesh travels to the mountains of Mashu and encounters the Scorpion people who recognize Gilgamesh as being two thirds god. They think his quest is foolish, and that he will surely not survive this mission, but they let him pass into "the darkness" where they say he will find only grief. He enters the Road of the Sun, (which is kind of ironic because that realm is in complete darkness) and Gilgamesh stumbles his way onward in blindness, still grieving for Enkidu every moment along the way. He comes to a valley that is full of fruit and "precious stones." Gilgamesh shouts the story of Enkidu over the valley. Eventually, he reaches the sea and comes across a cottage where a barmaid named Siduri lives. she helps him, cleanses him, lets him sleep and rest and grieve. She eventually asks him to just stay with her and not continue on his journey. She thinks his quest to be foolish, a waste of time. He is greatly offended and angered by this, and this anger gives him energy enough to set out again to continue on with his journey to find Utnapishtim and the secret of immortality. She tells him he must cross the sea of death with the help of the boatman, Urshanabi. She angers Gilgamesh even more when she tells him he is blind with self-love. He replies that he is "blinded with loss, not self-love." On the way to the boatman, Gilgamesh is smashing things into pieces in all his anger and smashes the "stone images" that were going to help him corss the sea of death. urshanabi says that now he must build poles to push his way across the sea of death. Gilgamesh uses all his poles, but one (the poles are rotted by the sea) and with the last pole, he takes his clothes off and amkes a sail that sails him across the sea of death. He meets Utnapishtim. Uptnapishtim and Gilgamesh discuss immortality and how Uptnapishtim thinks it is to be achieved; however, Uptnapishtim does not thnk that nay man should desire everlasting life. Uptnapishtim is lonely, and full of sorrow. He tells how he came to immortality. He was chosen, he did not desire it as Gilgamesh does. He said that the gods decided to send a great flood down on the city, Shurrupak because men are defying mortality and beginning to search for immortality which is not the condition of men. Ea warns Utnapishtim of the flood and tells him to make a great ship and put all life possible in it. Utnapishtim does this and the animals, his family, and some of his people are safe during the flood. However, many others that are not in the great ship die, and Utnapishtim can hardly bear this. The flood lasts seven days. (This story is very similar to Noah's Arc) Enlil touches U's head and says that now he and his family will be like gods because they survived the great flood. However, Utnapishtim is still very upset at having seen so much death. He still suffers fthis grief as he continues to live on. (Utnapishtim says he envies Gilgamesh's freedom.) Gilgamesh again feels sleepy and sleeps seven days. Utnapishtim says that this is a slothlike man, a man living in death, not really living. He tells the boatman to burn the pelts of Gilgamesh so that he may begin to move on from his grief by letting it go and not hanging onto it. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of a plant deep in the river that will help Gilgamesh lead a new life. Gilgamesh goes to the river and retrieves the plant and hugs Utnapishtim in thanks. He then crosses with urshanabi back over the sea of death. Gilgamesh is now alone again, but he does not feel very lonely anymore with the plant he has. He goes for a refreshing swim in a pool of water and leaves the plant unguarded. A serpent eats the plant and sheds its skin. Gilgamesh sees that the plant is gone and sees the snake skin. He cries.

Gilgamesh-Book Two

Book Two
Gilgamesh and Enkidu, now friends, decide to go kill Humbaba, guardian of the cedar forest. Actually, Gilgamesh is all for this idea, to prove that Humbaba isn't all that scary and powerful and to kill him. However, Enkidu is fearful of this idea. He knows the forest much better than Gilgamesh. The two go to Uruk's wise elders to ask what they should do. The elders decide that to kill Humbaba would be a mighty victory. NInsun "adopts" Enkidu and prays to Shamash (the sun god) to protect the two of them on their journey. The two travel to the cedar forest and enter it. They go to sleep, and Enkidu has frightful dreams that show that only one of them will survive this mission. The next day, Gilgamesh hits a tree with his axe to summon/irritate Humbaba. The two are very scared. Humbaba appears and hits Enkidu to the ground and wounds him. After this, Humbaba falls to the ground, and quickly, Gilgamesh strikes his axe down on Humbaba's neck. Humbaba is dead, but now Enkidu is wounded., The next morning, Ishtar, goddess of love, fruitfulness, and war, visits Gilgamesh and Enkidu. She tries to get Gilgamesh to marry her, but he will not due to the way she has treated her past "lovers." She gets really angry at his refusal and tells her father Anu, god of all gods and god of the sky, that to punish Gilgamesh, they should send the Bull of Heaven (a drought) to starve and thirst men and Gilgamesh. She also thinks the drought will instill new desire in Gilgamesh and all men. Anu sends the Bull of Heaven down to Earth, and it kills three hundred men. Then it goes after Gilgamesh. Enkidu grabs the Bull's tail and twists it until the bull cannot breathe. Then he stabs the bull in the back of its neck. The bull dies, but Enkidu is still suffering from the wound that he received from Humbaba, and he begins to run a fever. The gods decide that either Humbaba or Enkidu must die because they killed first Humbaba and then the Bull of Heaven. Shamash says that Enkidu shouldn't die because he is "innocent," however, Enlil says Enkidu should die because Gilgamesh is two thirds god and is king. They choose Enkidu, who already knows that they will choose him to die. As Enkidu begins to fade away, he talks about his animal friends and blames the prostitute for making him "a man, a man who sees death in things." He asks Gilgamesh why this happens to them; is this what happens to friends?

Gilgamesh-Book One

Book One

In this book we learn of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who does as he pleases merely because he is king. Aside from this, we also learn of Enkidu, man that is like animal, who is Gilgamesh's supposed equal. Gilgamesh had been having dreams that his mother, Ninsun, interpreted to be about the coming of Gilgamesh's soul mate. As Gilgamesh is having dreams, the story focuses in on Enkidu, the animal-like man, and how he lives amongst the animals. He has known no other way of life than this. One day, a boy stumbles upon Enkidu and watches secretly and in awe as Enkidu acts very much like an animal, but is obviously still human. The boy is the son of a hunter, and Enkidu has been freeing all the animals from the hunter's traps. The boy tells his father about what he saw, and his father tells him to speak to Gilgamesh about it. He tells the boy to ask Gilgamesh to send a prostitute down to Enkidu that will sleep with him, and then Enkidu shall be shamed by the animals and abandoned. The prostitute sleeps with Enkidu, and Enkidu feels the presence of the animals leave him. He is now a man, not an animal. The prostitute shaves his long hair and makes him appear to be a proper man. She then takes him into Uruk where he meets Gilgamesh. Alike in appearance, (Enkidu slightly stronger) the town assumes Ekidu to be Gilgamesh's equal. They wrestle around in dislike for one another, but then realize that they are each others' equal and become friends instead.