Author Archives: k.geslani

A part of the story of Beowulf involved Beowulf fighting Grendel.  The picture in the above link shows Beowulf tearing off Grendel’s arm and shoulder, which occurs in “The Fight With Grendel” section of this story.  Beowulf’s action is a sign of victory.  Beowulf defeating Grendel is a sign of victory because Beowulf rips Grendel’s arm completely out of its socket and holds it up as a trophy high on Heorot’s wall.  Grendel is therefore fatally wounded.  All of this is shown by two quotes in the story.  The quote “Everyone felt it who heard that cry as it echoed off the wall, a God-cursed scream and strain on catastrophe, the howl of the loser, the lament of the hell-serf keening his wound”(pg 1649, lines 783-787) shows that Grendel was severely wounded right after Beowulf tore off his arm.  The quote “Clear proof of this could be seen in the hand the hero displayed high up near the roof: the whole of Grendel’s shoulder and arm, his awesome grasp”(pg 1650, lines 832-835) shows that Beowulf is showing his proof of victory.

My response to Beowulf’s victorious action is that his action assumes that he possesses many positive qualities.  Some of these qualities may include courage, perseverance, heroism, strength, and most of all glory.  Beowulf is like any other hero like Hercules and some of the Roman emperors based on his assumed qualities I came up with.  Beowulf’s action leads to a holding of a feast and a showering of gifts.  In this manner, Beowulf is honored and praised for his victory.

The story of the Epic of Gilgamesh involves death of characters.  The picture in the link above shows the death of Enkidu, which occurs at the end of part 3 of this story.  Enkidu’s death is a sign of punishment as well as a serious consequence for doing a wrongful action, which was killing the bull with Gilgamesh.  This is shown by the following quote on pg 26: “Anu, Enlil, Ea, and heavenly Shamash took counsel together, and Anu said to Enlil, ‘Because they have killed the Bull of Heaven , and because they have killed Humbaba who guarded the Cedar Mountain one of the two must die. ‘Then glorious Shamash answered the hero Enlil, ‘It was by your command they killed the Bull of Heaven, and killed Humbaba, and must Enkidu die although innocent?”  Clearly, the quote says that Enkidu was chosen to die.

Because Enkidu was chosen to die, Enkidu’s death was a very tragic as well as an emotional event for Gilgamesh.  Gilgamesh loses his best friend, and he won’t stop weeping for Enkidu.  Gilgamesh’s words while weeping for Enkidu are “Here me, great ones of Uruk, I weep for Enkidu, my friend, bitterly moaning like a woman mourning I weep for my brother.  O Enkidu, my brother, you were the axe at my side”(pg 28).  This quote shows that Gilgamesh was very close to Enkidu, meaning that Enkidu was always there for him just like someone losing a loved one or a very close friend.

Enkidu’s death also teaches people a valuable lesson.  The lesson is that you shall not kill or else death will approach you at any moment.