Essays on Utnapishtim

There have been numerous stories throughout the centuries of heroes who have struggled with inner and external conflicts and who have used different mediums to share their tales. Their journeys are different in many respects, but they all share the same qualities that define the role of a hero in any literature piece. Heroes continue to maintain their presences and their role in the stories that are told every day. The hero plays an interesting role in any piece of literatures and pulls the readers towards the plot. Gilgamesh is the typical hero who he survives the difficult journey. ...

In literature, fame and suffering often go hand in hand. Hubris is the unseen hand, the subtle lever that sets in motion events that move the hero along the path to some cathartic moment. In The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey, Gilgamesh and Odysseus are kings and great leaders of men, secure in their positions and supremely confident in their skill, strength and courage. In seeking to place themselves on par with the gods, Odysseus and Gilgamesh exhibit arrogance and a lack of reverence for those beings who can determine the course of their destinies. Through suffering and loss, ...

Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with a series of ‘circles’ that depict different layers of hell – each designed for a different sort of sinner. These circles are designed to hold and punish particular types of people for eternity. In this essay, I will choose three literary characters and discuss which circle of Dante’s hell is pertinent to them. The characters I have chosen are Okonkwo from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, who I believe belongs in the first layer of Dante’s hell – ‘limbo’ – because he does not accept Christ as his personal saviour and, whilst he is ...