The Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Odyssey
(unknown)
This essay by an unknown writer considers how two epics written thousands of years apart view the idea of consciousness. Basically Jarman contends that The Odyssey is far more optimistic and contains a much more elevated sense of heroic accomplishment. Teh essay compares and contrasts certain events that take place in the two epics, such as the encounters with Calypso and the goatherder. Several other critiques of Odysseus and Gilgamesh are referenced here, including works by David Jarman and Werner Jaeger. The essay considers the differences between the two ancient texts The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey and concludes that the latter offers a far more optimistic view of humanity?s grasp of the consciousness of its condition.
The thesis that Homer?s work is ultimately one with a more progressive sense of consciousness begins with the consideration of descriptive imagery. The author suggests that Homer offers a sense of the beauty that permeates life as a metaphor for the larger sense of the beauty of life and the afterlife. In contrast, the descriptions in Gilgamesh point to a hard, unpleasant existence that may be sustained even after death.
The essay then links this innate beauty in life to the concept of heroism that can be defined by duty to a code of conduct. The reason why Gilgamesh offers such a bleak and ultimately hopeless view of human consciousness, according to the author, is that it lacks a codified sense of social customs and mores. Lacking an ethical system based on a developed moral code of conduct leaves civilization uncomfort-able with the notion of a consciousness of its own mortality. Without an ethical measure by society can be guided, the view expressed by artists will be one of bleak hopelessness. The essay argues that the Homeric epic presents a world that has progressed in its adoption of a codified system based on optimism.
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- The Essays, Or Counsels, Civill And Moral
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