The Hero s Journeys Of Gilgamesh And J.k. Rowling

THESIS The hero’s journeys of Gilgamesh and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series shape the central characters and develop their qualities so they can rise to their station and overcome their difficult tasks along the way. PURPOSE STATEMENT By reviewing textual sources of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and The Gilgamesh, and sources on the monomyth, it can be made clear that the Harry Potter books and the story of Gilgamesh are similar due to their use of the hero’s journey. INTRODUCTION The earliest version of The Epic of Gilgamesh dates back to 2000 B.C., long before J.K. Rowling ever thought up the idea of Harry Potter and his adventures. Despite the expansive amount of time between these two heroic epics, they follow the same path of the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is sometimes referred to as the monomyth because it unifies all heroes through their development. The hero’s journey has evolved with literature over time, and remains the basis for character development today. So why are there so many stories of the hero in mythology? Campbell answers this question in his interview with Bill Moyers by saying, â€Å"Because that’s what’s worth writing about†¦. A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself† (The Power of Myth 151). MAGICAL GUIDES Both Gilgamesh and Harry have multiple guides that come and go throughout their journeys to help them at difficult points along their way. Joseph Campbell explains in his first