he far off underworld, Gilgamesh finds only Utnapishtim and his wife. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about the flood and one time gift of immortality. Gilgamesh sleeps for six days and seven nights in Utnapistim's residence. It is after this sleep that Gilgamesh sees the relationship between his dreamless sleep and death. He finally comes to realize there is no life after death. There is nothing.Even though Gilgamesh doesn't find exactly what he was looking for he does find and come to accept a different kind of immortality. Gilgamesh can't do anything about death but he can live his life to the fullest and be remembered as a great king. In other words, "Gilgamesh has the continuation of fame as a legendary king"(Thompson). He has the power to go back to his people to be a great role model and share his rebirthing experience. He learns that without death life is meaningless. On the other hand, the hero Odysseus travels to the underworld in search of happiness but instead finds grief. For Odysseus, happiness is his wife, Penelope, his son, Telemakhos, and his kingdom, Ithaca. And he believes the prophet, Teiresias, who like Utanpishtim resides in the underworld, can show him the way home.Like Gilgamesh, Odysseus' journey into the underworld helps define him as a hero. This idea is supported throughout the chapter entitled "The Call to Adventure" in Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces" (Campbell, 1973). Odysseus knows he is about to go into a land from which no mortal returns. And he is fearful. But he courageously continues on his voyage. Odysseus views the underworld as a sad place. He often weeps for the familiar dead he encounters. He especially finds grief when he sees his mother, whom he did not know was dead. And he becomes even more grief stricken when he tries to embrace her. But like all the dead she was a phantom "wavering like a dream" (336). When Odysseus finds Teiresias things do not get any better. Although Teires...
