A Man of Constant Sorrow

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Recommended: Define a hero

A hero, according to Webster Dictionary, is defined as “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.” Heroes are very noble and do great things just like Odysseus, the epic hero of Homer’s The Odyssey. He must deal with incredible obstacles like battling a Cyclops and making a trip to the underworld. He still attempts to achieve sophrasyne, or the Greek word for restraint. Ethan and Joel Coen wrote and directed the movie, O Brother Where Art Thou? The movie is based off The Odyssey and there are obvious similarities. The main character of the movie, Ulysses Everett McGill is also a cunning leader as demonstrated by him escaping jail and returning to his family. However, unlike Odysseus, Ulysses uses his cleverness for his own good and tricks his cell mates to help him return home while Odysseus tried his best to help his whole crew return home. Although Odysseus and Ulysses are both strategic and heroic, Odysseus has more nobility than Ulysses as seen by his courage, honesty, and trustworthiness.
One characteristic of Odysseus is honesty. In The Odyssey, Odysseus always kept his word. For example, Odysseus is honest with his crew and explains to them that the island of the sirens is dangerous and some men will die. Odysseus explains, “‘Friends... it’s wrong for only one or two/ to know the revelations that lovely Circe/ made to me alone. I’ll tell you all,/ so we can die with our eyes wide open now/ or escape our fate and certain death together./” (12.167-171). Instead of being dishonest and putting his crew in a huge greater danger, Odysseus his honest with his crew. This is a heroic act because Odysseus makes his men aware of how dangerous the situation is and can help them survive because of their newfou...

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...s a very strategic leader, but he used his cleverness to feed his hate towards other countries. Ahmadinejad was the Iranian prime-minister from 2006-2013. Over the years, he encouraged lots of hate through out the Middle East which shows how someone can used their leadership for the wrong reasons. Greek myths and stories like The Odyssey can help people today in many situations such as politics and friendship. Leaders like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad need to come to a realization that there is more important things than pride and having everything go correctly just you. Ulysses is a perfect example to why people need to use their character traits such as honesty and loyalty to be a responsible leader and help everyone, not just themselves. Odysseus uses his gifts to benefit as many people as he can unlike Ulysses which is why Odysseus is the more noble leader of the two men.

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