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O brother, where art thou comparison to odyssey
The Odyssey story similarities
O brother, where art thou comparison to odyssey
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The Odyssey v. O Brother Where Art Thou O Brother Where Art Thou is a movie based off of Greek mythology of Odysseus and his adventures. Odysseus can be translated in Roman mythology to Ulysses, like this there are many comparisons in both texts. In O Brother Where Art Thou most of the challenges that Ulysses, Delmar and Pete face can be associated with the obstacles in the Odyssey. Even though the stories were written seven hundred and thirty years apart they are still very similar. Throughout both, the Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou, adversity is faced in a persistent manner, although one is a book and another is a movie, similarities and differences coincides with each other.
The Cyclops appears
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The Odyssey was written in Ancient Greece, 1200 BC., opposed to Mississippi, in 1930. The people in Ancient Greece believed in the Gods and Goddesses such as Zeus, Athena, and Poseidon. Everett, Delmar and Pete believed in only one God and were baptized and saved from their sins. Since the Greeks believed in the mythical monsters such as the cyclopes, sirens, and sea monsters. Since O Brother, Where Art Thou is an adaptation therefore, there are no mythical creatures and only one God. The setting can have a vast impact on how a story is written.
Seeing the comparable differences and similarities throughout both storylines, facing adversity is a common theme that is shown through the limelight to touch readers and pull in an audience using symbolism. The difficult times during Odysseus journey he fought monsters to reach his destination. Ulysses, on the other hand, breaks free from imprisonment and flees to get to his family after facing adversity many times, he made his way home. The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art thou are important to study today and readers can learn valuable lessons, one being overcoming
In The Odyssey, Odysseus portrays an important trait to the story, perseverance. His perseverance really stands out as something that he has and always will have. On his long journey home, he never gives up and just stays where he is, no matter how tempting. He always manages to push through and keep getting closer to his goal of returning home. An example of when he does this is when he is faced with the challenge of getting past Skylla and Kharybdis. He knows that either path will kill at least some of his men and possibly him, but he knows he has to keep going. "And all this time,/ in travail, sobbing, gaining on the current,/ we rowed into the strait---Skylla to port/ and on our starboard beam Kharybdis, dire/ gorge of the salt sea tide." (Homer, 12. 301-305). In O Brother, Where Art Thou, Everett also showed his perseverance. While trying to get back to his wife, he also faces many obstacles that he must get through. There were many people and things keeping him from where he was going, but he pushed through and got there anyway. His greatest obstacle to get through was when he came upon the sirens. He went down to the river and the sirens got the men drunk enough to fall asleep. While asleep, Pete was turned in by the sirens, but the other men hadn't been turned in yet. They woke up and were forced to get out of there as fast as they could with a frog they thought was Pete. Delmar wanted to stay and try to change Pete back but Everett told him they needed to persevere and keep going, and they did. Another trait that both of these men show in their stories is their cleverness. Odysseus show...
O Brother, Where Art Thou, a film written and directed by the Coen brothers, is a modern day interpretation of Homer’s ancient epic the Odyssey. The opening credits of the movie quote the invocation of the Muse from the first lines of the epic: “Oh Muse sing in me, and through me tell the story of the man skilled in all the ways of contending, A wanderer, harried for years on end”. The film follows Ulysses Everett McGill (portrayed by George Clooney), a depression era Odysseus, and his men Delmar O’Donnell (Tim Nelson), and Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro). The three men are escaped convicts, running from the law through the Deep South in an effort to reach home and split a (truly non-existent) treasure. The leader of their group, Ulysses Everett McGill (from here on referred to as Everett), is a smooth talking self-professed lawyer with extreme egotistical issues. Pride is a theme in both the movie as well as the original epic. In both the Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou his pride is the source of many dilemmas. The visual symbol of this pride throughout the movie is Everett’s Dapper Dan pomade.
are very similar, but the movie portrays the book in a unique, interesting way. The movie has most of the characters the book has, but some of the characters do their part in a different way in the movie, that is what makes this new way of the book intreging. For example, the god of the sea, Poseiden is associated with water, the twist the movie puts on this character in the movie is instead of using water the Poseiden character, the sheriff, is associated with fire. These characters display irony because water and fire are opposites, which makes the movie have their own twist on the book. The Odyssey in a certain order. For the movie to be unique, it has the events in a different order. When readers read The Odyssey one character that appears in the middle of the piece is Teiresius. What makes the movie different from the novel is that the character Teiresius shows up closer to the beginning. Another example that makes the two pieces different from one another is the crew they travel along with. Odysseus’ crew actually all die off, but Pete and Delmar never die and stick by Everett for the whole movie.
Pop culture’s mythology theory is used in many forms of media today, from The Legend of Zelda in video games to “Harry Potter in books. One example of usage of the mythology theory is the 1996 movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou? directed by Joel Coen. This movie is based off Homer’s epic poem, “The Odyssey.” There are many similarities between the two, yet at the same time, there are many differences.
Firstly, the main characters of both stories, Odysseus and Ulysses, share qualities of the “crossing the first threshold” that quite clearly show the similarities in these stories. These parts of the heroes’ journeys for Odysseus and Ulysses both consist of the two beginning their long journeys and beginning the transformations from ordinary people to heroes. In The Odyssey, this part of the journey is when both Odysseus starts his journey to Troy to fight in the Trojan War and when his transformation from ordinary citizen to hero commences. In O Brother, this section of the journey is when Ulysses and his fellow jail mates break out of jail and begin the long journey home that initiates his character shift from an av...
“O muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story...Of that man skilled in all the ways of contending...A wanderer, harried for years on end…” (Homer). These are the opening words of The Odyssey. This is also in the opening scene of O Brother Where Art Thou?. O Brother is a reception of the revered story of Odysseus’ journey with a bit of a twist. The works have similarities that only a person well informed of the Odyssey could see. The Odyssey and O Brother highlight the trials of the main character’s journeys. While the Odyssey was written in the eighth century, O Brother is set during the 1930s in the deep south. Each of the trials that the characters face is supposed to make them quit their journey, but they proceed with greater determination.
a hugely different time period and almost a completely different storyline. O Brother, Where art Thou? is a brilliant movie. It makes the movie so much more meaningful when you have read the book and can make the connections. In the beginning of the movie it says that its based on The Odyssey and with all of the appearances of similar characters and events, it would be extremely hard to write a three page paper on how O Brother, Where Art Thou? isn't based on The Odyssey. In regards to that, O Brother, Where Art Thou? is based on many of the characters and events of The Odyssey.
god, man vs. man, or man vs. himself. The main conflict in the Odyssey and O brother is between man vs. god. Odysseus and Everett anger the gods and in return they get their revenge on them until they ask for forgiveness. Unfortunetly, the characters do not want to admit that they were the ones who were wrong which ends up creating a dispute between them. Another conflict that occurs is man vs. man. Odysseus vs. his crew and Everett vs. Peter and Delmar is a good resemblence of this type of conflict. Everett and Odysseus’s men are always following their leader, but they what they don’t know is that their leaders are betraying them. Everett does not tell Peter and Delmar that there is no treasure. Odysseus was informed about his crew dying during his journey back to Ithaca, but chose not to inform them about it. Also both of the main character’s followers are in trouble because of what their leader have done.The last conflict that can be identified in both the Odyssey and O brother is man vs. himself. Odysseus and Everett have a constant dispute with themselves throughout the story. Both protagonist cannot find any other way of returning to their loved ones other than apologizing to the gods. Both characters debate whether they should ask for forgiveness in order to end this
Most works of literature have their characters embarking on a journey or journeys to reach a desired location whether it is mentally or physically. These journeys do not stand alone but contribute to the piece as a whole. The Kite Runner focuses on Amir taking on life in his suffering country to moving to a land granting great opportunity and ultimately returning home to complete a deed that would stabilize him for the remainder of his life. In the epic The Odyssey, Odysseus or Ulysses in the Latin form takes on many challenges on the dangerous sea attempting to return home to Ithaca after being victorious in the Trojan War. Traveling can also reunite characters once again as it did for Amir and Hassan in The Kite Runner or bring together two such as Telemachus and Pisistratus in The Odyssey. “This journey has brought us together still more closely” (Homer 15.59-60). Characters walk through the journeys authors create on pages and typically change for the better or reach an ultimate goal.
Has heroes changed much between The Odyssey and Wonder Women? They're not completely the same, but practically go through the same things but in different situations. What is a hero to you? Could they be male or female? Are heroes even real? There are more similarities between Odysseus and Wonder Women. They both have many similarities in their journeys/quests.
In both Homer’s The Odyssey and the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? the audience is given an opportunity to experience a spectacular adventure, filled with not only the sense of journey, but also the senses of peril and excitement. A tale about a Greek hero being compared to a film set in Middle America starring three jail-escapees seems rather far-fetched. However, upon closer inspection, both actually share a lot in common. The Odyssey stars Odysseus, a man famous for his heroics in the Trojan War. O Brother, Where Art Thou? shows a bit of a contrast by starring Ulysses, a former convict who escaped and began looking for “A Treasure”. So by default, one would assume that that these two stories would be completely different. However, it ends up being quite the opposite. The two stories are so remarkably alike that it is almost staggering. However, it may not just be simple similarities that make the two so alike. The main reasons why the two characters are so alike are not so much the actions that they take, as oppose to the overall human emotional aspect of the two pieces of work. For example, we see that both Odysseus and Ulysses are invested in their lives with their families, and as such, they never have a moment where they stop thinking about the lives they used to live. Both characters are extremely alike in terms of thoughts, skills, and experiences. They are both profound tacticians, as well as being rather strong and good looking men. So in the end, both of these men have plenty in common on the emotional and psychological levels.
Throughout the Odyssey there are many themes that Homer uses to portray different people and events. To name a few, there are the themes of Betrayal and Revenge,Greed and Glutony, Hospitality, Role of the Gods and Wealth (the amount of money one had determined the status he held in the greek society, and this explains Odysseus's love for plunder).
The Odyssey is a tale that has changed literature and storytelling. In this tale Odysseus is a Soldier from the battle of Troy trying to get home to his island of Ithaca, where he is king. His wife and son must wait ten years while he is trying to make his way home. In Odysseus’s absence wooer’s, or better known as suitors, learn of his absence and travel to Ithaca to win his wife’s hand in marriage. These men come every day feasting on Odysseus’s food and wine, and give his servant’s orders. His son Telemachus, does his best to keep the suitors from ruining his fathers house but he is only a boy, and doesn’t receive the respect of an adult. Telemachus then has a visit from the god Athena, whom Odysseus is friends with, who advises him to travel to find out about his father. In his travels he hears that Odysseus may still be alive. Meanwhile Odysseus goes through a series of adventures and hardships that prove his wisdom. It is interesting in contrast of the Iliad, even though Achilles was much stronger and a better warrior, Odysseus was portrayed as a greater hero due to his wisdom. He uses this wisdom to escape from the Cyclops.
The film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a reinterpretation of the epic poem The Odyssey. The Coen brothers, writers and directors of the film, did not over analyze their representation. “It just sort of occurred to us after we’d gotten into it somewhat that it was a story about someone going home, and sort of episodic in nature, and it kind of evolved into that,” says Joel Coen in Blood Siblings, “It’s very loosely and very sort of unseriously based on The Odyssey” (Woods 32). O Brother, Where Art Thou? contains ideas from The Odyssey for the sake of modernization and entertainment of an audience that comprehends the allusions to the epic. The Coen brothers utilize elements of Homer’s The Odyssey to improve and to give direction to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a reinterpretation which was made simply to show that an epic-adventure such as The Odyssey could be modernized to apply to modern times.
In Virgil’s The Aeneid, there are many parallels found in Homer’s The Odyssey. In each epic, the heroes, Aeneas and Odysseus, are on a journey “home.” Aeneas is on the search of a new home for he and his companions to settle since Troy has been destroyed, Odysseus on the other hand is attempting to return to his home he left years earlier to fight the Trojan War. They both have Gods against them and helping them, both Aeneas and Odysseus are both held back by women, both voluntary and involuntarily, and they both have experiences visiting the Underworld. Despite these similarities, there are differences between the two characters and it reflects their values and the society they live in. Aeneas relies on his strength as a warrior, where as Odysseus uses his deception to survive which reflects how Aeneas is truly Roman is versus Greek.