In both works of literature the fateful tale of Ulysses and his unique demise is depicted. Ulysses while alive was a Greek king of Ithaca known for his many seaward voyages, and even now in his afterlife the king’s reign lives on for he is the subject of the great epic The Odyssey. Both Tennyson and Dante portray the character of Ulysses as exceptionally passionate through their interpretation of his feelings and actions toward adventure as well as their romanticized portrayal of exploration. For Ulysses the ability to sail undermines all other responsibilities, assuming the highest of all positions in his life. Tennyson describes such an unwavering love with his inclusion of Ulysses’ actions of leaving behind his home, family, and reign by …show more content…
which those who loved him “have suffered greatly” for. The allure of adventure was so immense that despite a renowned reputation for intelligence, he chose to take such an immoderate decision. Ulysses justifies his actions by claiming the role as ruler would profit him to a trivial amount in comparison to his expeditions, going so far as to even denote the endeavors of kings. He summarizes the highly ranked position as one merely of a distasteful establishment of “unequal laws unto a savage race”, where one works “in offices of tenderness”, entirely unlike the exhilarating experience of life at sea in which every hour is saved from the pestering of old age for each is “a bringer of new things”. Tennyson and Dante also describe Ulysses’ yearn for adventure in terms of it being unavoidable, seeing as none could drive out of his mind “the lust to experience the far-flung world” for he “cannot rest from travel (92).”The two authors justify Ulysses’ tossing of all obligations through their description of the driving forces for his actions, that ultimately being his immeasurable desire for travel. Both Dante and Tennyson exhibit the glorious encounters sailing permits, as well as express the overwhelming sentiment to continuously experience such occurrences.
The authors account Ulysses’ ability to travel to places “as far as Morocco and as far as Spain”, places in which he has the opportunity to experience new “manners, climates, councils, governments”; through sailing he is granted the chance to appreciate a variety of cultures, all of which is sure to possess enormous beauty (97). Tennyson illustrates life at sea as one in which lights “twinkle from the rocks” as “the long day wanes”, where the gloom of the “dark broad seas” is a common and welcomed sight. Alongside the magnificent happenings travel permits, comes the strong desire to add to those memories. For Ulysses, this aspiration drives him to defy the most powerful of all beings. Upon seeing Hercules’ Pillars, a warning to “all men back from further voyage”, Ulysses purposefully persuades his crew to continue onward (102). Both Tennyson and Dante describe this action of passing the pillars as a gateway into a “newer world”, a “world beyond the sun”, and ultimately a departure “out of the world of men (109 and 116). His action of skillfully swaying his shipmates to venture farther than was permitted, of inducing within them a similar craving to witness more, so much so that he “could hardly have held them back” was the very act that sealed their fate (113). Moreover, perhaps even greater than the decision to
abandon his family is that of abandoning his shipmates. His crew consisted of “those souls who stayed true when the rest deserted” him, people unto which he admiringly bestows the title of “my mariners (95).” Yet Ulysses so entrenched in desire takes on the risk of not only his life but also those so exceptionally dear to him. Ulysses, as exhibited through the words of Dante and Tennyson, was willing to sacrifice even the most sacred of relationships, positions and laws to gratify his longing to discover more. These momentous actions and the insatiable desire that prompted them were ultimately a result of an enormous amount of passion, for without passion such a drive would be impossible.
Tens of thousands of stories fit into the hero’s journey archetype created by Christopher Volger. Out of these, a large number of them are stories with remakes that share notable resemblances in their heroes’ journeys. However, none of these quite match those very strong similarities found between Homer’s The Odyssey and Joel Coens’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? These stories share crucial components of the hero’s journey whether it be “crossing the first threshold,” where the main characters of both stories begin their long adventure that transforms them into heroes; “the supreme ordeal,” where the main characters are both deprived of the opportunity to get home sooner; or “return with elixir,” where Odysseus and Ulysses both return to their homes alive the comfort of their wives. In their major plot points, the novel The Odyssey and the motion picture O Brother convey obvious similarities in key elements of their heroes’ journeys such as “crossing the first threshold,” “the supreme ordeal,” and “return with elixir.”
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
The Odyssey vs. O Brother, Where Art Thou? The story of the Odyssey has so many events and conflicts that happen throughout it. In mythology, many of the stories have moral or reasoning to teach us different things about life. The main moral of the Odyssey is that you should never give up or quit, even if it is challenging.
He hates to sit idly with an old wife (Tennyson 1170). The king fails to realize that he too is aged, and he convinces himself that no one is too old to sail and have adventures. “How dull it is to pause, to make an end” (Tennyson 1171). Ulysses recalls the days he used to sail and desperately wants to travel again. “Much I have seen and known—cities of men and manners, climates, councils, governments” (Tennyson 1171).
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.
The Hero’s Journey describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization. After reading the epic poem The Odyssey, by Homer, and watching the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, by the Coen brothers, they both show evidence of the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is based on Joseph Campbell’s A Practical Guide to The Hero With a Thousand Faces. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is projected as the “hero” while in O Brother, a man by the name of Ulysses Everett McGill can be seen as the “hero”. Elements of The Odyssey and O Brother are shown through the stages in the Hero’s Journey like the Approach to the Inmost Cave, The Supreme Ordeal, and Threshold Crossing.
In world literature, there are two types of archetypal protagonists, the mythic hero and the tragic hero. Mythic heroes, like Homer's Odysseus, represent the combination of superhuman virtues and human imperfections. These traits create a supernatural adventure with a realistic character. The mythic hero is favored by divine powers and eventually achieves a certain goal or completes a certain journey. On the other hand, there is the tragic hero, like Sophocles' Oedipus. The unfortunate tragic hero has a penchant for attempting to escape a doomed fate. The tragic hero lives under the shadow that the gods place. Literature throughout the expanse of time has hovered around the lives of the mythic and tragic heroes. Contemporary novel The Joy Luck Club explores these themes as well. The two characters, Lindo Jong and Ying-ying St. Clair, exemplify the polar extremes of mythic vs. tragic.
Dante’s Inferno is a narrative poem, with a very complicated rhyme scheme, originally written in Italian. It documents the author’s, Dante, trip through hell, where he learns how hell is organized and the way in which sinners are punished. Dante is guided by the great poet Virgil, who leads him throughout hell. The Odyssey, is an epic authored by the Greek, Homer. The epics centers on Odysseus’ protracted journey home. The protagonist, Odysseus, visits the underworld for a very short amount of time. The two literary works contain many common elements, such as characters being punished, the protagonists interacting with those in the underworld, repeating characters, and the misery of the underworlds. There are also differences between the two works including the types of interactions between the protagonists and those they encounter, the reasons for each protagonists visit to the underworlds, and how the underworld operates. These differences and similarities can be attributed the Dante’s and Homer’s religion, the time period and culture in which they wrote their respective works, and the purpose for the visits to the underworlds in each work. Although there are many similarities between the underworlds in Dante’s Inferno and The Odyssey, the two works ultimately offer two different visions of the underworld due to the authors’ different religious beliefs and culture, as well as the role of the underworld in each literary work.
use of ideology, "a system [. . .] of representations [. . .] endowed with
Before beginning the research for this work, I had planned on producing a paper and presentation which detailed the history of open sea navigation and the difficulties and dangers which would have faced sailors and seamen during the Age of Discovery. My premise was that we, living in the twentifirst century, had lost touch with the reality of just how hazardous a voyage such as that undertaken by Columbus was. I had hoped to be able to capture for the listener and reader a sense of wonder at the bold willingness to risk life and limb that was demonstrated by the explorers of this era as they left the safety of the waters and oceans that they knew, to challenge the unknown. I had wanted to capture that feeling of stomach-dropping fear that I believed these brave men must have experienced as the headlands they were leaving slipped out of sight below the horizon, possibly never to be seen again. Had I been successful in writing such a paper, I would have succeeded not in exploring history, but rather in producing fiction.
The Greek author Homer wrote an epic poem called The Odyssey, about a man named Odysseus. The poem is centered around one man’s journey to come home after a long and violent ten year war. Odysseus and his crew are trying to get to their homeland, Ithaca. They are tired and hungry and will do anything to get home. Little does Odysseus know that greed will make this journey back home take an additional ten years.
Stanford, W. B. The Ulysses Theme: A Study in the Adaptability of a Traditional Hero. Dallas, TX: Spring Publications, 1992.
Odysseus and Ulysses have differences, but also similarities. The man's role in his son's life shifts once Telemachus matures. However, Odysseus and Ulysses portray similar characteristics - their love for their crew and their determination in achieving goals. The man is a born leader; he shows leadership in raising his son, caring for his crew, and ultimately, in taking charge of his life. The poets acclaim men who have direction in life to strive and attain goals.
“The Odyssey” is an epic poem that tells the story of Odysseus and the story of his many travels and adventures. The Odyssey tells the main character’s tale of his journey home to the island of Ithaca after spending ten years fighting in the Trojan War, and his adventures when he returns home and he is reunited with his family and close friends. This literary analysis will examine the story and its characters, relationships, major events, symbols and motifs, and literary devices.
'Ulysses' is both a lament and an inspiring poem. Even modern readers who are not so familiar with the classics, can visualize the heroic legend of Ulysses, and so is not prepared for what he finds in the poem— not Ulysses the hero but Ulysses the man.