Odysseus And Marlin As An Epic Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey is about an epic hero named Odysseus who goes through various obstacles to reunite with his long lost family. In a like manner Marlin the Clownfish from Disney’s Finding Nemo travels across the ocean to rescue his son who is kidnapped with the help of a variety of companions. People consider both Odysseus and Marlin the contemporary models of an epic hero who travels to reunite with family. To be an epic hero one has to be brave, clever, and a leader. Although both characters are considered to be epic heroes, Marlin the protagonist from Disney’s animated movie, Finding Nemo is an inferior epic hero to Odysseus from The Odyssey by Homer because Odysseus is braver, more clever, and a better leader.

Throughout

both of the hero’s trial stage Odysseus proves to be braver in every conflict that the heroes face. For example when Odysseus docks on The Island of the Cyclops, Odysseus and twelve of his best fighters charges into a cyclops’s cave without hesitation even if cyclops are giants with one eye with savage ways who are feared by many. In the book, Adventures in Reading, Odysseus observes the cyclops and he notes, “A prodigious man slept in this cave alone, and took his flocks to graze afield-remote from all companions, knowing none but savage ways, brute so huge, he seemed no man at all of those who eat good wheaten bread; but he seemed rather a shaggy mountain reared in solitude” (498). When the cyclops terrify many and act like brutes, Odysseus and his men charge bravely towards unknown danger proving signs of bravery greater than the average person. In addition to charging valiantly into a cyclops’s cave Odysseus also dares to listen to the siren’s song while others were advised not too. Before he went past The Island of Sirens, Circe advises him alone to listen to the song which shipwrecks countless ships with the song’s allure. In Adventures of Reading, Odysseus talks about the sirens and says, “Sirens weaving a haunting song over the sea we are to shun, she said, and their green shore all sweet and clover; yet she urged that I alone should listen to their song”(506-507). This quote explains how much bravery Odysseus has to actually listen to the haunting song while his crew members are to shun the song. After constant conflicts and danger Odysseus is always brave throughout the various conflict. In contrast Marlin panics at the face of danger and conflict. In Finding Nemo, Marlin shows little to no bravery with sentences like “let’s play the ‘let’s not die’ card!” throughout the movie. With sentences like this Marlin shows fear and no bravery to match an epic hero like Odysseus. While Odysseus shows no fear in danger, Marlin on the other hand fears for his life and panics at any danger. While Marlin is facing little things like fishnets or sharks, Odysseus is facing massive cyclops and haunting siren songs.
With the addition of Odysseus being braver than Marlin, he is also more clever in face of a crisis.

In several events Odysseus uses his cleverness to escape undesired situations while Marlin tends to get injured when those times arose proving Odysseus more clever than Marlin. In one of Odysseus’s crisis Odysseus and his crew are stuck in a cyclops’s cave and they have to fool the cyclops to get out of the cave. In Adventures of Reading Odysseus tricks the cyclops into thinking Odysseus’s name is Nohbdy and eventually gets out of the cave with the cyclops screaming “Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!” (498). This statement gives a clear example of how Odysseus is more clever than the regular person by manipulating the outcome of this event. With Odysseus’s clever plan, Odysseus and most of his crew got out safely. In addition to the cyclops crisis, Odysseus runs into another crisis where he has to use his cleverness to overcome the obstacle. Odysseus’s ship is stuck between Scylla and Charybdis in a narrow waterway and he has to pick to go closer to one of the two. Odysseus uses his wits and choses Scylla because six people devoured is better than everyone dieing to Charybdis. In Adventures of Reading, Odysseus uses his cleverness once more and states “But as I sent them towards Scylla, I told them nothing, as they could do nothing” (510). With his quick thinking this idea single handedly saves everyone but six people, as if he told them they would panic and cease rowing then everyone would be eaten. Odysseus proves he is clever time and time again by saving his crew through brilliant ideas. Rather than being clever Marlin showed vacuousness in facing dangers. In Finding Nemo, Marlin and his companion accidentally swim right into a jellyfish field. In the scene in Finding Nemo, Marlin states “We’re gonna race. First one out of the jellyfish wins”. This one statement from Marlin causes both Marlin and his companion to be put into a

critical state proving Marlin is not more clever than the average person. Marlin’s idea of rushing out of a jellyfish field is vacuous and not clever at all. While Odysseus’s ideas saves lives Marlin’s ideas only punishes him and his companions. Odysseus cleverly makes the best choices that are available however, Marlin makes choices that are unnecessary and only hurt himself and others in the end.
Odysseus, these choices divides good leaders from the bad leaders. Odysseus raises the morale of his crew and makes proper choices for the best of his crew which makes him a good leader. For example in Adventures of Reading, when Odysseus and his men approach Scylla and Charybdis, he raises his crew’s morale by stating “Now I say by hook or crook this peril too shall be something that we remember” (510). This statement raises the crew’s morale and hopes enough for them to get past Scylla and Charybdis which cannot be be done by just anyone proving his leadership. In a different scenario Odysseus leads his people and with his leadership they save three crew members from staying forever with the lotus eaters. Odysseus explains his leadership in Adventures of Reading by stating “I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches and called the rest” (410). With this command to his crew Odysseus leads his people and stopped anyone from letting the lotus hook people in to stay forever showing his leadership is better than the average person. Odysseus is clearly a great leader however on the other hand Marlin is constantly impatient and reduces the morales of his companions. In Finding Nemo, nemo wants to go to school, but Marlin yells at nemo and says “Clearly, you’re not ready, and you’re not coming back until you are. You think you can do these things, but you can’t NEMO!”. This quote proves that Marlin’s inability to lead others and he only destroys his companion’s morale.
Though both characters are contemporary models of an epic hero who travels to reunite with family, Marlin from Disney’s animated movie, Finding Nemo lacks in quality to Odysseus, while The Odyssey by Homer shows that he is braver, more clever, and a better leader through his actions. The characteristics of an epic hero to be brave, clever, and a good leader is important because in order to be admired by entities one must fit these categories exceptionally. Epic heroes are still told about today because people want hope that someone will save them during a crisis. Everyone from all cultures wants a hero to fly in and save them in times of crisis there are things like Superman and James Bond who save the world.