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Influence of classical mythology on literature
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Singing Sirens. Billowing seas. Risky heros. These three items may be present in the two text, Homer’s The Odyssey and “O Brother Where Art Thou” , or they may vary. Even though both of these text are about the same story, they both differ and have similar aspects. The Odyssey and “O Brother Where Art Thou” wildly differ from each other in several ways, and some aspects are absent in the clip that are present in the Epic. The song transformed between the text; In the Epic, the sirens are praising Odysseus and teasing him with the gift of knowledge,”’Odysseus, Chief by ev’ry tongue extolled,” and,”Then, happier hence and wiser he departs...Know all that passes on the boundless earth,” but the clip sings,”Go to sleep you little babe,”
One archetype the two stories have in common is the hero. The heroes, Odysseus and Everett, try to reach their family, no matter the risks. Both have the same goal and will do anything to keep their loved ones again. Also, both of the heroes are extremely loyal to their companions. Like whenever Odysseus tried to save his crew, or when Everett went to rescue Pete from jail. However, they can also differ in ways like character. In the face of an obstacle, Odysseus faces the problem head on and uses strategy at the same time, while Everett uses excuses to try to avoid the problem. On the other hand, Everett has his friends throughout his quest, while Odysseus’ companions all die except him. These examples show how the heroes of the Odyssey and O Brother! are different.
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.
Homer’s Odyssey is the iconic story of a man’s episodic journey home. The film, O Brother Where Art Thou, is a justifiable homage to the Odyssey because of the many parallels between some of the major characters depicted in the movie and the epic poem. The movie is set in the 1930s in the state of Mississippi, changing the characters in social demeanor, but retaining their motivation and major plot points.
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.”
“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.
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.
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.
...journey that is taken by a man. Throughout both tales, the audience is habituated with the sense that both characters are on this journey. The journey, in both cases, is fought for family, which is indeed quite noble. Of course, human nature is a key similarity as well, as both of these men go great lengths in order to finally make it back to where they came from and to find true happiness. And as said before, both “The Odyssey” and “O Brother Where Art Thou?” can be thought of as stories of a man coming home, with all of the characters playing their parts to create a true epic. The small details are not what make these two tales similar. Instead, the creators used broad, yet powerful concepts about friendship, hardship, and love. And in the end, this pays off very well, giving the audience a great opening into a true world where human emotion and nature rule all.
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.
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).
Odysseus of the Odyssey and Moses of Exodus The Book of Exodus is considered to be an epic poem as by definition. An epic poem as defined by Funk and Wagnalls is a poem celebrating in stately, formal verse the achievements of heroes, gods, and demigods (426). The Book of Exodus as well as the entire Bible was written in the form of an epic poem. Major characteristics of epic poems are that there is always a heroic figure. Moses is indeed comparable to Odysseus, the heroic figure in the Odyssey. Although both men had different purposes they are still considered comparable according to the definition of an epic. Like Odysseus, Moses
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll both have similarities with The Odyssey by Homer. All three books tell the story through a journey archetype where the characters go though different events and face many challenges as the story progresses. One of the problems which the characters face is integration into another society with different inner workings and rules being in conflict with the character alongside with how human nature rejecting the any unnatural things.
won) fighting a war against the city of Troy and has been held captive by
Mortal and immortal women inspire many of the events that take place in The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh. For example, without the harlot, who “tames” Enkidu, the story of Gilgamesh would not be, as we know it. A chapter entitled, “Women in Ancient Epic” from A Companion to Ancient Epic by Helene Foley compares Ishtar in Gilgamesh to Calypso and Circe in The Odyssey. By comparing the role of immortal and mortal women in both The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh, one will be able to discern how the feminine figures have played a pivotal role in shaping the destiny of the epic heroes, as well as, understanding the interrelation amongst the female figures of both ancient epics.
In the book the Iliad, The Odyssey, and Works and days, there are many things that can be similar when talking about Greek heroes and the world of Greek poetry. The stories and topics are describing similar events during this time of the eighth and seventh century B.C. In the end, however, they do have some differences in some parts when describing or explaining certain situations and ideas. The world of Greek heroes is written like a story; or Epic Poetry. That is what The Iliad and The Odyssey are; Epic Poetries. They are telling a story of a great hero and their adventures. On the other hand, the more realistic Greek World that is being described in Works and days is a Didactic poem, which tells more of a moral or message to the reader.