The Odyssey vs The movie "O Brother Where Art Thou"

Essay by smilesf0rsaleHigh School, 12th gradeB+, March 2008

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The Odyssey, is a legendary tale written by David Adams Leeming. This epic tells the story of a wise man named Odysseus who struggled to return back to his homeland, Ithaca, after the fall of Troy. In comparison to the text, the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou," has a similar plot and is based on The Odyssey. In the movie, Ulysses Everett McGill is the main character played by George Clooney. Everett and Odysseus both encounter different struggles in their journeys throughout the movie and the book; however, both characters' main goal was to be reunited with their families back home.

The first and most obvious similarity between the movie and the text are the main character's names. In "O Brother Where Art Thou," Ulysses means Odysseus in Latin. Although one can tell that Ulysses and Odysseus are two different people from two different eras, their personalities show that they are based on the same character.

For example, in the text, Odysseus encounters the infamous Cyclops during his journey back to Ithaca, and leads the Cyclops to believe that Odysseus' name is "Nobody." Being as unintelligent as the Cyclops is, while Odysseus is attacking him, the Cyclops cries, "Help! Nobody is attacking me!" This shows that Odysseus is very clever, and heroic in leading his crew away from harm. In the movie, Ulysses also shows that he is clever. For example, he tricks Pete and Delmar his two cellmates that are chained to him by escaping from the Southern Work Farm, in order to seek the treasure that awaits them. In reality, there was no treasure; all Ulysses really wanted was to return to his wife back home, misleading his two companions. Although, these two characters share similar characteristics, they contrast each other in the fact that...