O Brother Where Art Though Comparison to Odysseus Essay Example
The movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” explains the story of Odysseus in “The Odyssey” through a more modern storyteller. In fact, the movie uses very similar character names so today’s audience can easily relate the movie to the original poem “The Odyssey.” For example, Ulysses is Latin for the name Odysseus. Even Odysseus wife’s name is Peggy, while Ulysses wife’s name is Penny. These similarities are shown throughout the movie not only with character names, but also with the original myths in the stories. Most of the same myths in “The Odyssey” are shown in the movie as well, such as the story of the Cyclops, the Sirens, and many more. While the myths are told differently in the movie, they still maintain the underlying story that was being told. The movie the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” is a modern depiction of Homers “The Odyssey,” which shares several similarities that show the journey of Odysseus to his family in a modern day more realistic setting and shows the relevance and power of the story to today’s audience through examples in the story of the Teiresias, the Cyclops, the Sirens and Circe, and the transformation into an old man.
The story of Teiresias is a parallel in “The Odyssey” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” while still maintaining their unique ancient day Greece and modern day attributes. In “The Odyssey,” Odysseus goes to the underworld to speak with the blind prophet Teiresias. Teiresias says to Odysseus, “What your after is sweet homecoming, but the god will make it hard for you…still you might come back, after much suffering.” (The Odyssey, Pg 170, lines 101-104) This is a reference to the long journey that Odysseus must travel in order to get home, along with the hardships he will encounter on the way. Similarly, in “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” Ulysses meets a blind prophet on the railroad tracks who tells a similar prophecy of his own. He shares with Ulysses that, “you must travel, a long and difficult road, a road fraught
The story of Teiresias is a parallel in “The Odyssey” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” while still maintaining their unique ancient day Greece and modern day attributes. In “The Odyssey,” Odysseus goes to the underworld to speak with the blind prophet Teiresias. Teiresias says to Odysseus, “What your after is sweet homecoming, but the god will make it hard for you…still you might come back, after much suffering.” (The Odyssey, Pg 170, lines 101-104) This is a reference to the long journey that Odysseus must travel in order to get home, along with the hardships he will encounter on the way. Similarly, in “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” Ulysses meets a blind prophet on the railroad tracks who tells a similar prophecy of his own. He shares with Ulysses that, “you must travel, a long and difficult road, a road fraught