The Oddysey versus O Brother Where Art Thou
...the contrary, the theme of hospitality continues throughout the poem. For instance, Telemachos and his crew arrive on Pylos and are immediately welcomed into Nestor’s celebrations: These men, when they sighted the strangers, all came down together and gave them greeting with their hands and offered them places. First Peisistratos, son of Nestor, came close to them and took them both by hands, and seated them at the feasting (III, 34-37). Once again, the reader notices the generosity and openness of the Greeks towards others. Similarly, when Telemachos and Peisistratos end their journey and arrive at Menelaos’s kingdom, they are both welcomed with open arms and joy. Later in the poem, after Kalypso has released Odysseus and he has begun his journey home, he is shown hospitality by the Phaiakians. He first meets a Phaiakian princess, Nausikaa, who benevolently invites him to her palace. When Odysseus arrives at the palace, he meets her parents, Alkinoos and Arete. They organize a town meeting to get a boat for Odysseus and later arrange an assembly for Odysseus where they feast, play games, sing songs, and rejoice. The Phaiakians are extremely interested in Odysseus, so he recites his adventures for them. He eventually leaves, but gratefully thanks the Phaiakians for their amazing hospitality. Finally, at the end of the poem, the swineherd, Eumaios, shows Telemachos and Odysseus hospitality by allowing them to stay with him. Eumaios enjoys Odysseus’ company, saying, “‘ My guest, since indeed you are asking me all these questions, listen in silence and take your pleasure and sit their drinking you wine’” (XV, 390-392). In the poem, the theme of hospitality advances the plot by taking the reader on many different adventures. Although hospitality is a theme in both works, hospitality is evidently more dominant in The Odyssey. Like the theme of hospitality, temptation is a theme that is exhibited time and time again in The Odyssey, and touched upon in the movie, O Brother Where Art Thou? The related them of seduction is a critical theme that adds both insight and humour to the movie. More importantly, it is used as a device to show conflict and add to the struggle to return home and to one’s loved ones. The Odyssey begins with the reader being informed that the protagonist, Odysseus, is trapped on Kalypso’s island. Kalypso, a beautiful nymph desires, “that [Odysseus] should be her husband” (I, 15). She seduces him and fulfils his every need while on her island, even though he is waiting to return home to his wife, Penelope. Penelope, meanwhile, was surrounded by suitors wanting to marry her. Her suitors showered her with gifts in order to win her heart and Odysseus’s kingdom. She too gave into temptation and had fun with the suitors, having many feasts and rejoicing in song. Ulysses’ wife, Penny McGill, is engaged to be married. Both Penny McGill and Penelope find themselves in parallel situations. Additionally, while recounting his adventures to the Phaiakians, Odysseus tells them of the time he spent with Circe, a goddess with whom he also found pleasure. Circe gave him advice before he and his crew set out on their journey. She told him to avoid the Sirens because: the Sirens, who are enchanters of all mankind and whoever comes their way; and that man who unsuspecting approaches them, and listens to the Sirens singing, has no prospect of coming home and delighting his wife and little children as they stand about him in greeting, but the Sirens by the melody of their singing enchant him (XII, 39-44). When Odysseus and his men, who put wax in their own ears so they are not affected by the Sirens song, sail by, his men bind him to the ship so he avoids the temptation of the Sirens. In the movie O Brother Where Art Thou?, Ulysses, Pete, and Delmar have a comparable experience. While travelling, they hear beautiful singing down by a river. The men venture over to the river and see three beautiful ladies, the Sirens, sitting on rocks and washing clothes. The men are enchanted by their music, as was Odysseus. When Ulysses and Delmar wake up the next morning, Pete is gone and so are the Sirens. The Sirens are seductresses in both the poem and the movie. Odysseus has another analogous experience when he meets the Phaiakian princess at the river. She too is washing her clothes, but in the nude, and Odysseus is immediately attracted to her, “I have never with these eyes seen anything like you” (VI, 160). Not only is sexual temptation a theme, but also the temptation of riches. In the poem, Odysseus and his men sail to the Aiolian island where Ailos, ruler of the wind, gives Odysseus a bag full of winds that will be strong enough to get Odysseus and his crew home. However, his men do not believe that it is simply wind in the bag. They, on the other hand, think it is money. His crew complains: See now, this man is loved by everybody and favoured by all, whenever he visits anyone’s land and city, and is bringing home with him handsome treasures taken from the plunder of Troy, while we, who have gone through everything he has on the same venture, come home with our hands empty (X, 38-42). His men allow the temptation of riches to overpower them. They end up opening the bag and wreak havoc, by causing a storm that delays their homecoming. Similarly, in the movie O Brother Where Art Thou?, Ulysses convinces his fellow convicts, Pete and Delmar, to escape by promising treasures and riches. The temptation of money and sex are important themes to recognize in the poem and the movie. Once again, the theme is more prevalent in the poem The Odyssey than in the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? As are hospitality and temptation, disguise is a major theme in The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou? Its purpose is to advance the plot and show the various characteristics that each character possesses. Disguise is used countless times in the poem. For example, Athene is constantly disguised as different people by changing into different forms. She appears as Odysseus’ friends Mentor and Mentes in or...