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O Brother Character Analysis

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The movie O' Brother by the Coen brothers is a modern story based on the ancient Greek story of the Odyssey by Homer. In each story, the main character is a man facing challenges and trying to return to his wife. There are vast similarities and differences between these stories such as the theme, settings, characters and the relationship between these characters. In O' Brother, Ulysses Everett McGill is the main character. He and his two companions, Delmar and Pete break out of prison and go looking for treasure. He makes up the search for treasure to enlist the help of Delmar and Pete. In reality, he is just trying to get back to his wife Penny and stop her from getting remarried. Similarly, in The Odyssey, Odysseus must leave his …show more content…

She then turned them to pigs, when they are leaving, Circe tells him that there is an old blind prophet named Tiresias in the underworld, Odysseus must go there to talk to him. Odysseus gets to the underworld and sees Tiresias. Tiresias says what Odysseus and his crew will face, and that they will make it home. In the movie O' Brother in the beginning when Ulysses, Pete, and Delmar are running away from the prison they meet an old blind man that says to Ulysses that he will face a hard journey, and must travel far, but you will be okay. These two are similar because it reassures both men. And gives them a sense of hope. In O' Brother Ulysses, Pete and Delmar go to a stream and see three-seductive woman. They lure the men in with their beautiful singing and wet bodies. Then Ulysses and Delmar wake up and the woman are gone. In the Odyssey the sirens were beautiful creatures that lured sailors in with beautiful songs. The men would forget about their sorrows and try to be with them, they would go to them and then BAM!!!! The sirens would kill the men. When Odysseus encountered the sirens, he covered his men's ears with wax. In O' Brother the prisoners had to go out on hot days and were forced to work. Similarly, in the Odyssey, Odysseus and Penelope just had a baby. He wanted to stay with her and teach Telemachus things and be a good dad. Sadly, he was …show more content…

He doesn’t give any credit to Poseidon. If he hadn't gotten the winds from the god Aeolus, it would have been a harder journey to get home. This creates the theme that men are nothing without the gods. The same things happen in O' Brother. When Ulysses, Delmar, Pete, and Tommy are going to get hung and die, Ulysses prays to god so that he will live and get back to his daughters. God then sends a sudden flood and saves them. Ulysses still denies it he says that there is an obvious explanation for it to happen. The only difference in the theme is that Odysseus realizes that he really is nothing without the help of the gods. Ulysses just thinks it’s a

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