Ulysses Everett McGill is a character that is portrayed as a proud and powerful leader in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou. Ulysses Everett McGill’s’ leadership characteristics are similar to Odysseus leadership within The Odyssey. Odysseus as a character is superior to others yet humble. Ulysses Everett McGill’s character from O Brother, Where Art Thou defends the Odysseus character from The Odyssey.
Ulysses Everett McGill acts strategically about whatever he does, but is also loyal to others around. Everett accepts that he lied about the treasure, but he explained that it was only because he wanted to stop his wife from being married to another man and be back with his family. This shows how Everett strategically lied about the treasure
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When it was the right time he humbly claims that he did lie about the treasure. He accepts that he should be punished for lying to them, but right now they should still trust him so they could together find and stop Everett’s wife from marrying someone else. This shows that he knows of his faults, but focused on the main goals. Everett lies, but he lies about something that does not harm others, but does it in a way so he can also benefit. His companions did not loss anything that they had instead they were freed from jail. As a result, he earns the respect that he accepts his mistakes without causing harm to others with him or around. Both Everett and Odysseus recognize and admit their mistakes with pride. In The Odyssey “Odysseus enters his home as a beggar, and the suitors mock and abused him. Penelope asks to speak with the beggar, but Odysseus puts her off until nightfall” (Book 17, Italic) Odysseus is shown to overcome his pride while he was a beggar and during his stay with the Calypso. For example, back at home he was always treated like the king of Ithaca but he becomes a beggar overthrowing his pride of a rich king. He only cares for his family now and will do anything now after this long journey to be back with his wife and son ruling his kingdom again. For this reason, he accepts that he is at an equal level of pride and humility.
However, examples within the literary narrative of the Odyssey leaves the discussion open with regards to his leadership. Thus, the question of leadership supersedes the topic of Arete. Was Odysseus the ideal leader or did he portray undesirable leadership tendencies? The examples that will presented will illustrate that Odysseus hubris, risk taking prowess, and at times unwillingness to follow instructions often placed his crew in danger as he journeyed Ithaca.
This is a translation of the first line of the Odyssey. Moreover, Ulysses, Everett’s fist name means Odysseus in Latin. It the film, Everett escapes from jail with two prison buddies and they meet a railroad homeless man who is a blind fortune teller. This is similar to when Odysseus escapes from Calypso and various other monsters with a crew and runs into Tiresias.
However, I would have to commend Odysseus for the way he handled the situation. He could have easily punished his crew for what they had done, but he wasn’t angry at his crew for what they had done, he just brushed it off and kept pressing forward, “in the end, I decided to bear it and live” (Odyssey 10. 60) Odysseus practiced patience and that’s what made him a great warrior. The most important lesson I have learned from this episode is that one should never assume things out of greed. The sailors assumed there was silver and gold, so they opened it up to obtain the possessions.
John Ruskin once said, “The first test of truly great man is his humility”. In The Odyssey, an epic poem by Homer, the central character Odysseus learns humility through his failures and growth in obedience making him a hero. Odysseus reaches a heroic status through the lessons learned on his journey, which ultimately taught him the value of obedience and the dangers of arrogance. Initially, Odysseus appears to lack the heroic quality of humility, through his narcissistic nature.
In the novel The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus is portrayed as a bad leader because of his selfish decisions and bad character. Odysseus makes a selfish decision when he leads his crew to stay in Polyphemus’s cave thinking he would offer gifts and Odysseus would “accept (his) help, or any gifts/” he had to “give” (9.726-727). This is a selfish act because he is putting his crew in danger for something that would only benefit himself. In the end, many of his people died and no one benefited. Once again, Odysseus displayed selfish acts when Circe told him “ he will be the only survivor of their long journey” (Homer 764).
, the protagonist Ulysses Everett McGill serves jail time with his two convict friends, Pete Hogwallop and Delmar O’Donnell. Symbolizing the escape from danger all throughout the Odyssey, the convicts escape from the chain-gang and run off towards a promising treasure. Everett resembles Odysseus with his quick-wittedness and hubris. Everett’s hubris—his hair obsession—causes the capture of the group. Much like when Odysseus losing his crew due to his prideful nature, Everett’s hubris dooms the escaping convicts after he mistakenly leaves a can of hair product behind.
His actions prove that he is courageous because although he knew of the danger ahead he decided to proceed. Self discipline, just like courage, is a strength that was continuously shown by Odysseus in the selection in which he reveals himself to his son. For instance, it is stated in lines 1124-1128 of page 599, “If they make fun of me in my own courtyard, let your ribs cage up your springing heart, no matter what I suffer if they pull me by the heels or practise shots at me, to drive me out.” This quote helps one understand why Odysseus could be categorized as disciplined by illustrating a way in which Odysseus’ self-discipline was enhanced, after all, not all people would be able to control their emotions after being humiliated in their
Odysseus’s dishonesty admitted that lying can get you to progress to where you want to be. To get his men motivated, Odysseus did not tell his crew that only he will survive the journey. Instead, Odysseus lied by getting their hopes up of returning home, when in the end he knows that they will not make it back. In order to achieve his objective, he did this to avoid losing everything but to obtain the significant help of his men. So rather than sailing toward Charybdis to lose all his men and the ship, he chose to sail toward Scylla to have a greater chance of coming
Universal human experiences: occurrences that happen to all people. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus struggles with engendering, and searches for, connections to other people. The universal human experience portrayed in the Odyssey of connecting with other people is shown through Odysseus's struggle with honest, loyalty, and From some of the events that happen in the Odyssey, it is clear that Odysseus struggles with honesty. This is especially shown in some of the interactions with his crew. After receiving the wind bag from Boreas (Homer ), Odysseus is given explicit instructions to not open the bag.
In the beginning of the book Odysseus tried to show no weakness and to make sure everyone knew who he was. He thought the gods looked to him and he needed no one but himself. After his long journey when Athena tells him he is at Ithaca at last he is humbled and thankful. He says nothing about how he got there, but rather thanks the gods and is overjoyed to finally be home. This shows that he is humbled.
Proctor is widely respected in the Salem community. However, he has a secret that threatens his reputation. He cheated on his wife Elizebeth Proctor with Abigail Williams. As a result, he has a strong internal conflict regarding his integrity. Proctor is a benevolent man at heart, however he has sinned according to puritan law.
This resulted in them opening the bag, as they thought it is some sort of treasure. This shows Odysseus’ great pride, because if he would have just told his crew what was in the bag, they wouldn’t have opened it. Lastly, pride was not only a great obstacle that characters in The Odyssey faced, but it is also an obstacle that people today have to deal with. For example, people can feel prideful about their accomplishments, status, and belongings. Pride can consume people, making them believe that they are the focus.
In the book called The Odyssey by Homer, it mainly follows the story of a king of a village called Ithaca, hundreds of years ago-This man, is named Odysseus. Odysseus goes through many adventures after the victory of the Trojan War. However, this is where Odysseus, is not being as strong as a great war hero and a king as he should be. Although Odysseus was seen as a very strong person, physically and mentally, he lacks the appreciation and the care of his crew throughout the trials and didn’t think through many of his actions thoroughly and how they would affect not only his crew but people around him.
Both of the men Odysseus and Everett are extremely vain, they are both overwhelmed by their self-image. Odysseus gets diverted by a beautiful goddess and doesn't leave for some time, his men need to instruct him to go. Everett however falls into a similar circumstance, yet can undoubtedly spring back into action. After Odysseus and Everett commit an error Everett apologizes to his men and requests forgiveness. However Odysseus hushes up about his sentiments.
This character is brought to light using several incidents and events that help to analyze and interpret the ancient Greek world and the values surrounding them. Each episode supports and allows for the development of Odysseus’ character and acknowledges the effects of these features. Through these specific incidents, the reader uncovers the quality of Odysseus and how his characteristics relate to those praised by Greeks and those that were criticized. Persistent components of Odysseus’ character include cleverness and pride, while major themes that are reiterated are Greek ideals and the struggle to reach home. Conclusively, definitive occasions in “The Odyssey” establish and expand upon the character of Odysseus and how it impacts himself and