Comparing Homer's Odyssey And O Brother Where Art Thou?

A substantial amount of movies are based off of books. Rarely, the movies prove themselves better than their book counterparts, and sometimes the movie falls short of the mark. O Brother Where Art Thou? is unusual because it tends to stay on track with the Odyssey. Due to the fact that O Brother Where Art Thou? takes place in 1930’s Mississippi, plot elements obviously do not correlate directly, but other than that elements tend to be similar. Overall, The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou? share similar major characters (with a few differences), and even with the changed setting, the plot events are similar as well. Ulysses and Odysseus possess similar character traits; although, sometimes the act they way they do for different reasons.
Penelope seemed like the epitome of a loyal wife in The Odyssey. She waited years for Odysseus to return, only marrying when it became a necessity. Penny however, not only chose to get married, but she told Ulysses’s daughters that he died in a train accident so she could cover up the fact that he was in prison. Even with that discrepancy, Penny and Penelope both chose to marry for their children. Penelope decided she needed to choose a suitor, so the suitors would leave. She believed that her son, Telemakhos, needed to start his own life, and her marrying would allow him to live in peace. Penny needed someone to provide for her seven daughters. When Ulysses incredulously asked about her engagement, she replied “I gotta think of the Wharvey gals! They look to me for answers!” (O…art thou) Similarly, Penny and Penelope both needed convincing before they returned to their husbands. When Odysseus had returned, Penelope believed a suitor disguised as Odysseus . To test him, Penelope asked one of the maids to move their bed into the hallway so Odysseus could sleep in it. Odysseus became enraged because the bed was carved in an oak tree that grew through the bedroom, therefore rendering it immovable. Penny knew that only Odysseus would know this, so she welcomed him back. Ulysses disguised himself as a poor musician, snuck
For example, in The Odyssey, beautiful women known as the Sirens sing alluring songs that draw men to their deaths. Odysseus’s crew escaped unscathed, but in O Brother Where Art Thou?, these beautiful women intoxicated the group, and turned Pete in for a reward. The screenwriters made the Sirens pretty close considering the massive setting change. Similarly, when Odysseus was sailing on his journey, he discovered and island full of people who ate lotus flowers. When some of his men ate the flowers, Odysseus discovered that eating the flowers made them lose track of time. So he rescued the men who had eaten the flower, packed up ship, and ordered “All Hands aboard; come, clear the beach and no one taste the Lotos, or you lose your hope of home.” (Homer 148) The movie’s version took the form of a church congregation where people could be “saved” by God. Pete and Delmar got baptized and “washed of their sins” and lost their desire to look for the treasure. One of the more different plot elements concerns the Cyclops. In The Odyssey, the Cyclops, Polyphemus, is a one eyed monster that Odysseus must use his wits to escape from. In O Brother Where Art Thou?, Polyphemus becomes a one eyed, traveling, bible salesmen named Daniel Teauge. Teauge lures Ulysses and Delmar out to a