A reflection of Odysseus and Modern Day Heroes Essay

Written more or less two thousand and seven hundred years earlier, the Odyssey is shut up influencing new-made storytelling at present. Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca and protagonist of Homers epic poem the Odyssey was recognized as a great hero of his time. He was known for his defining qualities of superior power and athleticism, sharp intellect, physical ness, and a thirst for glory. These character distinctions atomic number 18 still being habituated to attribute ripe day fictional heroes such as Neo, superior Jack Sparrow, James mystify, and Spiderman. Accordingly, the heroic qualities of Odysseus can be still be seen in todays modern day fictional heroes.Odysseuss superior strength and athleticism resembles to modern day character of Neo in The intercellular substance. In the Odyssey, Penelope told the suitors that she would marry who of all time was suitable to string Odysseuss old bow and shoot it through and through twelve axe heads. many suitors attempted this task but non a single one was even strong decorous to string the bow. However, Without any strain, Odysseus strung the great bow Taking the string and the head grooves he force to the middle grip, and from the very chair where he sat, bending the bow before him, let the arrow fly, nor bewildered any axes from the first handle on, but the bronze-weighted arrow passed through all, and out the early(a) end (Homer, 319 320). Odysseuss ability to string the incredibly stiff bow and to shoot it through twelve axe heads when non a single other suitor could do it depicts his sheer strength and athleticism. This ability is also observable with Neo from the movie The Matrix.In the movie, Neo has the ability to freely manipulate the simulated reality of the Matrix. This skill, allows him to hold superhuman strength and agility, and the ability to brush off attacks that would kill or disable a familiar human being with relative ease. There is a particular scene that exe mplifies this where Neo fights off about thirty agents with his bare hands. As depicted in the script written by the Wachowski Brothers, Their attack is a devastating onslaught of speed and power closing in around Neo like a vise. But Neo is a mirage, slipping and flipping around them in a deadly counter attack, heave agents in the air (Wachowski Brother, 18). Neos superhuman strength and athleticism is comparable to Odysseus. Both characters are way stronger and quicker than the average warrior, which enables them to fight off exceptional opponents. Besides Brute strength, Odysseus shares manyother deeper qualities with modern day heroes.Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean shares Odysseuss knack for quick thinking and cleverness. Odysseus demonstrates this trait when trying to escape from the Polyphemuss cave by tricking Polyphemus into thinking that his promise is Nobody. When Odysseus finally attacks the Cyclops and blinds him, Polyphemus cries for avail saying, Good Friends, Nobody is killing me by force or treachery. So because the others speaking in winged words gave him an answer If alone as you are none practices violence on you, (Homer, 147). Odysseuss cleverness to say that his name is Nobody prevents the other Cyclopes from entering the cave and allows him escape with his men. Captain Jack Sparrow also possesses this same trait of cleverness.Sparrow is often out skilled in sword fighting by other characters so he resorts to using negotiation in narrate to put off his enemies or turn them against each other. Sparrow stated, Why fight when you can negotiate? wholly one needs is the proper leverage (Walt Disney Pictures). There is a scene that exemplifies this when a group of soldiers image Sparrow trying to steal one of their ships. The Soldiers ask Sparrow, Whats your business in Port Royal,? And no lies Sparrow answers, I confess I intend to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, and go on the account, do a little honest pirating (Walt Disney Pictures). Sparrow is so openly honest about his mischief that the soldiers dont even believe him. This clever use of words and psychology help Sparrow escape from the Soldiers and eventually steal their ship. Both Sparrow and Odysseus use this type of sharp cunning intellect to get what they need.Odysseus also shares his trait of sensual ness to women with the modern day hero of James Bond. There were numerous occasions where Odysseus came across a good-looking muliebrity and lived a luxurious life with her before continuing his journey blank space. Three such examples were Calypso, Nausicaa, and Circe. With Circe in particular, Circe move all of Odysseus crew into swine, but he was able to resist her powers, which caused her to fall in love with him. Odysseus then decided to spend a year of luxury on her island as her loer. Odysseus said, We sat there banqueting on unlimited meat and sweet wine. But when the sun went down and the sacred dar kness came over but I, mountingthe surpassingly beautiful bed of Circe, clasped her by the knees and entreated her (Homer, 164). Odysseus enjoyed his luxurious life with Circe in an alien land, but only to a point. Eventually, he decided to focus on the great task at hand and return home to Ithaca.James Bond possesses this same trait of sensual ness towards women end-to-end all of the bond films. In just about every film, Bond comes across a beautiful female that he ends up spending an intimate time with before going off to make it the world. In Casino Royal, Bond enters a relationship with Solange. Solange says to Bond, What is it about bad men? You my husband. I had so many chances to be happy, so many nice guys. Why cant nice guys be more like you? Bond replies, Because then theyd be bad. Solange kissing him some more, Mmmmm, yeah (MGM). Bonds insipidity and intellect help him win over the hearts of numerous women just like Odysseus. However, twain Bond and Odysseus never g et too wrapped up in a relationship to forget what their greater goals are. Bond always moves on and saves the world and Odysseus always leaves his lover in order to return home to Ithaca. Both characters have a strong sense of sensual ness towards females, but it never seems to distract them from their main goals.Lastly, a trait that may not be seen as positive is Odysseus lust for felicitate and glory, which is shared with the modern day hero, Spiderman. Like other Greek heroes, Odysseus longed to win kleos, which is glory won through great deeds. This kleos sometimes led Odysseus into taking pride in his own glorious acts when it wasnt real necessary. After cleverly tricking the Polyphemus and escaping from his lair, Odysseus said, Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blind by Odysseus, sacker of cities (150, Homer). Odysseus could not resist his thirst for glory after defeating the Cyclo ps and needed to reveal his name for the sake of his own pride. jibe Parker as Spiderman possesses this same quality. When Peter first learned of his new bird of passage powers, he tried to use them to impress other flock. He took pictures of himself fighting criminals and sent them to the newspaper for flock to see. He wanted other people to see how amazing his powers were and to glorify him for them.According to the story synopsis, At first, Peter decides to use these powers to make money toimpress Mary Jane. He appears in a grappling iron match and, armed with his new spider strength, wins the match in record time (Marvel, and Columbia Pictures). Peter used his powers to glorify his own image just like Odysseus. However, this trait between the two characters does not benefit them in any way, so why is it relevant between two heroes?The fact that both Odysseus and Spiderman had a strong sense of pride provided room in the stories for it to be overcome. This trait of pride had forceful consequences for both characters. Spidermans pride caused him to spend too much time on impressing other people when he could have been a hero. This prevented him from saving his uncle Ben from being murdered because he was preoccupied.Odysseus pride caused him to reveal his admittedly identity to Poseidon, who in turn seeked vengeance on him. This lead to a great amount trauma that Odysseus had to endure on his journey home. However, both characters were able to overcome their pride to a certain mark by the end of the stories. Spiderman eventually learned that with great power, comes great responsibility and to use his powers to protect the urban center from evil and not for his own glory (Marvel, and Columbia Pictures). By the end of the epic, Odysseus seemed much more automatic to temper pride with patience. When disguised as a beggar, he did not immediately react to the contumely he received from the suitors. Instead, he endured it until the trap was set for him to strike down on them. In a sense, the quality that was passed down from the Odyssey to modern day heroes is the ability to overcome pride and the glorified self.Many of todays fictional heroes resemble the character traits of Odysseus. Odysseus brute strength and athleticism can be seen in Neo. His cleverness and quick thinking resemble Captain Jack Sparrow. His sensual ness towards women, but without losing purview of the greater goal is comparable to James Bond. And his pride and thirst for glory is shared with Spiderman and how both of them were able to suppress it. Overall, its remarkable that todays characters still resemble such an ancient hero. bequeath our idea of what makes a hero ever change?Works CitedElliot, Ted, Terry Roscio, and Walt Disney Pictures. Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black pull together Screenplay. hundland.com. 3 Nov. 2008 .Homer. The Odyssey. 1967. Trans. Richard Lattimore. New York Harper & Row Publishers, 2007.Marvel, and Columbia Picture s. Spider-Man The Story. Spider-Man Official site. 3 Nov. 2008 .Purvis, Neal, Robert Wade, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Casino Royale Script. Script-O-Rama. 3 Nov. 2008 .Wachowski Brothers. The Matrix Reloaded Screenplay. horrorlair.com. 3 Nov. 2008 .