Pete and Delmar as Ulysses’ “Crew”

The film “O Brother, Where Art Thou” is a very interesting adaptation of “The Odyssey” because of the changes that needed to be made to adapt the setting. We talked about the numerous parallels seen between “The Odyssey” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou”, some obvious others not. One parallel that I think we can always talk more about is Pete and Delmar who represent Odysseus’ crew.

            “The Odyssey” begins with a brief introduction by Homer who states that Odysseus is a great hero, but that he was held back by his stupid crew. From Homer’s description of the crew, I instantly think of Pete and Delmar whose role in the film is to provide a comedic value through their lack of intelligence. The parallels continue, as both the poem and the film flesh out the characters. Certain members of Odysseus’ crew are unwilling to follow orders like Pete asking “Who put you in charge?” Pete and Delmar are also the subjects of constant misfortune like the crew, everything from being turned into animals to being enchanted by sirens.

            The obvious parallels are there, but the differences are more interesting. In “The Odyssey”, the crew played the role of the scapegoat for anything that went wrong, but Pete and Delmar are friends of the hero. This makes the story much more engaging, as it adds a new goal to the Ulysses’ quest, one that Odysseus did not have: save his friends. Despite all the stupid things that Pete and Delmar do throughout the film, Ulysses works hard to make sure they are not recaptured and imprisoned.

            Overall, although Pete and Delmar were created to represent Odysseus’ crew, their characters became much more important than the crew was. Rather than Ulysses’ crew, these two were friends who added an important aspect of friendship to the story.

The Odyssey is Scripted

The idea of fate is common place in Greek mythology and especially in The Odyssey. As we have discussed in class, it seems that more and more often the characters have little to no agency. Odysseus and Telemachus are victims of their fate, pawns in a cruel game played by Athena. Just like the suitors, their fate was decided before they even knew of their quest, but at least they lived.

            Greek mythology has a group of three women called “the fates” who were said to visit children three days after birth to decide their lives. This reminds me of the way that The Odyssey is told. In the first pages, Homer gives a summary of what will happen telling us Odysseus’ fate even before we are introduced to him. This idea that heroes are predestined for greatness is not uncommon today, but the main difference I saw with The Odyssey was how little agency the characters had within their fate. When I think of Harry Potter, there are numerous prophecies that clue Harry in on the outcome of his situation, but as a reader I still felt like he had options.

            I felt differently when reading The Odyssey. Athena seemed to be a part of every moment, disguising herself just to be a part of the story. The goddess was creating an intricate storyline that had to be followed exactly. Her constant guidance was seen in the first section of the epic poem as she leads Telemachus around. Athena does more than give advice about what to do, she uses her supernatural abilities to enable Telemachus’ leadership abilities. At face value, the telemachia seems to be a coming of age story, but when I looked deeper I saw that everything is orchestrated by Athena. In reality, Telemachus never changed.

            This directing by Athena continues through Odysseus’ wanderings, but it truly picks up when Odysseus returns home. As Odysseus prepares for the massacre of the suitors, we see Athena making sure that each character (Penelope, Telemachus, Odysseus) is playing their role in the story correctly. When we see a hint of choice in a character, it is quickly shot down by Athena who needs the perfect ending to her masterpiece. One example of this is when Odysseus contemplates sparing the life of one of the suitors who was nice to him. Whenever he thinks that, Athena reminds him that all suitors must die.

            Throughout the epic poem, the characters are being forced into certain roles. They are trapped by their fate and the script that Athena created for them. They are being “guided” by Athena through her story and it seems that the heroes of The Odyssey have little agency.