'A reflection of Odysseus and Modern Day Heroes Essay\r'

' pen ab turn up two thousand and s change surface century years earlier, the Odyssey is still influencing innovative storytelling to twenty-four hour period. Odysseus, the leg nullifyary Hellenic king of Ithaca and protagonist of Homer’s trem lay offousal poem the Odyssey was recognized as a undischarged sensation of his period. He was kn avow for his defining qualities of superordinate word volume and strenuosity, precipitate intellect, brutal mantle, and a impulse for renown. These character indications are still organism utilize to attribute modern day put on heroes such as neo, Captain Jack true sparrow, James obligate, and Spiderman. Accordingly, the heroic qualities of Odysseus back be still be seen in today’s modern day fabricated heroes.\r\nOdysseus’s superior effectiveness and athleticism checks to modern day character of Neo in The Matrix. In the Odyssey, Penelope told the suitors that she would marry who ever was able to fib ril Odysseus’s old bow and shoot it by means of twelve axe heads. M any suitors attempted this childbed but non a whizz whizz was even unanimous enough to draw off the bow. However, â€Å"Without any strain, Odysseus strung the great bow… Taking the dra net profitg string and the head grooves he drew to the middle grip, and from the actually ch credit line where he sat, bending the bow in the beginning him, let the arrow fly, nor missed any axes from the depression handle on, but the bronze-weighted arrow passed through and through all, and out the other end” (Homer, 319 †320). Odysseus’s 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 apparent with Neo from the motion picture The Matrix.\r\nIn the movie, Neo has the ability to freely set the simulated reality of the Matrix. This skill, allows him to white plague up superhuman strength and agility, and the ability to brush off attacks that would kill or disable a normal human being with relative ease. There is a particular delineation that exemplifies this where Neo champions off about thirty agents with his disrobe hands. As depicted in the script written by the Wachowski Brothers, â€Å"Their attack is a devastating barrage fire of speed and power closing in virtually Neo equal a vise. But Neo is a mirage, slipping and flipping around them in a deadly counter attack, heaving agents in the air” (Wachowski Brother, 18). Neo’s superhuman strength and athleticism is comparable to Odysseus. Both characters are way stronger and fast than the average warrior, which enables them to fight off exceptional opp mavennts. to a fault Brute strength, Odysseus shares many other deeper qualities with modern day heroes.\r\nCaptain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean shares Odysseus’s facility for read y thinking and cleverness. Odysseus demonstrates this property when hard to pass from the Polyphemus’s cave by tricking Polyphemus into thinking that his designation is nobody. When Odysseus finally attacks the cyclops and blinds him, Polyphemus cries for champion assigning, â€Å"‘Good Friends, Nobody is killing me by force or treachery.’ So then the others speaking in winged actors line gave him an answer: ‘If alone as you are none uses violence on you,” (Homer, 147). Odysseus’s cleverness to say that his name is Nobody prevents the other Cyclopes from go in the cave and allows him escape with his men. Captain Jack Sparrow also possesses this same feature of cleverness.\r\nSparrow is oft out skilled in sword chip by other characters so he resorts to utilize negotiation in order to distract his enemies or turn them against each other. Sparrow stated, â€Å"Why fight when you can negotiate? All one unavoidably is the proper lev erage” (Walt Disney Pictures). There is a nip that exemplifies this when a group of soldiers catch Sparrow trying to deal one of their ships. The Soldiers ask Sparrow, â€Å"What’s your business line in Port Royal,? And no lies!” Sparrow answers, â€Å"I confess: I intend to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a faction in Tortuga, and go on the account, do a minute true pirating” (Walt Disney Pictures). Sparrow is so openly honest about his mischief that the soldiers don’t even believe him. This clever use of words and psychological science help Sparrow escape from the Soldiers and eventually steal their ship. Both Sparrow and Odysseus use this type of sharp cunning intellect to turn what they need.\r\nOdysseus 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 beautiful woman and lived a riotous life with her onward continuing his journey hom e. common chord such examples were Calypso, Nausicaa, and Circe. With Circe in particular, Circe turned all of Odysseus crew into swine, but he was able to resist her powers, which caused her to get in love with him. Odysseus then decided to take a year of luxury on her island as her lover. Odysseus said, â€Å"We sat there feasting on untrammelled meat and sweet wine. But when the sun went megabucks and the sacred darkness came over… but I, mounting the surpassingly beautiful bed of Circe, clasped her by the knees and entreated her” (Homer, 164). Odysseus enjoyed his opulent life with Circe in an exotic land, but precisely to a point. Eventually, he decided to focus on the greater task at hand and return home to Ithaca.\r\nJames Bond possesses this same trait of sensual ness towards women throughout all of the confederation films. In honourable about every film, Bond comes across a beautiful female that he ends up spending an intimate time with before going off to save the world. In cassino Royal, Bond enters a relationship with Solange. Solange says to Bond, â€Å"What is it about no-count men? You… my husband. I had so many chances to be happy, so many nice guys. Why can’t nice guys be more like you?” Bond replies, â€Å"Because then they’d be bad.” Solange petting him some more, â€Å"Mmmmm, yeah…!” (MGM). Bonds smoothness and intellect help him win over the hearts of numerous women just like Odysseus. However, both Bond and Odysseus never get too wrapped up in a relationship to forget what their greater purposes are. Bond eternally moves on and saves the world and Odysseus always leaves his lover in order to return home to Ithaca. Both characters fall in a strong sense of sensual ness towards females, but it never seems to distract them from their main goals.\r\nLastly, a trait that may not be seen as positive is Odysseus’ lust for superbia 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 ostentation in his hold glorious acts when it wasn’t really necessary. After modishly tricking the Polyphemus and escaping from his lair, Odysseus said, â€Å"Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your affection this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities” (150, Homer). Odysseus could not resist his thirst for glory after defeating the Cyclops and needed to reveal his name for the sake of his own superciliousness. Peter Parker as Spiderman possesses this same quality. When Peter number one learned of his new spider powers, he time-tested to use them to impress other people. He took pictures of himself scrap criminals and sent them to the newspaper for people to see. He valued other people to see how amazing his powe rs were and to metamorphose him for them.\r\nAccording to the story synopsis, â€Å"At first, Peter decides to use these powers to make money to impress Mary Jane. He appears in a wrestling match and, gird with his new spider strength, wins the match in embark time” (Marvel, and Columbia Pictures). Peter used his powers to proclaim his own image just like Odysseus. However, this trait amongst 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 drastic consequences for both characters. Spiderman’s 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.\r\nOdysseus pride caused him to reveal his true identity to Poseidon, who in turn seeked vengean ce on him. This lead to a great amount suffering that Odysseus had to endure on his journey home. However, both characters were able to overcome their pride to a certain degree by the end of the stories. Spiderman eventually learned that â€Å"with great power, comes great function” and to use his powers to protect the city from evil and not for his own glory (Marvel, and Columbia Pictures). By the end of the epic, Odysseus seemed much more willing to temper pride with patience. When disguised as a beggar, he did not immediately react to the abuse he accredited from the suitors. Instead, he endured it until the trap was set for him to strike good deal on them. In a sense, the quality that was passed cut down from the Odyssey to modern day heroes is the ability to overcome pride and the glorified self.\r\nMany of today’s 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 sight 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, it’s remarkable that today’s characters still resemble such an ancient hero. Will our idea of what makes a hero ever change?\r\nWorks Cited\r\nElliot, Ted, terry cloth Roscio, and Walt Disney Pictures. â€Å"Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl Screenplay.” hundland.com. 3 Nov. 2008 .\r\nHomer. The Odyssey. 1967. Trans. Richard Lattimore. untried York: Harper & Row Publishers, 2007.\r\nMarvel, and Columbia Pictures. â€Å"Spider-Man The Story.” Spider-Man positive site. 3 Nov. 2008 .\r\nPurvis, Neal, Robert Wade, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). â€Å"Casino Royale Script.” Script-O-Rama. 3 Nov. 2008 .\r\nWachowski Brothers. â€Å"The Matrix Reloaded Screenplay.† horrorlair.com. 3 Nov. 2008 .\r\n'