How Does 'O Brother Where Art Thou' And 'The Odyssey' Compare?

First of all, the George Clooney character's middle name is Ulysses (the Latin version of Odysseus.) LIke Odysseus, he has been imprisoned before the film starts (Odyssues is held captive by a beautiful nymph and Everett/ Ulysses is in a chain gang, but they both want to escape.) They also both want to go home to their wives -Oysseus to Penelope and Ulysses to Penny - and both wives are being courted by other men.

On the way, they encounter some similar adventures. The episode with the "fishing girls" who rob Pete and apparently turn him into a frog, echoes two incidents in the Odyssey. There is the enchantress Circe, who sleeps with men and then turns them into pigs; and the Sirens, who sing to sailors and lure them to their deaths. Odysseu manages to outwit both.

Cyclops, the one-eyed giant, is similar to the "travelling salesman" who attacks the three friends. The way Everett comes home, winning fame and fortune, is also similar to Oysseus' final triumph. The characters of the two men are rather similar too - both are a bit untrustworthy, but brave, resourceful and basically good-hearted.

The film actually opens with a line from the Odyssey, but I can't remember what it is.

-okay.. The names for one you knoe ulysses +lain for of the greek name odysseus
-george nelson shooting the cow is like when the men in the odyssey kill helios cattle
-homer stokes the man running for govener+ homer is the author of the odyssey
-the sirens and circe.. The ladys at the creek who turn pete into a toad (kinda)
-cyclopes that bilble sales man danial T.
-terisius the blind prophet in the odyssey and the blind rail way guy in the movie
-govener menelaus..menelaus was a greek king husband of helen.
-the man who trys to kill them. With the glasses could be like posiedon or the gods in general trying to stop them.
-vernan t warbe is like the suiters in the odyssey
-both men in the diffrent storys wanting to get home to their wives
-penelope is odysseus' woman and a nick mane for penelope ids penny which is ulysses ex wifes name
-the bilbe sales man is killed with a firy cross like how the cyclopes was blinded by a firy stick
- pete and delmar standing up for them selves near the end was like odysseus men questioning him.
-ulysess had to disguise himslef just like odysseus
-he had to prove himslef to his wife..just like odysseus
-when he sees his daughters for the first time is like the meetign with the cow herder and the pig herder.

"Big Dan" the bible salesmen in the town can compare to the cyclops. Pete and Delmar compare to the two different parts of Odyssey's crew, stupidity and mutiny.

After the opening credits they hop on that rail cart (or whatever they're called) with the blind man, who prophesies about their trip and lays out some profound stuff... In the Odyssey Odysseus and his crew visit The Oracle at Delphi before their trip, who is blind, who predicts all sorts of stuff in a similarly creepy/aloof manner

Also, Odysseus and Ulysses are defiant of God/the gods. They believe that they can accomplish their task without divine help and mock God/the gods until the end when they admit that they see that they were wrong and need help. AND, this may be a stretch but here goes; when Odysseus comes home he is disguised as an old man and nobody recognizes him. Ulysses goes through his town unnoticed  because he is dirty and has on a fake beard.

In the Book, because Odysseus hadn't come home in a while, the suitor's start to say that he is dead. Likewise, in the movie, Penny tells everyone that Everett was hit by a train and died.

In the beginning when they go to Pete's cousin's place, it becomes a play on words. For dinner that night, they find that they're eating Horse which Wash had slaughtered the other week. And in the Odyssey, Odysseus lands on an island with Man-Eating horses. Man eating horses, Man-Eating horses.

"Sing to me, Muse....." thats the opening line

Also when everett comes home he has a daughter he does not know about, and Odysseus didnt recognize his son when he gets home