The Odyssey compare & contrast

3-11-11

In this paper, I’ll be comparing the loyalty level between Odysseus from the Odyssey and King Leonidas from the movie 300. The reason why I picked these two charters is because they take the same journey and somewhat similar paths. So, in the following paragraphs I’ll be explaining and talking about their similarities and the different levels (ideas) of loyalty.

Odysseus from the odyssey seems like a very greedy for glory warrior and loves to be in the limelight a lot and for his name to be heard by all and many. For an example, in book 9 of the book he is on this ship with his crew and they stopped at a island. They go into a cave in where they meet a Cyclopes. They have a fierce battle but in time, Odysseus and his men blinds the giant and manage to leave the island on their ship. But, loud mouth Odysseus screams and yells at the giant getting his attention. The giant then throws a huge rock at them just barley missing them. A quite from the story to support this is "Odysseus shouts taunts at Polyphemus who hurls a hilltop in his direction. The Greeks race away and urge Odysseus not to incite the giant, but Odysseus doesn't listen and tells the Cyclops his name." - book 9 - So, as you can see he loves for people to hear his name and know what he has done. So, that was one reason of the lack of loyalty he has because he didn't listen to his men and continue to start trouble.

Another reason is When Odysseus sleeps with both Calypso and Circe even though he has a wife. That is a real lack of loyalty because he is a married man but he goes around sleeping with other women and never telling Penelope that he did. I don’t know about you but to me that sounds like a jerk to me is he is going to lie to his wife and sleep with random women. A quite from the story is "Odysseus soon becomes Circe’s lover, and he and his men live with her in luxury for a year. When his men finally persuade him to continue the journey" -book 10-. So, as you can clearly see, if it weren’t for Odysseus men telling him to leave he would have stayed for a longer period of time with Circe. So, this man just completely lacks loyalty.

Moving on to King Leonidas from the amazing movie 300. This man has a lot of pride and loyalty, but he makes a few mistakes on his journey and his a bit of glory greedy as Odysseus is. For an example, When the king and his Spartan army is fighting the beast with sword hands, He has a hard time fighting it, But then kills it and rips off his head showing it to every one so people can know he killed it. Witch is a lot like what Odysseus did with the Cyclops.

Another greedy moment is when he meets up with his long time friend and his army. They both talk about each other army but then Leonidas yells and rubs in his face that he has 300 of the strongest, loyalty and respect men sprat has to give. Then the conversation drops and he smiles staying proud that he won that orally fight.

A reason of un loyalty is in the beginning of the movie when tree witches confront him and try to seduce him witch for a minute worked but he then becomes stronger and fights them off leaving angrily.

So, basically both men went through the same journey and somewhat same encounters and both faced the same problem. Only difference is that King Leonidas made more reasonable choices as for Odysseus just wanted the choice that would make him famous and heard by many.