Similarities between The
Odyssey and Star Wars-Episode IV: Return of the Jedi
There are
many points of comparison between The Odyssey, by Homer,
and
George Lucas's final episode, Return of the Jedi.
The similarities are
astonishing, considering how different the two stories
are in genre.
There are some major character similarities between the
two works. The main
characters (Luke and Odysseus) match each other very
well. Both were on
some kind of journey: Odysseus wanted to reach home and
Skywalker was on a
journey to find truth and knowledge. Both men have
family members they know
very little of, but later join to fight evil. Luke
knew little of his
father who he had been separated from for over 20 years,
but once the two
met, they overthrew The Emperor. Odysseus had been
separated from his son
but when they met they overthrew the evil suitors in
their home. Perhaps
Odysseus and Luke are a long lost father son combo, and
they both messed up!
Both stories have the main character being led by a
mystical, knowledgeable
warrior of sorts. Return of the Jedi has Luke's
guide being Obi-Wan and
Odysseus's is the warrior-goddess Athena. In The
Odyssey there is a blind
prophet named Teiresias, his equivalent would be
Yoda. Both men told the
main character what had to be done to obtain their
goals. Also, they both
had some kind of impediment, Teiresias was blind, and
Yoda couldn't speak
very well.
ROTJ and The Odyssey are both the last leg of a long
story. The Odyssey
ends Homer's works, which began with The Iliad.
ROTJ ends the story of the
life and death of Darth Vader. In both the lead
character has to go to heck
and back to achive their goal. Luke had to travel
all over the universe to
free what he wanted and in the process met up with some
strange aliens,
including the Sarlacc, a monster which lived in the sand
with teeth that
sucked people down and slowly ate them (yummy).
This monster was shockingly
similar to Kharybhis, a whirlpool that ate up sea goers;
it too had some
form of a digestive system. Odysseus struggled with
all sorts of aliens,
from temptresses to cannibals. In both stories the
main character is aided
by an outside source, the friedly Phaecians helped
Odysseus sail home and
the world famous Ewoks helped the Rebels destroy the
Imperials.
Both authors try to incorporate the importance of
"religion" and having a
calm mind. In ROTJ Luke is constantly being told to
be mindful of the force
that is around him and only when Odysseus becomes aware
of the gods is he
able to reach home. When Luke is face to face with
The Emperor he could
have taken the easy and fast way and struck down Vader,
but he kept calm and
didn't "give in to hate". Odysseus kept
calm when he reached home; he could
have ran in the house and slaughtered all the suitors but
he waited until
the time was right, then he slaughtered them.
The Odyssey served as a great myth of it's time and Star
Wars is the
greatest myth of our time. Although it may be in a
different way, I am sure
that Star Wars will mimic The Odyssey once again, in that
it too will be
studied for a long, long time.
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