Both Odysseus and Everett disguise themselves when they return home to meet their wives. In The Odyssey Odysseus disguises himself as an old beggar whom his wife does not recognise. In O Brother Everett is disguised as an old homeless man to hide from the police when he sneaks into the City Hall to see his wife, who still does not recognise him at first.
During the film the escapees meet up with the bank robber George Nelson. At one point in the film George shoots at a herd of cattle that they pass by, upon doing so Delmar exclaims "Oh George, not the livestock!" This scene is portrayed at the end of the following video. In the film George is captured and sent to death by the electric chair, and during his execution parade a citizen yells "Cow Killer"
This scene is an allusion to Odysseus crew slaying the sun god Helios' sacred cows. Odysseus warns his crew against this behaviour as Delmar warns George. In the end Odysseus' ship is struck by lightning and his entire crew is killed and Odysseus is spared.
Painting portraying Odysseus' men slaying Helios' sacred cows
In O Brother there is a large congregation of followers awaiting to be baptised. As they walk towards the river they seem to be in a glazed trance-like state. This parallels Odysseus' encounters with he Lotus-Eaters, the peoples who lived in an area dominated by the Lotus plant which acted as a narcotic, sending the eaters into a dream like existence.
When Delmar accepts his baptism he says he will follow the "straight and narrow from here on out" which may be an allusion to the members of Odysseus' crew who ate from the Lotus plants and did not want to continue their journey home.
The following scene portrays Delmar's baptism and the congregation of glassy-eyed followers.
18th Century French engraving of Odysseus removing his crew from the presence of the Lotus Eaters
Throughout The Odyssey the god Poseidon attempts to hinder Odysseus' journey. This is due to Odysseus fighting for the Greeks in the Trojan War whilst Poseidon was on the side of the Trojans as well as Odysseus and his crew blinding Polyphemus, Poseidon's son. Poseidon was the only god who was against Odysseus as described in Book 1 "nevertheless all the gods had now begun to pity him except Poseidon, who still persecuted him without ceasing and would not let him get home."
In O Brother the main antagonist is Sheriff Cooley who continually hunts down the escaped convicts. This is a clear allusion to Poseidon, as the Sheriff continues to hunt them down even when they are pardoned of their crimes by the govenor, symbolic of the Poseidon going against Zeus' judgement in saving Odysseus. Also the Sheriff comes to represent an unrelenting and blind revenge, as seen in the following video with his sunglasses. Throughout the movie he is seen with his dog who tracks the convicts. This may also be an allusion to Cerberus, the dog of the Underworld.
This scene in the film also parallels Odysseus's dangerous course between Scylla and Charybdis, as Everett cries "Damn! We're in a tight spot!" several times throughout the scene and can either hope to survive the fire or confront the waiting police.
In the beginning O Brother the three recently escaped convicts come across an old and blind black man who travels along the railroads. He prophesies the future of the main characters and says "You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a ... cow ... on the roof of a cotton house" The prophecy outlined is much like the adventure of Odysseus and his crew. The mysterious man even foresees the floating cow, which passes by Everett just before he finds his wedding rings in the conclusion of the film. This character is an allusion to Tiresias, who was a blind seer in the Underworld. He prophesied the trials and tribulations of Odysseus' rout home in The Odyssey. The prophet also says that he works for "no man" and has "no name" echoing Odysseus' famous words, another allusion to The Odyssey.
The blind man introduced in O Brother
Tiresias appearing before Odysseus in the Underworld
Watercolour by Johan Heinrich Füsil
Circe v Sirens The Odyssey describes the sorceress Circe inviting many of Odysseus' crew into her large home before turning them into swine. Odysseus then rescues his crew with aid from Hermes and Athena.
In O Brother the Sirens appear to turn Pete into a frog, much like the Sirens do to Odysseus' crew. Everett and Delmar later find that Pete wasn't turned into a toad but rather kidnapped by the Sirens.
Everett and Delmar wake up form being drugged by the Sirens to find Pete gone
and a toad in his place.
Odysseus chasing Circe, a lower tier of an
Attic red figure lekythos
