A Man of Constant Sorrow
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2000 Director: Joel Coen
Starring: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Nelson, Holly Hunter, John Goodman
Joel and Ethan Coen’s many movies range from horror to drama to comedy, including “Blood Simple” 1984, “Raising Arizona” 1987, “Fargo” 1996, “The Big Lebowski” 1998, and “No Country for Old Men” 2007. Some of these films have even reached cult status. All of their movies are considerably different, exemplifying their great talent and range. One of their best works is “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
“O Brother” is a comedic tale of three prison escapees in Mississippi during the Depression. As the title sequence informs us, however, it is a modern adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, a Greek epic poem written around 700 B.C. This Coen production rethinks and updates the ancient adventure. Curiously, though, in an interview, the Coen brothers claimed that they never read Homer’s poem. They asserted that, “Between the cast and us, Tim Nelson (who plays Delmar and was a Classics major at Brown University) is the only one who’s actually read the Odyssey.1 Their assertion is misleading because it suggests unfamiliarity with the epic and, if so, how could their film possibly be based on the poem?
Homer’s Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaka, who undertakes an adventurous ten-year journey home after the Trojan War, so he can return to his wife, Penelope, before any of her suitors marry her. “O Brother” makes many references to the epic, an example of this is evident in the names of the protagonists. George Clooney’s character, Ulysses Everett McGill, is meant to be Odysseus (Ulysses is the Latinized version of Odysseus). His hometown is Ithaca, Mississippi, and his wife is Penny (a nickname for Penelope, played by Hunter). There’s also Governor Menelaus “Pappy” O’Daniel (Menelaus, King of Sparta, led an army in the Trojan War; Charles Durning plays O’Daniel) and there’s even a Homer Stokes (Wayne Duvall) in the film. Moreover, “Big” Dan Teague (Goodman), who wears an eye patch represents the Cyclops, a one-eyed gigantic monster who attacks Odysseus and his crew; Big Dan beats the trio mercilessly with a stick. In the film, Everett leads his partners in crime, Pete (Turturro) and Delmar, in an escape from a chain gang (similarly, Odysseus was held captive for seven years). Everett seeks hidden treasure (the Phaeacians offered Odysseus treasure) and he ventures homeward before his wife marries her admirer. Other references to the original text abound, including the men’s encounter with the blind seer and the sirens.
The Coens’ supposed unfamiliarity with the Odyssey is misleading. And their film demonstrates more than a casual acquaintance with the poem; also, their attempt to deceive the interviewer is perhaps based on the fact that Odysseus is a constantly deceitful trickster. The character uses deception and misdirection frequently to achieve his goals.2
On his journey, Odysseus often deceives his followers so they can become a strong fighting team. He lies to strangers to protect himself; he also disguises himself several times, not only for his safety, but also to check if Penelope is still in love with him. And Odysseus is not the only one who lies, the gods Zeus and Athena also do it frequently. Everett follows suit in “O Brother” by telling many falsehoods. Perhaps the worst is when he eventually confesses to his men that there really is no treasure. Delmar despairs upon learning this. In that case, he escaped prison for nothing; he only had two weeks to serve on his sentence. This particular scene is one of pathos—a hallmark of Greek tragedies.
Another example of such deceit is when the three men go to record a song at a recording studio. As the lead, Everett sings, “I am a man of constant sorrow. . . .” Is Everett really a man filled with sadness? Hardly! He is happy-go-lucky. His great optimism and constant smile are an inversion of the song he sings twice; in contrast, Odysseus is often sorrowful and cries frequently.3 I suggest that this inversion of Everett and Odysseus shows how well the Coens know the poem and that their film subverts the original narrative. More than this, this subversion is reminiscent of their disavowal toward the interviewer: yes, they have read the poem, and more than once.
One might say that the Coens “freestyle” with the original text frequently in the film. For instance, Odysseus is a flawed character; according to some scholars, his worst failing is his pride. Everett is self-assured to the point of arrogance; his constant focus on his hair shows his conceit; his lack of concern for his companions makes him an egotist; his use of arcane language and Latin terminology (e. g., he calls himself the paterfamilias) make him pretentious. Everett also believes he is much smarter than Delmar and Pete, often stating, “You guys are dumber than a bag of hammers,” and the pair never argue the point; they really are that dumb! When the Coens stated that they never read the Odyssey, many critics naively believed them. We might even ask the question: are the Coens insulting their critics (and audience) through Everett’s statement? Are we dumber than a bag of hammers?
“O Brother” is an inversion of the Odyssey in another important way: it is a comedy. The jokes never stop coming in this film. The Coen brothers turn an epic adventure into a comedy and, I believe, the Homeric poet would not have been pleased. Comedy was considered the lowest form of entertainment in ancient Greece.4 This would have been akin to turning Hamlet into a series of toilet jokes. One could even say that the Coens essentially “debased” one of the greatest poems in Western literature with this film, and they are probably still laughing about it. And I have a feeling that in interviews, they were frequently asked if they had read the poem; they probably thought it was a silly question, and people often get tired of answering silly questions repeatedly.
Copyright © 2025 by Rosi Prieto, Ph.D.
All Rights Reserved
Jonathan Romney, “Double Vision,” The Guardian (5-19-2000).
P. Walcot, “Odysseus and the Art of Lying,” Ancient Society (1977), 1-19.
See Hélène Monsacré, The Tears of Achilles, trans. Nicholas J. Snead. Hellenic Studies Series 75 (2018: Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies), 4; A. Daly, “A Study of Tears in the Odyssey” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2013.
Philosophers held comedy in low regard until at least the eighteenth century. Plato, an influential critic of comedy, believed laughter as an emotion overrides rational self-control. In the Republic (388e), he says that the Guardians of the state should avoid laughter, “for ordinarily when one abandons himself to violent laughter, his condition provokes a violent reaction.” Especially disturbing to Plato were the passages in the Iliad and the Odyssey where Mount Olympus was said to ring with the laughter of the gods. He protested that “if anyone represents men of worth as overpowered by laughter we must not accept it.”https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/.