Dante v. Nolan: Comparing Their Treatment of Homer's Hero of Many Turns

 

The Odyssey, according to Homer, spins forth an impressive, extensive tale of a warrior rife with cunning schemes and many turns.

The Odyssey, according to Christopher Nolan, reveals a patriarch who regrets his wrongdoings and seeks to restore what was lost.

This key difference between the book and the movie clearly manifests itself at the end.

In the original poem, Homer ends his tale with the vengeful families of the dead suitors slain by Odysseus. They demand his blood, as any upstanding Ancient Greek would. In the midst of the battle to come, divine authorities Athena and Zeus refuse to take sides (stark contrast to their choices in Homer’s Iliad) and force a permanent truce among all parties, ending the cycle of violence. With his wife Penelope and his kingdom restored to him, Odysseus rules over Ithaca in peace.

In the movie, Odysseus and his wife reconnect, but they cannot remain to celebrate their renewed love. They must travel west so he can atone for his sins (having violated Zeus’ law) and provide a proper death and reception for his fallen crewmates.

Homer’s original ending would have served well by Hollywood blockbuster standards. Yet Nolan’s unique twist on the man of many turns commands respect in its own way, and also reveals the times and temperament of his time.

Nolan’s decision for Odysseus to go west reminds me of another account of the famed wayward wayfarer: Dante Alighieri in his medieval epic The Divine Comedy.

Aside from enthusiasts of Italian literature, the classicists, and hard-core humanists, the general public is not aware that Homer’s much-traveled hero, flaws and flaunts, follies and failures, makes a flaming appearance in Dante’s Divine Comedy, one which burns into the memory and conscience of readers.

Yet Dante’s Divine Comedy deserves more respect and recognition than it currently receives.  Dante, along with Homer (and Virgil), is one of the finest, most sophisticated epic poets in the Western Tradition, and his take on Odysseus, or rather Ulysses, is illustrative not just of the power of Homer’s epic, but its ongoing influence on Western thinkers and creators today. Nolan and Dante share in this magnificent effort, and their interpretations of the Ancient Greek epic and hero, complement each other.

How one views the Odyssey, and its main character, is often shaped by the times and trials of the author, the readers, and the times. How did Dante view Odysseus, whom he calls Ulysses after the Roman tradition?

Let’s visit Inferno, the first part of Dante’s comedy, in which he meets his poetic inspiration, Virgil. The Roman poet informs Dante that he has been called from on high to lead the Italian through Hell to guide him on a spiritual journey through Hell, Purgatory to achieve moral salvation in Paradise. Like Homer’s Odysseus, Dante will take many turns, but he will be guided, not following his intuition. Like Nolan’s Odysseus, Dante will learn from his own wrongdoing and become wiser for the wear.

In Canto XXVI of Inferno, the poet and guide Virgil, Dante’s inspiration, idol, and interpreter of all things supernatural, leads Dante into the eighth of ten bolge, or pockets, in the Eighth Circle of Hell (which has nine total). In the eighth bolgia, the false counselors burn for eternity. Not only do they suffer for betraying others, but they suffer all the more because misused their God-given gifts to seduce others to partake in their treacherous deeds.

Here we find Homer’s many-turning man now eternally burning. Dante portrays Ulysses as a subject of this torture (along with Diomedes, who burns with him in the same flame) specifically because of their deceitful entry and destruction of Troy. In stark contrast, Nolan allows Odysseus to atone for his sins while alive, while Dante ensures his eternal damnation.

Here we see where Dante and Nolan’s interpretations intersect: Odysseus is not necessarily a hero, but certainly a flawed man who did a great evil. They not only depict a main character who ruined a civilization, but condemn his actions and require justice for his wrongdoing.

How does Ulysses end up in Hell, according to Dante’s account?

He sets sail for the West, seducing his men to come with him, so that they should not be limited by man’s small imaginations and lack of knowledge.

Here is his exhortation of evil counsel:

Considerate la vostra semenza:
 fatti non foste a viver come bruti,
 ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza.' (XXIV, 118-120)

[Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;
  Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,
  But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.'] (Translation, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

The irony in this phrase is unmistakable. Odysseus/Ulysses' men are brutes, not just figuratively because of their part in the destruction of Troy, but also literally they became such at Circe’s hand. True, their captain forced the sorceress to reverse her evil curse, but the brutish nature of his crew never dissipates and curses them in the end. Just as he rallied them and deceived the Trojans to sack Troy, so too Ulysses bewitches his men to sail west to their doom.

According to Dante’s account, Ulysses’ men see Mount Purgatory slowly rising above the horizon of the Atlantic. Then a mighty whirlwind from the One who willed against their trip whips their ship around, causing the water to overcome them, “Until the sea above us closed again” (Inferno, XXVI, 142), to their doom.

How does Nolan’s movie end? On a ship together, the main character and his wife embrace the hardships of exile, leaving behind their kingdom and their heir Telemachus. There is a forlorn sorrow in this necessary departure.

They share these final words:

Odysseus: A new dawn will break over the darkened world when our mistakes will once again be forgotten.

Penelope: We will endure.

Nolan’s film ends with Odysseus going West, with the hope for a better future. For Dante, it is in the West where Ulysses perishes, having transgressed another boundary unfit for them to touch, and faces well-deserved torment.

One could argue that Nolan’s Odysseus borrowed somewhat from Dante’s treatment of Ulysses, pushing aside the sailor/schemer’s vanity and cleverness, focusing on his brazen disregard for Zeus’ Law, and the irreparable harm that follows. They end up going West!

Homer’s Odysseus does not respect boundaries, but he is celebrated and receives a happy ending. Why do Nolan and Dante treat him differently? They interpret him through the lens of their times and values.

Dante viewed Troy and its successor, Aeneas, with great reverence (in large part because of Dante’s supreme appreciation for Virgil’s Aeneid), as precursors to the Italian state under the soon-to-come rule of Papal authority. For Dante, it’s Christian rule under the Pope that will end the political rivalries and constant warfare ravaging his homeland. Ulysses dishonored those honored figures and frustrated that hopeful end, and he must pay the price.

In contrast to Dante’s overtly Christian themes, Nolan taps into the latent Christian sensibilities of a post-Christian world, entertaining his times and audience with the expectation that Odysseus’ wrongdoing will be corrected, but also that this good man who did bad things can become good again through reflection and redemption.

In both subsequent interpretive accounts, Odysseus/Ulysses does not stay in Ithaca. For Dante, the Homeric hero’s internal wanderlust inevitably leads him to his demise. In the movie, Odysseus/Ulysses takes his wife and wends his way West to embrace self-exile for violating Zeus’ law. Not as terrible as burning in hell, but it’s a punishment all the same.

The focus on the West as a theme in itself deserves attention. Homer’s works are foundational to the Western Tradition. The works of Homer (as well as Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, etc.) invite, nay, demand that other future artists contend with them, comment on them, and even adapt them for their times. Odysseus/Ulysses may not be an Everyman to some, but every man can appreciate the wonders and works of his ventures, and also pass judgment on them for their contemporary readers and viewers to consider.

While some critics (including myself) would have preferred Nolan to remain faithful to the original epic, Nolan’s film in itself did not suffer for this change. I don’t necessarily agree that Ulysses is evil because of his sacking of Troy, but I can appreciate why the Italian epic poet punishes him. In that way, Dante’s religious epic and Nolan’s breathtaking movie amass incredible respect for not only referencing one of the West’s most frequently cited and revered characters, but having the audacity to condemn him for his deeds, whether through exile or eternal flames.

Perhaps this essay will encourage Nolan to focus his next movie project on the epic poem The Divine Comedy. He could detail the Tuscan political outcast’s journey from Hell to Paradise, documenting the tortures, trials, and triumphs of his contemporaries and well-known historical and literary figures. At the very least, Dante’s Inferno deserves a broader appreciation than it currently receives, and based on current sales, Nolan’s compelling film has generated a renewed respect for The Odyssey.