Homer's epic poem the Odyssey and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's novel Don Quixote share many similarities. To begin, both are older stories originally published in other languages and later translated multiple times by different translators into English. The Odyssey was written in Greek in the late eighth century somewhere in the Ionian region of Greece. Don Quixote was written in Spanish in the early fifteenth century in Madrid, Spain. Both texts are considered among the most influential writings in human history. The Odyssey is considered the second written work of Western literature (Homer's other epic the Iliad is considered the first), and Don Quixote is often considered the first novel of the Western world. Both fit into a story archetype called the Hero's Journey, a story pattern coined by philosopher Joseph Campbell. Both stories are episodic in their structure and take place over a long period of time.
Each...
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story follows a middle-aged nobleman on a journey. Odysseus, theprotagonist of the Odyssey, is venturing home through many trials and tribulations after fighting in the Trojan War. Alonso Quixano, the protagonist of Don Quixote, renames himself Don Quixote when he decides to venture out in search of love, justice, and chivalry as a knight. Both characters believe in honor and have arrogance as a personality flaw, and both experience physical and mental challenges throughout their journeys.
Each text features characters who tell stories; in fact, storytelling is an important theme of both writings. In the Odyssey, Odysseus himself becomes the storyteller during a narrative shift later in the novel, and many characters in the first four chapters of the epic tell Odysseus's son Telemachus stories about Odysseus's exploits. In Don Quixote, characters like the priest and the innkeeper tell stories as well.
The stories are different in lots of ways, though. The Odyssey maintains a more serious tone and is intended to inspire readers with stories of its hero's exploits. Odysseus's challenges originate from gods and monstrous creatures who make his journey home harder, and he responds with cleverness and bravery. Don Quixote's challenges originate from his own misunderstandings about how the world works and his hyper-focus on chivalry during his interactions with other people, and the text often reads like a dark comedy as he stumbles through these challenges, unaware of reality. The Odyssey ends on a positive note, with Odysseus returning home to his family and defeating the men who were trying to take over his kingdom and marry his wife. But Don Quixote ends somberly, with its protagonist dead from a high fever.
References
Although The Odyssey by Homer and Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra are both important literary works, and share in common a narrative of the travels and adventures of a single protagonist, they differ in many salient features.
Homer's Odyssey derives from an extended oral tradition, and achieved the form in which it was now transcribed several hundred years after bards started to recite stories about Odysseus and the other participants in the Trojan wars. It dates to approximately 800 B.C. Don Quixote is a written literary work composed by a single author in Spain, dating to 1605-1615.
The Odyssey is a Greek epic poem written in dactylic hexameter andDon Quixote is a Spanish novel written in prose. Homer's work is a heroic epic. The protagonist is a king who is portrayed as brave, intelligent, and generally a model for emulation. Don Quixote is a satirical work, making fun of the chivalric tradition. The protagonist has lost touch with reality and is a comic figure.
Finally, although love is part of both plots, in the case of Odysseus it is real love for his wife that motivates his struggles to return home. The character of Dulcinea del Toboso is based on Don Quixote's fantasies about a peasant girl he has never even spoken to.