Both epic poems, The Odyssey and The Inferno are two very different stories written in two very different time periods with some similarities. Odysseus's fight is to get home which he is away from for twenty years. The theme for the story The Odyssey is his desire to go home.
Where the theme for The Inferno, Dante is struggling between good and evil. Dante explores Hell and Heaven and Purgatory. It's through what he see's during his journey that he casts his love to God and the good. The difference between these stories are the epic characteristics which is a hero, human courage, an endless setting, and supernatural forces.
Odysseus and Dante are portrayed as heroes in each story. Odysseus is traveling home from the war and on his journey he faces challenges such as being docked on an island, fighting Poseidon and the seas, fighting suitors and trying to reclaim his home. He also travels to the underworld to visit ghost for guidance. Dante's similarities is he also visits the underworld, Hell; and he faces the challenges of questioning humanity and religion. Throughout Odysseus journey he is helped and challenged by the powers of the gods.
Dante also has guidance from Beatrice his guardian angel and Virgil.
Dante struggles between good and evil and his political beliefs. His heroism is labeled as a form of humanity. He faces struggles and challenges of humanity. He goes through a test of courage as he travels through the nine rings of hell "Therefor, if I consent to start this journey, I fear my venture may be wild and empty" (Canto, 2.34). Just like Odysseus where his courage was tested as he fought through giants, and Poseidon and the seas.
Odysseus courage is tested through physical defeats where Dante is tested through his own inner strengths as he travels through hell, purgatory, and heaven. He comes across many spirits as he is led by his guide the poet Virgil. Religion was another important difference in both stories. In the Odyssey the religious belief was Polytheists. They believed in different gods for each aspect of nature. They were either human or worldly.
This included Poseidon god of the sea, Aphrodite god of love and so on. Just like Dante had Beatrice and Virgil to guide him Odysseus had Athena to guide him and Poseidon challenged him. In Greek times Gods were known to effect the lives of people where Dante's time the world's majority was seeking Christianity. Polytheistic beliefs were now thought to be a sin against Gods.
There are two other similarities between Dante's Inferno and The Odyssey. They both long for the women they loved. Odysseus longs to rejoin with his wife Penelope. Dante longed for his love Beatrice. "You, Beatrice true praise of God, why have you not helped him who loves you so" (Canto, 2.103).Both men seek guidance from those who lived in the past before them. Odysseus has traveled to the underworld were he speaks to his mother and ask of his news about his wife. "And what of my good wife? How does she feel and what does she intend to do?"
He also seeks guidance to get back home. Dante seeks to learn from the souls of the sinners and along the way also learned from Virgil as well. Dante learns about the sinner's characters and the resurrection. By comparing The Odyssey and The Inferno we can picture many similarities between the large numbers of various cultures that occupy the earth. One similarity is mankind has many of the same aspects of life, specific cultures taking on cosmetic changes to these aspects. Literature throughout life has had similarities between different parts of writing.
With minor changes made from various influences. The Odyssey and The Inferno were written thousands of years apart and written of cultures with contrasting norms. They do have parallel themes and subjects. Odyssey the ancient Greek text and The Inferno the contemporary Italian poem are both written with one main idea and that's of a great journey. Each experience differences in the style of their expedition.
For Odysseus and Dante women played a submissive role in their lives. There are themes of betrayal. Odysseus wanting revenge on those who betrayed him, Dante's focused on the punishment in the afterlife of those who were guilty of betrayal. I don't know if I can say that hell is as extremely organized as Dante portrays it in this poem.
Where as in The Odyssey it portrays a perfect image of war which is disorganized and chaotic. And certainly is not the magnificent realm Homer describes it as. What these two stories display are the writers creation to make sense of a world that normally does not make any sense and to give order to a world that is in disorder.
Both stories include configure and function of hell, guidance and communication with spirits, and life lessons learned from the scrutiny of sin.
In The Inferno it speaks of Christian afterlife but also includes gods and Greek monsters into the story. Where in The Odyssey its only use is of gods and heroes. They include some same characters with different roles. Example; Minos and the three-headed dog Cerberus. Minos is the judge of the dead. In The Inferno Minos assigns punishment to the spirit by their confession. The number of times he wraps his tail around himself tells what circle the spirit will go too. Where in The Odyssey Minos is the son of Zeus. He mainly judges the dead in the underworld.
Even though both of these epic stories are different in nature they are two great stories. The Odyssey is a great story of how this man fought a giant, the gods and displayed courage in a heroes defeat. Dante is a great story of how morals and behavior in society can help us as humans to better ourselves by not being so selfish and greedy. Treat others with respect.