Odysseus, the character of a ‘king of tricks’ as created by Homer, presents an epical understanding of the theme that how a person who is capable of deceiving so much is bound to obey what fate has decided for him. The same theme goes with the “Ring,” a Japanese film based on Koji Suzuki’s novel ‘Ringu’ in which, after four mysterious deaths, a news reporter ‘Rachel Keller’ finds the way out of it. Both the stories deal with curses. However, the nature of curses varies according to characters.
Odysseus suffers a period of ten years due to the anger of Gods, which does not allow him to leave the island for home, whereas in ‘Ring,’ the curse is in the form of videotape, which whoever watches dies in seven days. The main difference lies in the characters of Odysseus and the cursed girl “Sadako” in ‘Ring.’ Odysseus, after going through a hardship of ten years, still opt a normal human life and rejected the idea of being mortal. While in ‘the Ring,’ the cursed and rejected girl “Sadako,” who is killed by her foster parents, turns into a curse. It is this curse in the movie which follows those who see it.
Throughout the scene, Odysseus is at a total disadvantage of being homeless. Despite planning his return, Odysseus fails to return to his home. He is in full control of the Gods and Goddesses, which for ten years while acting in his own interests, carries him off his feet and has no respect for his own plans and wishes whatsoever. But after trying for ten years, he ultimately finds a solution. This, when compared to the curse of ‘Ring,’ is alike Sadako, who does not try to remain human and turns out to be a curse for all those who watch her while Odysseus does not go for being ‘mortal’ or ‘cursed.’
The way Odysseus tricks the one-eyed Giants by calling the name ‘Nobody’ not only saves him from being eaten by giants, but it also presents him as a brave and daring man who loves being the way he is. On the other hand, Sadako, before being a symbol of horror when alive, used to be a shy girl who was infected by the smallpox virus. At the time of death, Sadako, with all her psychic powers, merges with smallpox, thereby creating a powerful virus in the form of a ring.
Therefore the major difference lies between the two characters, perceptions about faith and God, Odysseus and Sadako, which is evident from the path they chose. Odysseus chose to be simple and human in nature, while Sadako, along with all her mystic and psychic powers, ultimately became a part of it. Odysseus chose ‘naturalism’ while Sadako ‘the mystic powers.’ If we take a closer look, we will find another difference. The end of Odysseus is positive, and it seems he has separated ‘the curse’ from him while Sadako is endless; the curse remains and goes on provided the cure discovered. Similarities include revenge, grudge, and putting a stop to the last victim. Odysseus puts an end to revenge when he reaches home while Sadako, after being discovered the truth of ‘Ring Virus,’ does not kill Rachael; instead, she continues with the other killings.
There is, however, another contrast between the two characters, which is between someone who helps because she thinks that she ought to, and someone who, in response to the question of why she helped, simply replies that she saw nothing else to do, or, more simply, that she had to do it. Sadako helps Rachael to discover the cure of the curse, while Odysseus being a tricky person, was not bothered about anything.
The victim enters the remorse of the one who wronged her as one who was wronged. Sadako was betrayed by her father, then in an irreducible dimension of the evil she suffers, whether or not she suffers any of the natural harms which are normally consequent upon betrayal. If her father, one who betrayed her, sees that her victim suffered the evil of betrayal, he must find it intelligible that Sadako is the kind of being who can suffer that kind of evil. The betrayal caused a sense of hopelessness in Sadako. On the other hand, Odysseus, after suffering for ten years, does not lose hope and tries every way to return to Penelope.
Both the characters are based on the recognition of the reality of evil, evil done, and evil suffered is the recognition of evil as we can see the end is hopeful for Odysseus but negative for Sadako. The pain of revenge or grudge cannot provide a motive for ethics of self-interest as that is usually conceived because the self that discovers itself in remorse and the self that seeks only its reductively conceived interests are incommensurable. The explanatory power of an appeal to self-interest requires that the self who seeks the satisfaction of its interests understands itself under the descriptions that specify their ‘enlightened’ satisfaction. This is what happens with Odysseus; unlike Sadako, he is comfortable with himself.
Evil and good, both being two sides of a single coin, explains the attempt to understand the nature of morality, which depends upon how one follows a system of regulative rules, the character, and content of which are determined by their instrumental role in enabling us to secure certain fundamental human goods and to avoid certain fundamental human ills. Ills that are described independently of any moral conception, like in the case of Sadako and Odysseus.
References
Gore Verbinski. “The Ring”. Universal Studios Home Video (Based on a novel by Koji Suzuki)