Comparison of Bob Marley and Orfeo

Orfeo can be described as a very charming yet ambitious character in Monteverdi’s “Orfeo A Tale in Music.” Through the power of his music he strongly believes that he is able to change his fate by bringing his beloved wife Eurydice back from the underworld. Orfeo states “I will go in safety to the deepest abysses, and having softened the heart of the King of shades, I will bring you back with me to see the stars again: Oh, if wicked destiny refuses me this, I will stay with you, in the company of death. Orfeo is making the decision to go to the underworld and bring Eurydice back or else he would remain in Death’s kingdom with her. It is through this statement that Orfeo really demonstrates a strong sense of ambition as he has a firm desire to be with his beloved either way. His reaction to Eurydice’s death was grief at first, and given his circumstance, that quickly changes to tenacious determination to be with her again through the power of his music.

Bob Marley represents this idea of ambition through Orfeo as he too had a robust desire to make change, however, Bob Marley’s change was for the world. He had set out to “make music that would satisfy and represent his homeland, but would also reach a much larger world outside” (Gilmore, 2005). Marley had realized that he had power with his music not just merely for entertainment, but to bring awareness of Rastafari (which was a political and religious movement) to Jamaica as well as the rest of the world. Marley had built his popularity on a universal power of language through music which was both simultaneously poetic while political. Bob Marley is considered to be influential because of his ambition as he became a revolutionary voice for human rights of the poor. His philosophy and his music had touched many hearts and many minds of people all across the world, including people of color and religion.

While Orfeo and Bob Marley were two very different people, they were two deeply ambitious men who set out to make a change for themselves. Whatever the end goal was, whether it was to be with the love of his life no matter what for Orfeo, or to bring awareness to the world about Rastafari for Bob Marley, both characters were heavily determined to make that change for themselves a reality. Because both Orfeo and Bob Marley were so talented they were able to make change through the power of their universal language known as music.