Two authority figures with much power are the agents that provoke the end results in both The Odyssey, an epic poem produced by Homer, and as well in Measure for Measure, a play written in the early 1600's by a man named William Shakespeare. Duke Vincentio is the leader of Vienna in Measure for Measure and has several comparative qualities as well as some divergence with Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle, in The Odyssey. Both supreme powers go undercover to help the protagonists and contribute to the outcome of the stories in which they are portrayed. I am going to present you with some information and background which brings these comparative and diverse qualities forth while giving insight to my reasoning.
             In Measure for Measure, Duke Vincentio is concerned with the well-being of his city and goes undercover as a friar to privately investigate the ruckus going on. Some people may view this as a cowardly act, but I firmly believe that his intention was to find out what was truly going on and try to see what needed to change to bring the city of Vienna peace. The main incident that the Duke "investigates" is Angelo trying to get Isabella to give up her virginity in order to "take her brother's head off the chopping block". (Shakespeare) Being her friar, the Duke knows what is going on when Isabella and Angelo meet to discuss her brother Claudio's sentence and uses his disguise as means of getting information about the whole ordeal. With this knowledge he attains from Isabella as an "outsider", so to speak, he finds out what's truly going on and uses this in carrying out the resolution in the end.
             Athena takes advantage of her goddess abilities many times throughout The Odyssey changing her physical appearance in order to convince mortals to follow her intuition throughout the story. Just one of these intentional works occurs in the first book of
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