The Bacchae GRADE A+ GUARNTEED
Reasonable worship of the gods
The play shows that the reasonable and rational worship of the gods
will lead to favourable fate for mortals. Do not worship one god
above the others as it will always end badly (as shown by the Maenads)
but equally do not exclude one god from worship as this will also end
badly (as shown by Pentheus). Through Thebes' problems with divine
worship, Euripides is subtly praising Athens and their success in
divine worship. They worship equally and reasonably. (they have
festivals for many gods and worship the gods, minus Athene, equally)
Tiresias and Cadmus represent....
They represent wisdom and tradition, they are the only 2 men willing
to accept Dionysus into the Pantheon. Divine worship is tradition.
Theme: what is wisdom? According to this wisdom is age and tradition,
whereas Pentheus is not wise because he rejects all things to do with
tradition, in effect, the gods (is this his hamartia?)
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Significance of the portrayal of Thebes
Thebes is presented as an impious, immoral city, stained with the
blood of its crimes. Thebes rejects the gods and this leads to brutal,
barbaric bloodshed. The Athenian audience would see Thebes in a bad
light; a city that rejects tradition, religion and rationality.
Allows the Athenian audience to see a contrast between their own
flourishing, god-loved city and the suffering, disgraced city of
Thebes
Perhaps the Athenians did not want a mythical history of disaster
tainting their city - that is why the majority of tragedy is set in
Distant cities
Aim of the chorus
The chorus represents the followers of Dionysus, they are trying to
initiate the audience into the cult
Characters driving the plot
In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus drives the plot forward and he is the
character from whom we learn all the moral and social lessons.
Whereas in the Bacchae, the driving of the plot is split between
Pentheus, Dionysus, Agave and the Maenads
Presentation of Dionysian ecstasy not as 'chaos' but as a restoration
of the 'true self'
Tiresias argues that Dionysus brings the gift of 'second sight', he
says Dionysus doesn't 'corrupt' women, but instead brings out their
'true nature'
,Conflicting ideas of rationality
Pentheus thinks Tiresias and Cadmus are mad, and Tiresias and Cadmus
think Pentheus is mad. There are contrasting ideas of what it means
to be 'rational'. In the end, Pentheus dies a terrible death, which
leads us to believe that Tiresias and Cadmus are right and Pentheus
is the one who is irrational - his irrationality and refusal to
believe in the god is what leads to his demise.
Significance of Dionysus appearing in mortal form at the start of the
play
Euripides uses the prologue to establish Dionysus as a direct human
agent. It signals the central role that disguise and recognition play
within the play and also points out the form-changing element that is
so characteristic of Dionysian cults and myths. As a god born of a
mortal mother, Dionysus comes from both the Olympian heights and the
mortal world, which allows him to connect on a deeper level with his
followers, inspiring in them communal and intimate emotions that are
so important to the play's thematic elements.
In the prologue, Euripides also lets the audience in on the secret -
none of the other characters in the play know who the stranger from
Lydia is - this heightens the dramatic irony that overshadows all
tragedy.
The fact that Dionysus opens the play would also have been
significant to a classical audience, who would have been viewing the
play at the Dionysia. It is almost as if Dionysus himself is
commencing the festival, which would create a sense of anticipation
and excitement for the play to come.
The chorus in the bacchae - outdated? or does E revive it introducing
new elements?
By Euripides's time, the chorus had become outdated, yet Euripides gave the device a
new life by integrating it with elements of the play itself. The chorus become the
bacchae (In the adaptation of the Bacchae by Warwick university, they explore this
element with greater focus, in which the chorus members are also the maenads
worshiping Dionysus on Mount Cth.). They describe the Dionysian rites from the
perspective of an insider, heightening the drama, hysteria and passion of the play
through dance and music.
The Maenads in relation to social order
The maenads represent a violent rupture from social order. These
women represent the more violent, destructive aspect of Dionysus, as
the harbinger of disordered abandon
Euripides is interested not only in the nature of Dionysus but in the
nature of religious worship itself - he argues for and against
Dionysian worship
, And so he provides a number of reasons for and against worshiping the
god. Pentheus argues in the name of self-preservation, preservation
of Thebes and rationality. He has faith in the traditional models of
society in which the woman is subservient to man, never engaging
herself in irrational emotions. He is reluctant to accept anything
new into his city (the paradox being that the cult of Dionysus is in
fact very old, and to reject it is to reject tradition and divine
status). Tiresias and Cadmus accept the cult of Dionysus, in turn
showing their immense respect for the divine. They argue that
Dionysus is a god who brings emotional relief, and who is immensely
powerful, and his cult should thus be worshiped seriously and
accepted into the city.
Female liberation vs submission to male authority
Dionysian cults allowed women to indulge in the open expression of
violent emotions, unlike 5th century Athens, which, like Pentheus,
required women to be modest, self- controlled, and possessors of good
sense. At the arrival of the Dionysian cult the city of Thebes must
decide what women can and should do. Pentheus stresses authoritarian
nature of this concept of femininity, whereas the chorus aims for a
basic sense of good mental health and a balanced mind.
Pentheus is justified in his reaction to the cult of Dionysus
Although his reaction is typical of his violent and tyrannical nature,
Pentheus is the ruler and guardian of Thebes, the wellbeing of the
city lies in his hands - he sees the cult of Dionysus as a danger to
his city and his people. As a leader he seeks to banish a cult that
to him seems immoral in order to protect his city - are these not the
qualities of a good leader?
The significance of Tiresias calling Pentheus mad
Theme of madness and sanity. Tiresias here says that extreme rigidity,
even though in the service of sanity, is a dangerous form of madness.
Dionysus' appearance in the prologue
It is important as it reflects his ambiguous nature - he defies
categories such as male/female, Greek/foreign, divine/human. He was
born in Thebes but wears Persian clothes, he is male but his beauty
is effeminate, he comes to punish but wears a serene smile - alludes
to the key role that disguise and illusion will play in the play
The first ode
The first ode is a balanced but deliberately exotic song (Euripides
is clearly pinning the origins of Dionysus' cult on eastern origins),
and contains many veiled references to the more violent aspects of
Dionysian worship and pleasure. The maenads praise the ecstatic,
unrestrained worship of the god, they reference the ground 'flowing
with milk and nectar' and 'the joy of eating raw flesh' It shows the
audience that they have both physically and metaphorically wandered
