The Bacchae

In society, there are often figures that maintain a god-like presence. These figures include tangible entities such as presidents, dictators, kings, queens, or even gods themselves, such as Dionysus in Euripides’ The Bacchae. All of these entities are god-like because they exert an extraordinary influence on human beings and their actions. While physical beings can possess god-like qualities, this is not always the case; intangible concepts can also assume a “divine force” in society. Given this, Toomer uses Cane’s “Theater” to show how intangible concepts, specifically racism, can function as gods in society. By doing so, Toomer expands on Euripides’ assertion in The Bacchae, which confines gods to physical beings. What defines gods is their…

Throughout Greek literature, the gods dictate everything; from stirring a body of water to sink a ship to transforming people into inanimate objects and sometimes animals, the gods don’t feel the need to completely destroy their humans when their behavior is not up to par with the gods expectations. The use of transformations rather than destruction becomes particularly evident in The Bacchae and The Metamorphoses. In The Metamorphoses, there are several instances in the lives of the characters…

The Bacchae, written by Euripides, and Euthyphro, recorded by Plato, are both centered around the issue of piety and what constitutes piety. The Bacchae delves a little further into piety by also elaborating on the repercussions of being impious. Both works were written around 400 BCE and share a common thread in regards to attempting to convert people to their respective ways of thinking. However it can certainly be concluded that the two works take very different approaches in order to gain…

From a close analysis of the end of The Bacchae, readers can observe the society’s tolerance for violence and unquestioning trust in leaders. When the messenger comes back to Thebes to report the death of Pentheus, his use of language greatly differs from that of the chorus members and Agave, and through the differences and similarities, we can understand the common values of the time. The messenger seems distraught when he comes into Thebes, and it is clear from his tone that he does not…

Much in the same way that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, madness and its ever-changing definition––due both to perspective and to one’s own personal beliefs––is determined by each individual on a case-by-case basis. Society caters to this fluidity by manipulating conceptions of what is acceptable and correct. In many cases, madness is simply the over-stigmatization of opposing ideas from those already set by societal norms and traditions. Depending on your environment, different…

The Bacchae is a play written by Euripides, a greek playwright, whose works consisted mainly of tragedies that bore heavy messages on topics like war, religion and the greek gods, and the place that woman held in society (Roche, vii). Euripides was one of the last great playwrights of the Greek times, along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, who were much more popular than him in the time that he lived (Burke). Euripides’ heavy plays with large and noticeable lessons in them, were not pleasing to the…

On Wednesday March 8th, I attended Portland State University’s production of The Bacchae. The play was originally written by Euripides, but was translated from the original Greek by William Arrowsmith. This production was directed Richard Wattenberg. I found the show was very well down and did enjoy it overall, however there were some elements that didn’t seem to work within the production. The areas that I will be focusing on in my analysis of the production will be, acting, costumes, set…

The Destruction of Pentheus In Euripides’ “The Bacchae,” Dionysus, disguised as a man, goes out to Thebes to assert his rights and gain respect from those who do not acknowledge him as a god. He encounters Pentheus, king of Thebes, still in an adolescent stage and fearful of femininity, something that Dionysus’ worship revolves around. In The Menace of Dionysus: Sex Roles and Reversals in Euripides’ Bacchae, Charles Segal explains why men were so fearful of the out of control woman and how that…

to contain their animalist behaviors inside, so must a city have to maintain the chaos inside the city and must prevent any chaos from entering from the outside of the city. The order of the city is maintained by keeping the foreigners outside of the city, while the order of being human is maintained by suppressing the animalistic behavior. Plato utilizes the dialogue, Phaedrus, to distinguish a separation between inside and outside of the city. Euripides also engages his play, Bacchae, with the…

is that he is going bowling; he did not even think to discuss these plans with her first. At first glance, this opening scene seems innocence and possibly even a little fun as the audience views some light-hearted interaction between a husband and wife. However, this scene actually shows some insight into how Stanley has little regard for his wife. First, he yells for her though she does not like. He barely gives her time to prepare as he throws meat at her and plans to leave without any…