Euripides - The Bacchae - Summary and analysis scenes 1,2 PDF

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Euripides – The Bacchae Scene I & Choral Interlude I SUMMARY

Scene I Tiresias, an old, wise seer of Thebes arrives at the palace and calls for Cadmus to come meet him. These old friends have decided to don fawnskins and worship Dionysus on Mt. Cithaeron. As they begin to dance and start their journey up the mountain, they feel a surprisingly youthful glee in their limbs. Pentheus appears on stage and does not see the old men, lost in his own thoughts, enraged as he is by the recent news of the runaway women. He considers the bacchic rites to be simply a thin veil to cover licentious, depraved and drunken behavior. As king he has already ordered the arrest and imprisonment of all the maenads, but his campaign to bring the maenads back to civilization has been made harder by the recent arrival of a foreign Dionysian wizard with long hair, wine-flushed cheeks and a large group of female followers. As Pentheus is growling about what he will do with this enchanter's hair— once he manages to catch him—he sees his grandfather and Tiresias dressed in bacchic style and launches into a admonishing tirade against them and their foolishness. Tiresias argues back, explaining that if Demeter, an esteemed god, is the god of solid nourishment, that is, food, then Dionysus is the god of liquid nourishment, that is, wine. Dionysus's gift releases pain, brings sleep and gives joy, he explains. Further, Tiresias continues to argue that the story concerning Zeus sewing Dionysus into his thigh rests on mistaken interpretations and a confused etymology. The old, blind seer ends his response to Pentheus by concluding that Dionysus was a powerful god, master of frenzy, inspiration, panic and prophecy, and so deserves respect on account of his ecstatic power. Ads by ZINC

In reply Pentheus spitefully threatens to destroy Tiresias's religious objects and sacrificial stores. The two old men hurry away, hoping that Pentheus does not bring calamity upon the family through his unremitting rejection of Dionysus, but knowing that he will. Choral Interlude I The chorus sings the first interlude, or Stasimon, in four parts. They first call upon Holiness, a minor deity, to witness Pentheus's sacrilegious insolence against Dionysus, and then glorify the quiet life that does not indulge folly and recklessness. In the second half of the song, the chorus talks lovingly about escaping to Cyprus, the isle of Aphrodite, where they can perform their rites in beauty and peace. This mood is invoked again in the last section where they praise Dionysus for the peace, gaiety, and moderate life he brings. ANALYSIS

Euripides is interested not only in the nature of Dionysus but in the nature of religious belief itself, and so he provides a number of arguments both for and against worshipping the god. In Scene I the two old men articulate the wrong reasons for taking up the new religion: self-preservation and fear. Pentheus, while rejecting the worship of Dionysus, also displays the most extreme and violent form of the same tendency: self-preservation, upholding the family name and rigid rationality. The first half of the scene is also meant to be somewhat burlesque and a jibe at an overly intellectual Athenian breed of that time. Pentheus's entry is key to establishing his character and his position on the new religion. His self-absorption and short-temper are evident from the start as is his preoccupation with sex. His understanding of the Dionysian religion goes no further than the crude, tabloid, and schoolboy-fantasy level. 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, selfcontrolled, and possessors of good sense. This ideal of female virtues also

implied a certain submission to male authority. 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's reaction to the old men is once more typical of his tyrannical, hotheaded and aggressive nature. One should, however, remember that, as a ruler and guardian of the state, Pentheus is somewhat justified in his desire to not just curtail but crush what he sees as a decadent and immoral cult. Tiresias's arguments in defense of Dionysus are meant to be somewhat clever and dry, as opposed to wise. Tiresias rationalizes the necessity of believing in Dionysus in two ways, first he tries to explain away the fantastical elements of Dionysus's birth as etymological confusion. Then he tries to weave the god into the established Pantheon of gods by comparing him with Demeter, and powers of other gods such as Apollo and Pan. One crucial and accurate part of Tiresias's speech concerns his calling Pentheus mad. This is one of many inversions of sanity and madness in the play. The nature of madness itself one of the major themes. Tiresias here says that extreme rigidity, even though in the service of sanity, is a dangerous form of madness. Moreover to stick to what one thinks, to the point of waging a war against the gods is surely the greatest folly. The chorus parallels the tone and mood of the play at each stage, like a cardiograph. The first ode is a balanced song, extolling the joys of a healthy, restrained life and gentle pleasures but it contains many veiled references to the more violent aspects of Dionysian worship and pleasure.

Scene II & Interlude II SUMMARY

Scene II

A servant leads the disguised Dionysus into the palace courtyard and presents him to a very pleased Pentheus. The servant tells Pentheus of the remarkably easy arrest of the Stranger (Dionysus), who did not even attempt to flee but gently offered up his own hands to the guard. Not only did the Stranger exhibit a remarkable coolness at the face of authority but he even smiled at the servant. In fact the Stranger was so well behaved that the servant felt ashamed and was compelled to tell the stranger that he was only working on orders from his master. The servant also tells Pentheus that his other prisoners, the Theban women who were driven mad by Dionysus, had all mysteriously escaped to the mountains to continue their singing and dancing. Those who saw them escape say that the chains came miraculously undone by themselves and the doors unbarred themselves. This last miracle and the Stranger's impeccable behavior impressed the servant, and he tries to hint to Pentheus that the king's behavior might be wrong. But the eager Pentheus is all too happy with his new prisoner and does not pay attention to the many signs of Dionysus's divinity. The aggressive king concentrates on interrogating the prisoner and flaunting his power over him. Pentheus begins by asking the Stranger where he comes from and on whose authority he now introduces these rites to Thebes. The Stranger tells the king that Dionysus himself initiated him. Pentheus then tries to scornfully insult and pervert the myth of Dionysus's birth and powers. The Stranger remains untouched by anger and states clearly that the god himself instructed him on various bacchic rites. The arrogant king immediately wants to know, and thus mock, these rites but his jibes are brushed away by the calm Dionysus who merely says, "it is not lawful for you to hear—though it is worth knowing." As Pentheus has been impious, continues the Stranger, he is not allowed to know what the rites consist of or what the god's true nature is. Pentheus is enraged when he is denied access to this information and he persists in using other rhetorical tools in the hope of tricking the Stranger, all to no avail. The only thing Pentheus learns is that he is unable to learn anything and has only exposed his own anger and futility. As in earlier scenes, when faced by a foe, Pentheus

resorts to crude physical acts: arrest, imprison, and destroy. Pentheus ends their first encounter by promising to cut off Dionysus' hair, destroy his possessions, and lock him up for good. The Stranger calmly states that his god will free him and then chain and punish Pentheus. Pentheus screams that Dionysus to be chained in the dark palace stables at once. Interlude II The second interlude or Stasimon is made up of three parts and is simple and direct. The first section reproaches not just Pentheus but all of Thebes for rejecting Dionysus. They once more tell the story of the birth of Dionysus stressing his connection to Zeus and fire. In contrast the second section describes Pentheus's lowly ancestry; the house of Cadmus was said to have descended from a dragon's tooth planted in the earth. Pentheus, a "wild-faced monster" and a murderous man, must be punished. The chorus calls upon its Lord to punish this monster who has locked up its leader in a dark dungeon. The final section meditates on where the god "rearer of beasts" may be. The chorus imagines him to be in Nysa, a mountain associated with a different story of another city that resisted the god. Then the chorus wonders if he is in the wooded recesses of Olympus (home of the Greek gods). The chorus asks if he may be in Pieria, birthplace of the Muses, a region of pleasant rivers and valleys to the north of Mt. Olympus; a common symbol of the relaxation and happiness that Dionysus's worshippers attach to him. Lastly, the Chorus thinks he may be crossing the two rivers Axios and Lydias on his way to Thebes from Olympus. ANALYSIS

The principal axis of the play is the relationship between Pentheus and Dionysus, laid out over three episodes. The role and power dynamic of each of the characters is completely reversed during the three encounters. Like a seesaw, the fall of one is at the expense of the other. One may argue that the disparity in power is clearly superficial, for Dionysus has the power to open and orchestrate the entire narrative of the play. As a god he has

decided to arrange an illusion to best teach Thebes a lesson and to fully reveal Pentheus's faults. This twin-position of Dionysus as actor and author is demonstrated amply in this scene as Pentheus questions the Stranger on the nature of the god. In this first of the three rendezvous, a pretty and effeminate Dionysus, the Stranger, enters as the prisoner of the commanding, interrogative Pentheus. Once the two start to converse however, Pentheus begins to lose his authoritative position, for Dionysus is calm and true in all his responses. Pentheus's response to such profundity is of course anger and then force, "you must pay penalty for your foul sophistries!" At some points in this scene, the god seems to give Pentheus room to either learn or repent but Pentheus refuses to see anything in the new religion except his basest, preconceived fantasies. In a key moment of delicious dramatic irony, as well as psychological revelation, Pentheus sarcastically says that the stranger's god will surely come to rescue him: "Dionysus: Even now he is close by and sees what I suffer. Pentheus: Well, where is he? He is not visible to my eyes. Dionysus: Here, with me, but you, because of your impiety, do not behold him." Pentheus is blinded by his ignorance and doomed by his refusal to see beyond what is right before his eyes. His foolishness is further heightened by the fact that the audience knows who the Stranger really is and begins to understand the impertinence of Pentheus's manner. One should also remember that in all the previous accounts of Dionysus's miracles, listed by Tiresias and the servant, Pentheus also refused to acknowledge the new god's powers. The one thing the king keeps returning to is the power of his authority and his ability to enforce it. In this scene and for the first time in the play, we see the limits of Pentheus's authority. The king cannot even begin to mock the Stranger's beliefs and rites, for he does not and cannot know what they are. Even the arrest of the Stranger was not really Pentheus's success, for the Stranger wanted to be lead to the king and thus walked into the palace himself.

Unlike the first ode, the chorus in this interlude now hankers for action and justice. However, the chorus is not completely bloodthirsty as it does return to a description of various peaceful mountains, rivers and valleys at the very end. Another point to notice is the manner in which the chorus echoes the major point of the second scene: the confrontation of the two principal characters of the play. They devote one verse to Dionysus and the next to his antithesis, Pentheus. Dionysus's divine birth from fire and the heavens is sharply contrasted to Pentheus's bestial and earthy origins. Finally, the chorus's ode forms a neat bridge between two scenes as their cry to Dionysus for justice is answered by his booming divine voice offstage.

Scene III & Interlude III SUMMARY

Scene III There is a flash of white light and the chorus hears the divine voice of the god Dionysus offstage answering their prayers for justice from the scene before. Dionysus calls on the spirit of the earthquake to shake the palace and the chorus watches the columns of Pentheus' palace collapse. The god summons fire next and the flames on his mother Semele's tomb flare up. The chorus is stunned and flings itself on the ground in mounting hysteria. Dionysus then enters in his disguised form as the Stranger and the chorus' leader and asks the women to rise. The women greet their leader as though he were the god himself and in that moment they unconsciously recognize the twin-position of Dionysus. However they soon revert to addressing their leader as a mortal and ask him how he was set free from the palace stables and the grip of Pentheus. The Stranger, barely bothering to hide his supernatural powers replies that he freed himself. When the chorus mentions knots and chains, Dionysus replies that he used the powers of illusion to trick Pentheus into thinking he was binding him but what the king bound was in fact a bull. The Stranger says that at this point the god

Dionysus shook up the palace with an earthquake and started a fire at Semele's tomb. The audience now begins to hear about the miracles from inside the palace. Once the fire flared up, Pentheus assumed that the whole palace was up in flames and ran around ordering his servants to put out the fire with water. During this confusion Pentheus suddenly remembered his prisoner and ran back to try and seize him. But instead of stabbing the Stranger with his sword, Pentheus is again tricked into piercing shadows on the wall. Finally the Stranger lists the other humiliations Dionysus subjects Pentheus to, such as breaking the palace completely. As the stranger walked out of the ruins he saw Pentheus collapse exhausted to the ground. As he finishes telling his story to the chorus, the Stranger hears Pentheus' footsteps. The harassed Pentheus enters, ready for battle and carnage, still unwilling to acknowledge the divinity and power of Dionysus. Dionysus asks him to stay calm and reminds him that no matter how many reinforcements arrive, how high the walls, god will triumph. Pentheus continues to hanker for action and is interrupted by a messenger, a cowherd who saw the bacchants at Mt. Cithaeron and who has come to tell his king, Pentheus. The cowherd first asks if he may speak honestly and without fear of punishment for what he says may go against what Pentheus believes. Pentheus reassures him, eager to learn more about the rites he is forbidden to know. The cowherd saw the three bands of women, including Semele's sisters, sleeping peacefully and decently in the open air. They showed no signs of drunken misbehavior and wantonness. As the sun came up they heard the sound of cattle nearby and sprung up in joy, letting down their hair. They pulled up their fawnskins, donned garlands and played with forest creatures —some even suckled wolf cubs. When they pierced rocks, milk, honey and wine leapt out. The cowherd tells Pentheus that had he been there he would have been convinced of Dionysus's divinity. The excited cowherds got a little ambitious however and decided to try and capture Pentheus's

mother Agaue and bring her back to the palace. As they try and ambush Agaue they are discovered by the women. The furious maenads attacked the men and the herds with their bare hands. The cowherds got away, but the unfortunate cattle were torn to bits at the hands of the frenzied women. The cowherd ends his story with another plea that the king receive the new, powerful god, and his gifts, into Thebes. But once again Pentheus ignores the supernatural signs in this story and focuses on the unruliness and madness of the maenads. He is shocked that mere women can yield such power and he decides to capture and kill all of them. Dionysus steps in at this point and begins to tempt and ensnare Pentheus's imagination. The stranger promises to show Pentheus the rites of the maenads and the king is fascinated. Dionysus further argues that the king must go in disguise and thus avoid the same fate as the cattle. Pentheus is suspicious for a moment but soon capitulates. Dionysus begins to describe each item of the disguise the king must wear: long hair, long skirts, a thyrsus and a fawnskin. Pentheus is thrilled at the opportunity of being able to see first hand all he has imagined and suspected thus far. Dionysus further argues that this covert action is better than spilling blood. Pentheus is ensnared. Interlude III The third interlude, like the third scene is also in three parts. Unlike the last interlude, the tone of the chorus is now relieved, triumphant and exhilarated. Once more the chorus goes over the events of the last scene and is heartened by the success of their leader, Dionysus. They imagine themselves to be a deer, running through the forest, free from the clutches of a hunter. 'What is wisdom?' they ask themselves and decide that wisdom is vengeance. They now see the hand of god working and sense that justice is near. They sing about both glorious escape and the sweet joys of divine revenge.

ANALYSIS The longest and pivotal scene of the play is divided into three parts: the palace miracles told twice; the cowherd's account of the fantastical activities of the maddened bacchants on the mountain; the second exchange between Pentheus and Dionysus in which Pentheus agrees to dress up as a woman. The divine voice of Dionysus is heard from offstage and is solemn, grand and terrifying and this commanding and powerful form of the god is directly contrasted with the Stranger, who walks on stage straight after. The Stranger is calm, collected, and even a little amused. Dionysus the god is clearly different from Dionysus in disguise, and yet they are the same. Moreover they exist in their different forms simultaneously, as is shown in the double telling of the same miracles. While the audience and the chorus were hearing the divine god give the command for the earthquake, the Stranger was inside the palace torturing Pentheus. Since the start of the play Dionysus has been demonstrating the range and intensity of his powers. While the initial powers were benign and peaceful, he is now beginning to show his fearful aspect. Dionysus first uses force to (literally) shake up Pentheus and his palace, then illusion to neutralize Pentheus' brute physical responses. All the series of little illusions— Pentheus wrestling with a bull, running around the palace in panic and battling with shadows—are meant to be somewhat comic. Dionysus is beginning to strip the king of his so called powers and turn him into an object of ridicule. The toppling of the palace is both a visual symbol for Pentheus's collapsing authority and a sign of the imminent disintegration of his sanity, for Pentheus will soon be dismantled psychologically. Dionysus knows that Pentheus has a rather obsessive fascination with the secret activities of the maenads and so the Stranger uses this to bait the king. Pentheus is completely enraptured with the idea and thus agrees to dress up as a woman. Pentheus's inability to make sensible decisions is clearly exposed.

By the end of this scene not only have the roles of king and pr...