Dionysus: A Theoretical Analysis

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INTRODUCTION Teaching teenagers offers multitudes of challenges. The most difficult part of my job is responding to students who suffer from loneliness, isolation, physical disorders, and family dysfunction (AKA “Terrible Life Syndrome”). Too frequently, the youth I educate are powerless to manage their despair, so they escape through digital media (video games and television) or through destructive behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and suicide. Part of the problem lies in their tendency to repress the pain they have, and escapism is easier than facing the demons that reside inside. The result: they are unable to live fully, unable to experience deeply. Not only do physical barriers challenge people to avoid engaging fully …show more content…

The implication is that this is the place where people must reside to fulfill their potential and live according to their own …show more content…

In it, we see Agave living an intuitive life celebrating nature and worshipping Dionysus; conversely, we see Pentheus resisting his instincts in his quest for order and logic. In this quest, Pentheus renounces Dionysus and everything the god represents, including living in accord nature. Even at the beginning Dionysus reveals his punishment against Thebans’ if they (particularly Pentheus) “try to make those Bacchic women leave, to drive them from the mountains forcibly” (lines 67-8) that he will fight them. The professed reason for this struggle is to prove that he is a god and should receive sacrificial offerings. A less ostensible motivation lies deeper: in denying Dionysus, Pentheus denies everything that Dionysus represents. He represents the Great Mystery whose rituals Pentheus labels “silly” (line

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