"Bacchae", by Euripides, talks about Dionysus (also called Bromius, Bacchus, or Evius), son of Zeus and a mortal woman, Semele, who came back to his homeland of Thebes to show everyone that he was a real god. His mother was killed while giving birth to him and her sisters spread rumors that she lied about her pregnancy. Therefore his family does not know about his existence. Dionysus's cousin Pentheus was not convinced that he was god and argued with him in spite of everyone around telling him to stop fighting with Dionysus. At the end of the play, his own mother killed Pentheus while she was at the state of being possessed by Bacchus; not knowing it was her son. Why does Pentheus get killed? This essay discusses three possible explanations for that.
The first and the most important reason is, of course, that Pentheus denies Dionysus being a god. Dionysus came to Thebes to prove to everyone who he was but Pentheus's refusal could mislead people. This angered Bromius and he wanted to put a stop to that. In the beginning of the play, Dionysus did not want to kill his cousin. However, after Pentheus started arguing with Bacchus and had him chained, Dionysus got more upset. He said that Pentheus meant nothing to him, and that the wise know how to restrain their passions. This shows that that was the point when Dionysus decided to get revenge against Pentheus.
It is very clear to us that Pentheus is a young boy with very little experience. His grandfather Cadmus together with the great sage Teiresias. Cadmus said that we should believe in gods, but not necessarily love them. That was what he wanted Pentheus to do. It's known that Greeks honored the elders but Pentheus ignored the advise and this way, showed disrespect and dishonor of his grandfather. That is another point that angered Dionysus even more.
Throughout the play, it seems that Dionysus does not care much about his relatives. He came to Thebes not to simply pay a visit to his family but to show them his powers and pay back to those people who spread rumors about his mother. That was why it did not bother him to kill Pentheus even though he was his cousin. He thought that by killing him, he would show his real powers and once again prove his true being a god.
In Odysseus's mind he has very good reasons to kill the suitors. He decided to kill them when he found out that they wanted to marry his wife. The suitors has all assumed that he was dead, for 20 years. As a result they tried to marry his wife. Penelope also believed that he was still alive and she tried to delay any marriages. Odysseus's idea to kill them all is not very logical especially because while he was away on his 20 year expedition he cheated on his wife two times. Odysseus actions were very rash. The reader can see this when Eurymachus says, “Rash actions, many here,” (Homer 818). Eurymachus knows that Odysseus has made rash decision and he is trying to show him his ways and how it is bad. Later the reader reads that Odysseus doesn’t really see that and he is just excited to be reunited with his wife.
In this long narrative poem, Odysseus changes from being disrespectful to the gods by explicitly saying that he doesn’t need them, to longing forgiveness later by stating that he is nothing without them. After the success with the Trojan Horse, Odysseus considered himself higher than the gods because he, a mortal, was able to accomplish something even the gods couldn’t. He boasted to Poseidon and the others about how he is overpowering, and how his power and abilities were far beyond their limits. His epic boasting to the gods had lead him to create his own obstacles as, he is one who essentially was the cause. This disrespectful attitude is the personality which shows how Odysseus behaved at the beginning of the story. It not only demonstrates what he was once like, but how his obstacles get much more precarious. As this is the attitude in the beginning, by the end of this epic, Odysseus understands the value of gods and their power, even if it’s for good or bad. At the end of book twenty-two, page 1160, on lines 107-109, Odysseus finally accepts the fact that he is not the biggest thing
When arguing the statement, the character of Pentheus in the Bacchae is portrayed as earning his fate, whereas the character of Hippolytus in the Hippolytus is portrayed as an innocent victim of the god, I must both, agree and disagree with it. I would definitely agree with it on a shallow point of view, but would have to disagree with it upon dissecting both the stories. The stories tell of Hippolytus being killed for something he did not do, while Pentheus was killed for not accepting the god Dionysus. But when you look deep into the meaning of each story, the apparent black and white assumptions of innocents and guilt change from definitive to doubt to say the least.
Sources tend to portray Dionysius rule in a negative light and seemingly avoid the latter part of his reign. L. Pearson suggested that the reason for this was because Philistus was in exile at the time (since many sources rely on him for a firsthand account) meaning there was a lack of information. Diodorus provides the most compressive surviving work of Dionysius rule but follows the anti-tyrannical tradition.
In Greek Mythology a rivalry always occurs between certain Gods and Goddesses. In the case of Apollo and Dionysus there is no exception. They are half brothers, both sons of Zues and they compete just as most brothers do. Though the two Greek Gods, Apollo and Dionysus, were actually very similar in some ways, they severely contrasted in others.
Many different interpretations can be derived from themes in Euripides's The Bacchae, most of which assume that, in order to punish the women of Thebes for their impudence, the god Dionysus drove them mad. However, there is evidence to believe that another factor played into this confrontation. Because of the trend of male dominance in Greek society, women suffered in oppression and bore a social stigma which led to their own vulnerability in becoming Dionysus's target. In essence, the Thebian women practically fostered Dionysian insanity through their longing to rebel against social norms. Their debilitating conditions as women prompted them to search for a way to transfigure themselves with male qualities in order to abandon their social subordination.
...gh. He has given Pentheus numerous warnings and opportunities to obey and worship him. Pentheus, due to his exceeding incompetence, has overlooked all of them. Because of his refusal to conform, he deserves punishment and it is a fate the audience has come to welcome. Dionysus now takes control over Pentheus and his all his actions. He humiliates Pentheus by dressing him in women's dress and parading him throughout Thebes. Dionysus then leads him up to Mount Cithaeron where he is caught spying on the Bacchae by his crazed mother, Agave. She proceeds to tear him to shreds with her bare hands. This is the end for Pentheus, and ultimately, due to his constant ignorance, a just death.
Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound portrays a greek god detained by a superior for disobedience against the latter’s rule. On the other hand in Euripides’ Hippolytus portrays lust and vengeance of the gods and the extent that they can go to to avenge it.
The play's plot, in a nutshell, develops like this. After solving the riddle of the Sphynx, who had kept Thebes under a curse of some kind, Oedipus is invited to become king of the city. He marries Jocasta, the widow of the previous king, and they have two children. When the play begins, Thebes is again under some sort of curse, and Oedipus tries to find out its cause so that he can rescue the city. He is told that the cause of the curse is that the murderer of the previous king is still in the city and has gone unpunished. In the process of searching for the murderer, Oedipus discovers that it is he, himself, who is responsible and that he is actually the son of Jocasta and her previous husband. Horrified by his sins of incest and murder, Oedipus claws out his eyes. Jocasta commits suicide because she is so disgraced.
Odysseus goes on by telling the King and his people about how Calypso, the lustrous nymph held him on an island for many years. He told them that the island was beautiful and so was Calypso, but that still stop him from wanting to return to his native land. Odysseus also mentioned that Calypso treated him poorly whenever he didn’t cooperate with what she asked him to do. Then, he told the story of how he escaped from the Cyclops Polyphemus’ cave. In the end, Polyphemus treated him poorly because of Odysseus taunting him. As Odysseus and his men were on the sea, Odysseus just couldn’t help but gloat about how he defeated the Cyclops. “So cyclops, no weak coward it was whose crew you bent to devour with your brute force! You shameless cannibal, daring to eat your guests in your own house, so Zeus and the other gods have paid you back!” (Lines
Within the pages of Eurpides’ Bacchae, Pentheus perceives as immensely sexist character throughout the tragedy due to the way he punishes men and women separately when both sexes celebrate and worship Dionysus. Even in Pentheus’ first appearance to the audience in scene one, he disgustedly speaks of how the women become so enticed by them becoming Maenads and the amount of ingested wine. Pentheus had just recently arrived back from a journey, so up until this moment has he only heard word of the messenger about the situation in Thebes. He had not really investigated the situation for himself but still insults the women and their femininity due to them worshiping Dionysus, not Aphrodite (lines 224 - 225). Pentheus goes as far to treat them
He believes he is untouchable and above thanking the gods, because of this he ends up a victim of poseidon.
...trated this by betraying the trust that people had in men and the gods with his foolish and reckless action against Cadmus and his family. Dionysus refuted rational thinking by letting his emotions for revenge stand in the way of his contemplating how a god should behave. In doing all the things Dionysus has destroyed the ideal way one would expect a god to conduct their self. Euripides portrays a Dionysus that single handily destroys all the cultural values of Hellenic Greece; however, Euripides is able to capture the changing values of his audience and pave the way for the culture of Hellenistic Greece to begin to dominate societal thought.
The death of Pericles was a significant event in the course of the Peloponnesian War; however, even without Pericles' leadership the Athenian Assembly had countless opportunities to prevent their loss and chose not to take them. The fickleness and inefficiency of democracy ('the mob') allowed the Athenians to be easily influenced and therefore electing populists such as Cleon, Lysicles and Hyperbolus into dominant leadership roles. Election, via democratic means, of such populists, meant that the Athenians would take a much more aggressive approach to the war and therefore abandon the policies that Pericles had previously established. So in turn, democracy the institution for which the Athenians fought tirelessly to protect, rather than the death of Pericles, ironically became the dominant factor influencing the final outcome of this Ancient Greek civil war.
Theater was an important part of Ancient Greek Civilization. History of Greek theatre began with religious festivals which aim to honor Dionysus, a god. During the festivals some citizens sing songs and perform improvisation plays and other participants of festivals judges this performances to decide which one of them was the best. These plays form the foundation of the Greek Theatre. Because of the competition between performers to create best performances, plays gained an aesthetic perspective and became a form of art. So, theatre as a part of religious rituals took attention of people and gained an importance in Ancient Greek Society.