Dramatic Conflict in Euripedes' "The Bacchae"

There are many examples of dramatic conflict in Euripedes’ play, “The Bacchae.” These include, but are not limited to: men vs. women, gods vs. men, wisdom vs. the rashness of youth, and others. One of the more significant examples of dramatic conflict is that of tradition vs. change, as shown through the character of Pentheus.

Although Pentheus is apparently young and inexperienced, he is surprisingly traditional and very resistant to change. He has strong beliefs in how the world around him operates, how people should worship, and especially, what is “proper” behavior for women.

During the various ceremonies and rites the women perform for the worship of Dionysus, they become drunk, dance ecstatically, go off into the woods and apparently lie down with men who are not their husbands. On lines 222-230, Pentheus expresses his shock and disgust about the women’s behavior to Cadmus and Tiresias:

Afterwards, they go sneaking off one by one
to various nooks
to lie down – with men;
giving out they’re priestesses,
inspired, of course! (Euripedes l. 222-230)

Why the women are acting in a “bad” manner is even more unacceptable to Pentheus: for the worship of a “new” god, Dionysus. Pentheus cannot accept that there may be a new god, he can’t even give the idea any serious consideration:

This is the character who claims
that Bacchus is a god … Oh, yes, he does! …
stitched up once upon a time in Zeus’s thigh.
Well, we know what happened to that little shoot:
sizzled by a thunderbolt along with mother and her lie –
she’d had the nerve to name
Zeus the Father as her lover.
What gal! What effrontery! (l. 241-245)

Later, Pentheus is surprised when Dionysus escapes the bonds that he had been in. One would think that this would cause Pentheus to slow down and think a little, use some reason and logic to figure out how Dionysus escaped. Unfortunately for Pentheus, he is so set in his ways – the way things have “always” been – that this minor miracle is beyond his comprehension. Even when the Herdsman tells him what he had witnessed in the woods, Pentheus refuses to think that just maybe things are changing in his narrow worldview - that maybe the women’s worship of Dionysus is more than “mass hysteria” (l. 778)

In following one of the characteristics of a tragedy – that of religious and ethical instruction – Euripedes hopes that the audience learns from the mistakes of Pentheus and recognizes that while there is not necessarily anything inherently wrong with tradition, but that things do change. That what was once “right” or “wrong” can change and that people need to be at least open to the idea of change. However, he does not want us to accept change without question, but hopes that we learn the importance of exercising our own reason and intelligence, examine what we can see with our own eyes, listen to the reason of others, and determine for ourselves what is “right” or “wrong.”

Works Cited

Euripedes. Three Plays of Euripides: Alcestis, Medea, The Bacchae. Trans. Paul Roche. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1974.

Written for Professor Harman's Survey of Humanities I class at Pikes Peak Community College, 27th October 2003