Dionysus In Euripides 'Play The Bacchae'

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As the God of Wine and Revelry, Dionysus’ character in Euripides play, “The Bacchae”, is one that is almost ubiquitously appreciated and understood by man, as it represents a relatable sense of raw human nature and desire. The plot of the play concerns the efforts of King Pentheus of Thebes to crush his cousin Dionysus’ worship, but Pentheus’ refusal to acknowledge Dionysus’ power ultimately costs him his life. Although Pentheus is briefly successful in capturing the Stranger, a mysterious earthquake frees him and he is reunited with a band of female Bacchanalians. A devious plot follows, where Dionysus uses the allure of these women to persuade Pentheus to dress up as a transvestite and go into the woods to spy on them, where he is ultimately killed by these Bacchanalians, including his own mother. This crude and barbaric act is not the only one in the play that leaves the reader wondering where the boundaries of morality lie and how such a brutal event could occur. Semele, the mother of Dionysus is killed by Hera, Zeus’ wife, in the middle of her pregnancy with Zeus’ child. It is Dionysus that was subsequently not acknowledged by his own family, despite his mother’s brutal murder at the hands of a seemingly evil woman.

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