Violence In The Bacchae

Throughout history, violence has played a crucial role. From world wars, battles, massacres, and etcetera, our world is painted with violence. In 405 BCE, Euripides wrote “The Bacchae”, an extremely violent play. It is complete with animals being torn apart, fighting between villagers and Maenads, and the gruesome death of Pentheus. The violence in the play is used to establish the relationships between the characters in the play and this function emphasizes the impact that violence has on the world of “The Bacchae”. In ancient greek plays, the interplay between gods and men is always important. In “The Bacchae” the only god is Dionysus. His relationship with other characters is based on possession - as he possesses the women of Thebes and Pentheus - and fear through violence. Dionysus causes violence in the women of Thebes and creates general mayhem through earthquakes, fires, etcetera. He inspires fear through violence which is what eventually leads to the people in the play believing, respecting, and worshipping him.
Dionysus gets what he wants through violence or threats of violence. Before Pentheus is possessed he only listens to the stranger - Dionysus in disguise - because he is worried about the …show more content…
When Agave says, “I have left my shuttle at the loom; I raised my sight to higher things - to hunting animals with my bare hands” (Euripides 209), she places violence as higher than traditional feminine actions/characteristics. Therefore, since masculinity was seen as higher than femininity, violence is a part of masculinity. Admittedly, Agave is under the control of Dionysus when she commits these violent acts, thus it can be argued whether she is masculine or Dionysus is. Regardless, the other characters in the play fear her, giving her power as said previously, and she views herself as more masculine and believes she is worth more because of the violence she has

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