this is my passage analysis essay on the "Bacchae" by Euripidies
can any one please critique, suggest, comment on this essay. thanks in advance
The bacchaee demonstrates the conflict between forces of nature represented by Dionysus and the rigidity of civilisation symbolised through an imprudent king pentheus. Through which Euripides extols that a balance must be found between the two opposing forces in order for humanity to reach happiness (eudemonia). Thus he criticises the arrogance of Greek civilisation in ignoring the other, which Euripides represents is a vital part of humanity. This is Cleary demonstrated in the following passages.
The first passage illuminates the flaws of a civilised society, such as the rejection of the “other”, including, the dualities within human beings and new ideas and experiences (bachich worship) that are beyond the rational and the rules of the nomos. This is demonstrated through the inexperienced young king pentheus who possesses “tragic flaw” (amarthia) in displaying an over-confident ability in understanding the situation. Pentheus, a foe to hypocrisy, regards bachich rites as a mere cover for sensual indulgence, and views the worship of the maenads as “creeping off to lonely places” to give themselves to “lecherous men”. As the bachich rites are a threat to the order of his city, pentheus is determined to supress it by force. He warns that he will “hunt out” all the women on the mountain and “put an end” to the “outrageous bachism”. This demonstrates an extreme side of nomos, where pentheus is aiming to control forces that are beyond his control. He claims that he will “cut” Dionysus’s “head from his shoulders” once he get him inside his wall. This is quiet ironic as the audience is aware of his disastrous defeat, which is further revealed when Pentheus deluded by the god dressed in women’s clothes and is inclined to “see” the forbidden, something that he regarded as “outrageous”. His desire to “see” leads him to his ultimate downfall. Thus euripidies represents when one doesn’t allow some room for a little madness (rapture) , once given the opportunity one can lose the balance, as pentheus did, lost all the control he had, and thus ended up destroyed. Hence Euripides emphasizes that humanity needs a “balance” a “middle ground” between two opposing extremes in order to sustain.
Whereas in passage 1 Pentheus was keen to put an end to bacchic worship and punish Dionysus, in passage 2 the situation is completely reversed against him. He is dressed like a bacchante, half dazed in mind, following blindly his treacherous guidance, who will take him to the mountain, where a disastrous fate awaits him. Pentheus clumsily tells Dionysus that “I’ll follow your advice”. This reflects the inconsistencies within humans and stresses that there is duals within us, both male and female inclinations, both the need to control and let go, and its useless to completely disregard one side of ourselves in favour of the other. Pentheus who represented logic and order is far from it in this passage, rather he is being controlled by a powerful force of nature, Dionysus, who is inclined to punish him for the “arrogance that he showed” in rejecting the bachich worship. This is depicted when Dionysus aware his group of followers, whom are mainly women, that Penethus is coming and “ death shall punish him”. The punishment doesn’t only depict the faith of an overconfident king, but also reflects how men of arrogance who show excessive authority against nature is doomed. The events after passage 1 also demonstrate this, when pentheus tries to imprison Dionysus but unknowingly grabs on a bull “panting with rage”. His kingdom is destroyed by an earthquake symbolising the power of nature and indicates the futility of resistance against the forces of physis.
Furthermore, by dressing pentheus in female garb Dionysus aims to “humble” pentheus from the “arrogance that he showed when first” (in passage 1) he “threatened” Dionysus. Through this Euripides aims to challenge the Greek gender role, which in displays the conceit behaviour of greek male in dis-acknowledging the other in this case “women” as an equal human being. This is also done by opening the closed doors of Thebes and letting women run wild in the mountain, in order to connect them back with the nature. This doesn’t only challenge the Greek view of women, but also remind the Greek audience that humans are a part of nature, and should not deny it. The Greek audience would have been shocked to see their king in woman’s clothes and later ripped apart limb to limb in the hands of women. It would have been a daring challenge to the Greek audience to acknowledge that women to possess power. At t his point the audience would perceive Dionysus not only as a god who bestows gifts of nature on humankind, but also as a fearful god who must not be opposed, or else a tragic end will be the result. Dionysus characteristics are representative of the dualities within humans. He is the “most terrible, although most gentle to human kind”, he is a demi-god the son of Zeus the leader of gods, and Semele the product of civilisation. He is both powerful (masculine) and beautiful, possesses effeminate looks. Although he represents rapture and ecstasy, yet he possesses control and rationality. All this dualities reflect the contraries within humans. Humans mind is the most powerful tool that we possess, although it has the ability to create, it can also intent to destroy. Thus Euripides extols that for humanity to blossom it must accept both of the opposites, understand the two extremes and determine a middle ground between them, in order to act appropriately rather than acting to little or too much. In regards to pentheus, Dionysus lost the balance between being ‘gentle’ and ‘terrible’. He completely ignored acting ‘ gently’ and he handled the situation in the most ‘terrible’ way possible. The rhetorical question by the chorus “what prayer should we call wise”, makes the audience wonder if bachich worship, with the bloodshed and chaos that resulted was as a result of a wise act. Dionysus a god competing with a human, who lack intelligence (Sophia) and powers of gods, is an unwise act indeed. Whilst the unrestrained enthusiasm of bachic worshipers displays the “happiness and pleasure” that is brought about through Dionysian worship, “dancing with head tossed high”. The destruction and chaos that resulted as a consequence reflects the horrendous side of such rites. Thus Euripides depicts both the joy and chaos that results from bachihc worship, as it the order and control applied by nomos.
Passage 3 show the tragic result of fierce antagonism between Dionysus (physis) and pentheus (civilisation). Pentheus who attempted to suppress bacchic rites by applying the order of civilisation, ended up destroyed. If he welcomed the “other” Dionysian worship, his fate would have been different. As Cadmus explains to pentheus mother Agaue that he was punished rightly so, he like Agaue had “sinned in refusing reference to a god”, the morals of this remark is to aware humanity that it mustn’t fear the other but accept it. Passage 2 also displays the lethal results of loosing control, of insanity, of freedom and letting go. The audience sympathises with a mother who has killed her own son with her own son. The freedom that she was denied before, restrained by under control of a civilisation, was given to Agaue, driven in a complete state of madness and out of control, to the extent she is unaware of her outrageous actions replying to Cadmus that she is holding a “lions head” whereas she is holding Pentheus’s head. This depicts the results of rapture without any restrictions. Euripides portrays the tragic outcome of humanity letting go of their sanity and control and exulting into an animalistic state of rapture, thus he stresses that a balance must be found between the two in order to avoid chaos.
Pentheus “hideous death” show the power and threat that nature (Dionysus) can be to an orderly society. And also demonstrates the disastrous results of resisting against natural forces. Thus by showing the danger of inclining to one side of humanity and acting excessively, Euripides suggests that a balance must be found between the two opposing forces, nature and civilisation, in order to avoid chaos and thus sustain.
( I THINK ITS TOO LONG) HOW MANY WORDS SHOULD ONE WRITE ON THE EXAM??
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