The Bacchae

Pentheus is the grandson of Cadmus, son of Agaue, and the acting ruler of Thebes. At the start of the play, he has returned home after hearing about “strange goings-on in Thebes, criminal actions” (133). The city’s women have purportedly left for the mountains to engage in excessive drinking and sexual activity. They claim to be worshiping Dionysus, but Pentheus accuses them of serving Aphrodite instead. He has caught some, is determined to catch the rest, and intends to capture and severely punish the man he holds responsible for leading the women astray—the foreigner from Lydia who claims to be a priest of the god but is Dionysus himself.

In historical context, Pentheus’ concerns are reasonable. The women have left their work (weaving) and the city for the mountains, literally and figuratively crossing boundaries. Even if Pentheus’s belief that they are engaging in illicit sexual activity is mistaken, nursing wild animals and using their thyrsus to call forth milk, wine, and water from the earth transgress social norms, and as the ruler, Pentheus is concerned with maintaining those norms. At the same time, Pentheus’ resistance is excessive. He ignores the advice of a respected seer and his grandfather, and he fails to account for the reality that he is confronted with, including that both the “man from Lydia” and the Bacchants spontaneously free themselves from the bonds Pentheus’ soldiers imposed on them. Pentheus relies too much on reason, failing to account for the spiritual. This makes him vulnerable to Dionysus’ anger.

From the moment that Dionysus decides to set his punishment in motion, Pentheus is powerless to protect himself. His apparent titillation at spying on the maenads seems peculiar given the harsh judgments he has made about the women serving Aphrodite. The same could be said at his attentive fussing over his maenad costume. These actions may have been intended to provide comical counterpoint, moments of levity that cast the harshness of Dionysus’ punishment in relief. It is a moment of tragic irony that Pentheus, who was so concerned with boundaries, crosses them, and dies gruesomely for it. When confronted with his impending destruction, Pentheus is returned to his senses, in full knowledge that he has brought himself to this moment.

Teiresias is a blind seer who is featured in several plays set at Thebes giving unheeded advice with tragic consequences. He appears in two of Sophocles’ Oedipus tragedies, Oedipus Rex and Antigone, and in Euripides’ Hippolytus. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus travels to the edge of the Underworld to confer with him and ultimately follows his advice, which secures his return home.

In Bacchae, Teiresias first appears at the beginning of the play with Cadmus, the aged founder of Thebes. Alone among the Thebans, the two elders have embraced Dionysus’ rites. Teiresias guides Cadmus to assume the proper dress and approach, noting that “clever arguments” cannot overthrow inherited traditions” (132). The scene between Teiresias and Cadmus can seem slightly comical, as the men fuss over dress and transportation, and Teiresias pontificates about traditions and arguments. Nevertheless, Teiresias and Cadmus have taken the proper course. Their earnest devotion, however ungainly, is ultimately the correct course. Pentheus, on the other hand, may have polished arguments, but he dishonors a god.

Teiresias urges Pentheus to change course and adopt the rites. It is not enough, he argues, to “possess a fluent tongue” (134). Crucially, Teiresias notes that poor judgment makes one a bad citizen. This is proven true when Pentheus’ bad decisions affect not only him but also his grandfather and his community: Thebes loses their ruler (Pentheus) and their founder (Cadmus). Teiresias’ argument can be rambling, which some scholars have suggested may be Euripides caricaturing sophistry. The contrast between his discursive argument and his wisdom in accepting the god may underscore the point he makes that what matters are wisdom and good judgment, not how persuasive one is. 

Agaue is one of Cadmus’ four daughters, each of whom experiences some form of divine retribution. Semele becomes the object of Hera’s rage after conceiving Dionysus and is killed. Ino also draws Hera’s ire and is driven mad, eventually throwing herself into the sea. At the moment of Ino’s death, Zeus pities her and transforms her into a sea nymph (who later appears in the Odyssey to lend Odysseus her immortal veil). The final sister, Autonoe, is the mother of Actaeon, who is torn apart by his own dogs, a punishment dispensed by Artemis.

In Bacchae, Agaue and her surviving sisters, Autonoe and Ino, have been driven mad by Dionysus as retribution for disbelieving Semele’s claim that Zeus fathered her child, Dionysus. The sisters suggested that Semele made up the story to cover up having gotten pregnant by a mortal. At the beginning of the play, the women have left the city for Mount Cithaeron, where they alternate between communing with nature peacefully though strangely (e.g., nursing wild animals) and engaging in frenzied bouts of destructive madness.

Stories of their strange behavior reach Pentheus when he is away from Thebes, and he returns intending to bring the women under control by punishing the mortal he believes is responsible: the foreigner from Lydia (Dionysus in disguise). Instead, Dionysus sends Pentheus into the women’s circle, and Agaue herself tears her son’s body apart, brandishing his head as a trophy that she believes is a lion’s head. At the end of the play, Agaue grieves the loss of her son and her role in his death.