31 pages • 1 hour read
EuripidesThe Bacchae
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 405A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Theoxeny
Theoxeny is a traditional motif that features a god traveling in human disguise, punishing or rewarding mortals depending on their actions and treatment of the god. In his opening monologue, Dionysus reveals who he is to the attendees of the tragedy and that his intentions are to punish disbelievers. To the Thebans, however, he presents himself as a mortal man from Lydia and priest of Dionysus who has brought the god’s rites west. No one in the play is aware of his identity, not even the Bacchants who have traveled with him from the east, and he remains in this disguise until the end of the play.
Thyrsus
The thyrsus was typically a wand or staff crafted from fennel, wound with ivy and leaves, and topped with a pinecone. Featuring vegetation associated with Dionysus, the thyrsus symbolized the prosperity, fertility, and pursuit of pleasure that are associated with him. In historical times, it was carried during religious rites and festivals.
The thyrsus is referenced in the play in connection with the worship of Dionysus. The messenger mentions that he witnessed the maenads in the mountains use it to strike rocks and soil, calling forth milk, water, and wine. When their actions turn destructive, the women cast their wands aside, since the wand is associated with generative acts, not to inflict punishment.
Looms
The loom was a centerpiece of women’s life in historical time, as weaving was essential work done by women. In the absence of mass-production, weaving garments (for clothes, sails, and more) was time-consuming and painstaking work. In the Bacchae, the loom can be said to symbolize social and human norms and boundaries that the maenads transgress.
The loom is mentioned three times in the play. In the Chorus’ first song, they mention that Dionysus has led his worshippers into the mountains, “where the female throng awaits him, driven from their places at loom and shuttle” (130, italics in original). Leaving their loom implies a boundary crossing, and that is exactly what occurs when they cross out of the city into the wild. The second mention is when Pentheus (futilely) warns Dionysus that he will punish him as well as his followers, saying, “I will stop their hands from beating and thumping their drums and keep them at the loom as servants” (141). Pentheus could be understood as implying, in the contrast between drums and weaving, that the work of women’s hands has been corrupted by their worship of Dionysus. Instead of generating (making garments), their hands are used to beat and thump. In Pentheus’ example, the women hit drums, but the final mention of the loom by Agaue at the end of the play connects drumming and thumping to destructive acts.
Still in her frenzied state, Agaue crows to Cadmus that he has “sired by far the finest daughters in the world,” especially herself, “who left the shuttle by the loom and have risen to higher things—hunting beasts with my hands!” (160). Leaving her loom has led Agaue to kill her son, which then causes the destruction of her family. Her father and sisters will also be punished, and the city too will suffer for these losses.
Related Titles
By Euripides
