Euripides
The Bacchae
The God Dionysus, son of Zeus and Semele, has arrived in human form in Thebes, his mother’s city, to punish those who have doubted his divine nature by means of possessing their minds. Not recognizing him, the Theban women and the daughters of Cadmus, have been rendered mad by the God and have run off to the mountains to celebrate the Dioynistic rites and rituals. In the meantime, the God has willingly allowed himself to be captured by the King Pentheus and has been imprisoned within the walls of his kingdom. It is the very God Dionysus himself who recounts these events to us in the prologue of the play.
By now, the dionysiac frenzy has swept throughout the city. Even Semele’s father, Cadmus, and the prophet Tiresias have been caught up in the celebration of the God’s power. Only Pentheus, the son of Agave, is decidely set against the madness induced by the God. However, as the Theban women make for Mount Cithaeron to celebrate the divine wonders, Pentheus allows himself to be convinced by the God to disguise himself as a woman and follow him to the mountain in order to spy on them. At this point Agave, Pentheus’ mother and the sister of Semele, together with the Bacchae, falls prey to the dionysiac delerium. Mistaking Pentheus for a lion, they tear him to pieces.
Coming to the knowedge of what has happened, Cadmus proceeds in reassembling Pentheus’ corpse, to find last of all, the head in his own mother’s hands. Only now does Agave recognise with horror that which she had mistaken for a lion’s and had held trophy, to be her own son’s head. Now Dionysus appears before Cadmus, who weeps the death of Pentheus, to proclaim that the misadventure had come to pass due to not having honoured the power of the God. We know however, that Cadmus’ suffering is due to last much longer. Until the moment in which he is transformed into a dragon and marries Harmonia, he will be unable to find peace.
DATED (uncertain) between 405 and 403 b.C
Characters
in order of appearance:
Dionysus
Chorus of Bacchae
Tiresias
Cadmus
Pentheus
Soldier
Cowherd
Messenger
Agave