Pentheus Essays

Eventually, Pentheus becomes crazy with a need to know the details of the women’s actions. “The more terrible the things you tell me about those Bacchic women, the worse I'll move against the one who taught them all their devious tricks” (13). His anger, his delusion, and his violence is fueled by the continuing actions of the Bacchae. He’s only able to continue on his rampage if the Bacchae continue express their femininity and he’s told about their actions - it becomes an addiction. Finally, when

Within the Greek myths and mythos the gods and goddesses, although human, are all powerful and all knowing. Disobeying or angering these mighty beings always leads to a negative outcome. From Athena turning Arachne into a spider for boosting about being better. To Leto sending Apollo and Artemis to kill Niobe’s 12 children for boosting about bearing more children then her. Not even Oedipus in Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex is spared from the gods’ wrath. There are many symbols that reveal how a possible

people - females nonetheless - oppose Pentheus’ beliefs, he seeks to put a stop to their wild religious practices in any way he can. This leads to Pentheus agreeing to take the help of another, the Greek God Dionysus who is well aware of Pentheus’ prideful ways. Dionysis uses this to his advantage, as Pentheus is arrogant enough to believe that he can rule his city by destroying anything that does not follow in his beliefs. This excess of pride causes Pentheus to believe that he is infallible, which

An effective leader is one that can lead their country into success even if they have to make tough decisions that the citizens wouldn’t like. The traits of Creon and Pentheus are what make both of them ineffective leaders to their cities. These traits that both have are they’re both narrow-minded, Authoritative, and strict. Both characters use their traits along with creating examples of others in order to ascend in the divine ascent. They put themselves in an authoritative state because of their

This shift, exemplified through the “movement” or manipulation of Pentheus and Augue’s gender, renders the breaking of such boundaries. Despite the story’s focus on the conflict between Dionysus and Pentheus, the fundamental meaning lies within the characteristics and actions Pentheus, king of Thebes and his mother Augue, a maenad. Each in their own unique way symbolize the inequality between men and women. Pentheus symbolizes male dominance and control over women through his power as king

Justice for Pentheus He was stripped of his authority. He wasn’t in his right mind. He watched his palace go up in flames. He was ripped apart by his own mother. Poor Pentheus was toyed and tinkered with until his very last breath by none other than his own cousin, Dionysus. His choice, as king of Thebes, to repress the all-powerful god not only lost him his kingdom, but ultimately his life. The Bacchae of Euripides is a true battle between the strength of a king and the power of a god. Dionysus

definition fits our conventional idea of what madness is. We can look back at previous texts in the Literature Humanities curriculum and see different characters and the way in which they fit this established meaning of madness. Take, for example, Pentheus and Agave in The Bacchae, King Lear in William Shakespeare’s King Lear, and Don Quixote in Miguel de Cervante’s Don Quixote de la Mancha; all are impervious to reason and logic. In Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, however, the main character––Raskolnikov––defies

Part II: In both Euripides’ the Bacchae and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a main character is given an opportunity t re-asses his own values and to “journey” back to nature- in the Bacchae, to the orgies on the mountain , and in Gawain, finally to the Green chapel. Freud argues that human represses their instinctual feelings to creation civilization from nature. In a footnote from Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontent, Freud mentions that primal man has an “infantile desire… to… [enjoy] sexual

Euripides’ Bacchae is an example of how Dionysus tries to prove that he is a son of Zeus and a God. Throughout the story Dinoysus becomes feed up with other’s including King Pentheus’ disbelief causing him to create a deceitful plan to prove his true self. In Euripides’ Bacchae, I would have to sympathize with Pentheus. Pentheus ultimately suffered due to his own disbelief and unknowingness, which consequently lead to him getting deceived. The desire to be acknowledged becomes so great causing people

unique spin on terrifying female depiction. Instead of just representing women in power as monsters to fear, he instead blames femininity as the culprit. He uses the Bacchae, Dionysus, and Pentheus as examples of the danger in accessing one’s own femininity. The Bacchae’s own control of their sexuality, as Pentheus describes “They creep off one by one to lonely spots to have sex with men”, and their feminine features, as their breasts swell and their hair cascades, creates an example of women gone wild

this god: a gruesome, violent death. Dionysus is more powerful than Pentheus, something the mortal does not reconcile, and he pays the price for this irreverence towards Dionysus. The people of Thebes do not understand than Dionysus is a god and does not abide by Earthly concepts of justice and fairness. The violent conclusion also serves as a means for Dionysus to exact revenge on the non-believers of Thebes in that if Pentheus hadn’t been excessive in his hatred for the Bacchae, and had joined

instead she slept with a mortal man. But Dionysus also punishes the other women in Thebes by sending them all into the mountains, leaving behind their gender roles in the city. He even disregards his own gender roles, especially when interacting with Pentheus. Dionysus clearly knows how to use perceived gender roles to manipulate and affect others. In the first section, I will talk about the liberation of the women from their assigned gender roles under a patriarchal society. In the city, women are expected

Bacchae. To begin, the Bacchae is a story of Dionysus, the god of wine in Greek mythology and was written around 400 BC by Euripides. The story begins with the back-story of Dionysus and how his mother’s family believes he is not the son of Zeus. Pentheus, the cousin of Dionysus and King of Thebes, refuses to accept Dionysus as a god. Dionysus decides to

Even Pentheus is a sort of clandestine Dionysiac. He was riveted by the stories he has overheard of the bacchanalias that the Maenads by all accounts partake taking place in the mountains. But Pentheus rejects to own up to this liking in himself. This creates an easy way for Dionysus to take advantage of his flaw and control him proceeding his destiny. Pentheus fails and commits a mistake of frustrating the deity by rejecting and disclaiming

When on the mountain, Pentheus, upon a tree, hears Dionysus, in his godly form, tell the women to get Pentheus. Agave, along with her sisters, ripped down the tree Pentheus was on, thinking he was a lion. The women tore down the tree and, not being about to recognize who Pentheus was, proceeded to tear him apart. In the end, Dionysus got revenge on the whole Cadmus family and had them banished from

as well as foreign practices. Pentheus exclaims that “These Eastern hussies have come to our land, to seduce us with their mincing steps and make off with our men!" (Euripides, The Bacchae, 749). This proclamation by Pentheus reveals a deeper underlying fear that is common throughout many societies, in that there is a fear of foreigners bringing their influence to the land and taking away something from the people who live there. There is also a curiosity in Pentheus’ rejection of the Maenads, in

where Dionysos plays with the mind of Pentheus, lacks compassion, does not allow his victims to repent, and ultimately divorces himself from his morality. The Bacchae begins with Dionysos presenting his business in Thebes, posing as a mortal priest of the Bacchae, “For Thebes must fully

was to introduce his new religion into the land of Thebes, however he takes revenge on Pentheus’ since he refuses to allow his people to perform those un-humanely rituals. Dionysus’ belief in excess pleasure, lead him to become an unjust monster. Dionysus claims that he is the sane one, opposing Pentheus’. Although Dionysus seemed to be the more rational one, he was the one who turned very aggressive, when Pentheus’ refused to follow his actions . He felt as though he lost himself, and that no one

Pentheus’ ultimate faith is determined by the type of madness and intoxication that is at the core of the play; the Bacchaen madness. Pentheus rejects that Bacchus is a god to be praised. In a pivotal moment in the play, Pentheus is brought by Bacchus to the meadow where the followers of Bacchus stayed. When the women saw him, they were overcome with the Bacchaen madness causing them to think Pentheus was an animal that they must kill. As they were dismembering him, Pentheus yelled, “No

murder of the king, Pentheus, by his family makes us wonder if we need Dionysus to help us find a balance of release, the letting go of all responsibilities