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NOTE: All references in this article are to the 1982 Penguin publication of The Bacchae.
One prevailing argument about The Bacchae as with many of his other works is whether Euripides propounds a revolutionary or a reactionary message about society. This outlook, however, is skirting an essential element of The Bacchae's theme. The moral-social values affirmed in Euripedes' play are political only so far as philosophy itself is political. Euripides investigates the dichotomy between Pentheus and Dionysus which is the dichotomy between quasi-material Apollonianism and primal Dionysianism. This conflict is used as a medium for commentary on the existing social order and the individual's relationship to society in terms of a social construct and personal illusion. The antipodal relationship of these concepts defines a singular philosophical outlook which Euripides proposes.
Pentheus represents the rationalistic tendency in The Bacchae. He is aligned with rationalistic skepticism. His first speech assures him of this identification as he condemns his mother and aunts to jail, accuses Semele (his aunt and Dionysus' mother) of being a whore and a liar, pronounces judgment upon Dionysus and his rituals, and accuses Cadmus, his respected grandfather, of idiocy (ll 215-62). The decisions and attitudes of Pentheus in this speech are so devoid of any emotional consideration or even a detached sympathy that his character, while portrayed as organically human, is almost inhuman in action. His objective moralism and judgmental attitude along with his extensive control over Theban society, give this material-rational Apollonian philosophy a more global context as the socially dominant philosophy. This is due to Pentheus' absolute identification with existing society created by his absolute control over it. His orders are unquestioningly carried out by the members of his society, including Cadmus, founder of Theban society, and even Tiresias, the prophetic friend of Cadmus who staunchly opposes Pentheus' decisions. Tiresias berates Pentheus with several comments which state that cleverness, rhetoric, and force are improper tools for dealing with society. Cadmus unsuccessfully attempts to persuade Pentheus using a rationalistic argument asserting familial gain, "just think of it,/ . . . The whole family can take credit [for Dionysus' relation to Cadmus] (ll 334-6)." Pentheus, therefore, is the quasi-material Apollonian figure of social structure or civilization.
Conversely, Dionysus represents the human primal instincts. He is the god of wine and pleasure. His followers dress up in animal skins, go into the woods to have orgiastic festivals wherein they rip livestock apart with their bare hands, dance to exhaustion, and exist in a sort of delusional drunken stupor of perpetual festivity. This revelry is closely tied to the primal aspects of youth, sex, and uninhibited projection of self. Cadmus, the founder of Theban society, exclaims the joy of forgetting age through Dionysian ritual. Tiresias maintains that following Dionysian ritual at his age is looked upon with scorn (ll 188-206). But both men decide to observe the god's rituals, even though they must support each other to walk and are ridiculed by others. The "womenfolk" are also reported to have left their homes to dance in the hills and forget their troubles -- through sexuality according to Pentheus. Dionysus is more an amorphous and eternal force than a character in any real sense. He is presented as a very effeminate male, referred to as "goldilocks (ll 235)," as having a "wine-rose glow (ll 437)," and as having "such clear skin! (ll 456)." Religiously he seems to be both old and new. Since he is Pentheus' cousin, his age cannot be much older, yet he is attributed with the creation of wine and the relaxation of man since primitive times. Both these aspects of Dionysus support a more global and universal nature of what he represents. By the end of the play he is not even a corporeal character, but a disembodied voice on stage. This paradoxical and ambiguous nature of Dionysus can be explained by his representative nature. Dionysus is the embodiment of pleasure, the figurehead of human emotion and primal human instinct.
So The Bacchae is formulating an equilibrium between these dichotomized elements of humanity. Such a relationship is often looked upon as a natural equilibrium, cited as an internal struggle or the "pendulum" of human philosophical existence. Euripides extends this idea to social commentary. His most powerful tool in this assertion is illusion and social construct. Pentheus, and thus civilization, lives in a social delusion. Law, order, and the status quo are the all-encompassing elements of existence. Thus, the obvious repression of women is more important than their human consideration, the acetic soberism of "civil" life takes precedence over emotional demands, and, overall, the needs of an arbitrary construct of a repressive society are more important than the emotional needs of the members of that society. This is most plainly presented through the character of Pentheus. He has control over society, but his subjects are discontent. Tiresias warns Pentheus of the folly of ruling with logic, rhetoric, and force alone and expresses his discontent with Pentheus' decisions, especially his suggestion of praying to the gods to spare Thebes from the blasphemy of Pentheus. In addition, the guard sent to arrest Dionysus states that he has no desire to arrest the man as ordered, but does so only under orders from the king (ll 442). Pentheus seems most attuned to this construct as he has almost no sympathetic or positive emotion, even toward family and certainly not toward his subjects. Cadmus is similarly deceived as seen through his rationalization to Pentheus for taking part in the Bacchic rituals. Tiresias and Cadmus both follow the rites of Dionysus, not from genuine respect or belief in the god, but because of tradition. Extensive reference to "the old way" and the path of "our forefathers" is made in relation to the worship of Dionysus. ". . . no argument of yours/ shall ever make me spar with gods (ll 324-5)." "We stay close to the hallowed tenets of our fathers:/ as old as time (ll 201-2)." Various comments throughout the play, such as Tiresias' accusation that many laugh at his celebration of Dionysian ritual, are indicative that the acetic social construct is widely accepted. Those who are not subject to this facade, however, still yield to another illusion.
The bacchanals have given themselves over to a delusion of self-centered primal instinct to the exclusion of society and civilization. In the prologue Dionysus states that he has driven Ino, Agave, and Autonoe out of their wits and into his ceremonies (ll 33). The other participants in the Bacchic rites are described as fanatic and, by definition of the self-serving primal impetus of the rituals, are not sane, but delusional in their complete emersion in instinctual urges. The murder of Pentheus by Agave and her sisters again asserts the illusionary nature of the bacchanals' festivities. The true mental illusion which clouds Agave's mind, mistaking her son for a lion emphasizes the lack of self-determination, intellect, and reason. The illusion of two Dionysus' by Pentheus is indicative not only of the antipodal tendencies in the society, but also of the delusional state of society as a whole. Pentheus, in addition, falls prey to the illusion of Dionysus and the decadent illusion of the primal forces which Dionysus represents. This illusion and his delusional state, caused by Dionysus, is the compelling force which causes Pentheus to seek out the Bacchic rituals. All of this evidence of illusion leads to the tragic death of Pentheus.
Pentheus approaches his death under the spell of illusion placed on him by Dionysus. His murderess, Agave, kills her son under the illusion that he is a mountain lion, also placed upon her by Dionysus. These extremes, both the quasi-material Apollonian philosophy which drives Pentheus, bringing with it the wrath of the gods, and the violent and uncontrollable instinct of the bacchanals, which is the antipode, are delusionary states. The one, Apollonianism, denies the inseparably human characteristics of man, while the other, Dionysianism, denies the rationality of civilization, necessary for man's survival. Pentheus' denial of Dionysus is no more wrong than Cadmus' and Tiresias' desire to uphold the ways of their fathers, which is no more wrong than the bacchanals' selfish rejection of society for personal pleasure. The true tragedy of The Bacchae is not realized until after the death of Pentheus. When Cadmus sees Agave sporting her son's head, he understands his illusion. He realizes the sacrificial nature of Pentheus' death and the misfortune, which becomes a universal realization when Agave sheds her illusion as well. "I seem to be becoming . . . somehow . . . aware./ Something in my mind is . . . changing (ll 1269-70)." The destruction of the figurehead of the decadent society of Thebes, however, is not enough to break the illusion completely. In the exodus Dionysus damns Cadmus to a strange serpentine fate stating, "If only you had been/ willing to be wise,/ instead of otherwise,/ You would be happy now:/ your friend the son of Zeus (ll 1341-3)." This accusation explains much. Even though Cadmus did not deny Dionysus, he is being punished because the illusion was universal through society and he is the foundation of Thebes. The statement also implies that the road to "happiness" would have been the peaceful recognition of Dionysus, not through the illusions of a false recognition, but through a genuine mediation between the Apollonian and Dionysian extremes, with widespread societal acceptance of this median without perfunctory illusions. Cadmus replies, "Ah! . . .We understand, (ll 1346)" affirming the shedding of the illusions of all Theban society. The exile of Cadmus and Agave serve to rid Theban society of the corrupt foundation which Cadmus and his family have proven to be. The goal being a complete reconstruction of a society which follows no illusions, not the quasi-materialistic rationalistic denial of human nature, nor the complete immersion in primal instinctual selfishness. This is the message Euripedes propounds in The Bacchae.
Euripides' play is far more than an entertaining stage piece; it is a literary affirmation of a philosophy which criticizes Hellenic society and attempts to explicate the needs of people in relation to the needs of the society. Euripides is writing in an Apollonian environment in which prominent philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle affirm the nobility of denying the same human instincts which Euripides recognizes. Euripides is definitely calling for change, but this change is neither revolutionary nor reactionary. The change Euripides calls for is a society which can claim the title of civilization while recognizing that which defines it as human.
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