reason vs. passion
In his plays The Bacchae and Medea, Greek playwright Euripides expresses his views quite clearly on the relationship between reason and passion in human life. Euripides believes that there is a constant struggle between the two elements, and people must be able to find the proper balance in order to exist peacefully, something his characters were unable to do. He expresses, via his characters, his belief that passion dominates this struggle in most cases, and when this occurs, proper logic is skewed. The lead role in each of these plays failed to find the proper balance of passion and reason, and in failure found death. The title role in Euripides' play Medea is a proud, powerful, self-driven woman who strives to avenge an act committed by her husband, Jason. As the play opens, the audience learns that Jason has recently left Medea for another woman. This crushes Medea, as she has sacrificed much for Jason, and truly believes that they are lovers meant to be together for life. She enters a long period of mourning, and becomes inconsolable by even her closest of friends. Eventually her sadness turns to anger, and she begins seeking revenge for the wrong she has been done. Medea immediately begins plo
In this play, a new type of religion is developing in the city of Thebes, and is quickly gaining popularity among the women of the city, including the king's mother. Medea is successful in this aspect, as she is able to carry out everything she plans on. However, she does not plan on the struggle that would accompany these acts. However, she allows her anger to control her thoughts, rather than using reason to consider the situation. This angers Pentheus, as he feels that the leader of this religion, Dionysos, is violating and taking advantage of the women involved. Pentheus is so furious that the women of his city are taking part in this religion that he fails to notice the deception that lie before him. Medea is forced to battle not only those around her, who beg her not to take the lives of her children, but she must fight her conscience as well. The women were so caught up in their newfound belief that they failed to realize that they were being taken advantage of. She realizes that killing her children would be wrong, seen in the struggle she undertakes immediately before making her decision. She decides to kill everyone close to him, including the children they have together, and destroy any legacy that may survive him. Dionysus then informs the women of the intruder to their worship, and the women begin attacking the tree holding Pentheus. Again, the main character allows passion to dominate proper reason, and suffers for it. In The Bacchae Pentheus, the King of Thebes, falls victim to this same imbalance. These are all examples from Euripides' plays that show his belief in the relationship between passion and reason. Dionysos then escapes from his holding cell, and convinces Pentheus that he will understand the religion if he only observes the women as they worship in the hills.
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