The Bacchae
In the Bacchae, for whom do you feel more sympathy - Pentheus or Dionysus?In the Bacchae, Pentheus and Dionysus have very different characters. They are both very complex characters and they both go through changes that alter the way you see them. At the beginning of the play, we are given a very dramatic image of Dionysus at his mothers, Semele's monument. He is wearing a crown of ivy, carrying a thyrsus and wearing a fawn skin. It is a very mysterious and haunting scene. When Dionysus speaks he speaks angrily and passionately - you do not get the impression that he is a very subdued character. In contrast, however, when you first meet Pentheus you see him as a very proud man. He is outraged with the women of Thebes, he has a strict sense of his own beliefs - he simply cannot understand why the women are choosing to believe in a foreign god, an ' upstart god '. He is instinctively sceptical. He believes that the women of Troy have left 'on some pretence of Bacchic worship'. He is so cynical he honestly cannot believe in the power of Bacchus.When we first meet the two adversaries face to face, we at first feel sympathy for Dionysus, for he is the prisoner. Pentheus starts the conversation thinking he has the upper ha
nd because he has more power over the situation. It is very unjust of Dionysus to punish the whole city. He immediately judges Dionysus to be an effeminate weakling and mocks him for this. When it finally comes to the death of Pentheus, I feel no warmth for Dionysus whatsoever. He also judges the women of Thebes and the Maenads too quickly. It is not fair to also banish him from his home. This would explain why he is so condescending to Dionysus. I think that deep down he knows that he is and that is why he constantly needs to reassure himself of his royal status. This is a central scene in the play. He can not do this when being threatened by an eastern cult. Dionysus tells us that Dionysus is 'close at hand and sees what's being done to me'. Pentheus is frightened by the way that the women are so sure of themselves, he does not like the way they are suddenly at ease with nature. He is the son of Zeus, but he acts like a resentful mortal. Now it is Dionysus in control of Pentheus' utter humiliation. Pentheus would never have humiliated himself by dressing in women's clothes and acting vain, if he had been of sane mind.
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Acceptance Essays
