Bacchae Punishment for the Irreverent Book Report

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He and Pentheus meet and Dionysus asserts that Zeus and Semele were married and that their child was the god Dionysus, who is honored by the Bacchae. Pentheus refuses to believe it and professes his skepticism -- yet Dionysus inflames his curiosity and Pentheus admits to desiring to see the rites performed: he is like the unbeliever who asks to see a miracle, when the person with faith is content simply to practice and perform the religious rites of that faith. Dionysus thus aptly tells Pentheus that "a man of godless life is an abomination to the rites of the god" (Euripides 343; line 475).

Dionysus's words are proven true as Pentheus continues to insult Dionysus before having the "stranger" arrested and then unwittingly allowing himself to be guided by Dionysus to where the rites are performed -- only to be set atop a tree so that he might see them and the Bacchae see him. In this manner, Dionysus exacts his vengeance: the Bacchae, of whom is Agave, Pentheus's own mother, are possessed by the spirit of the god. They are behaving wildly, dismembering cattle, dancing, chanting, and giving evidence that Dionysus is real. Dionysus calls the women and shows them Pentheus atop the tree: they, in their frenzy, attack Pentheus, tearing him apart. Agave decapitates her son Pentheus, believing in her possessed state that she is ripping the head off a lion. Thus, Dionysus "pays out" Pentheus, who stubbornly refused to make obeisance to the god, and Agave, who denied the truth of her sister Semele's story.

Agave goes home to show off her trophy -- the head of her son, which she still believes to be the head of a lion. But when the god's spell over her wears off, she realizes in horror what she has done. Cadmus likewise recoils at the sight of his grandson's head in his daughter's hands. Here, Dionysus shows how those who affront him are punished by their own misdeeds.

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Finally, Agave and Cadmus grieve, openly admitting their faults and realizing that they must now suffer the fate that the gods have set for them. Agave, for tearing off the head of her son, is to be exiled from Thebes. Cadmus is to be transformed into a snake. Dionysus tells them that had they only recognized him when it was time, they would now be happy with Zeus as their friend. But because they, in their pride, refused to admit that Dionysus was the son of Zeus, they have been punished. The priest alone has shown true faith -- but the house of Cadmus is fallen.

In conclusion, Euripides uses Dionysus in The Bacchae to represent the way in which the gods demand worship, are benevolent to those who believe in them and perform their rites in piety -- but also how the gods will take vengeance on those who deny them and perform their rites with impiety. The impious are punished by Dionysus in The Bacchae. Pentheus is killed: what he planned to do to Dionysus (the "stranger") is done to him -- his head is torn from his body. Agave is punished for failing to believe that Semele had given birth to Zeus' son: she becomes the instrument of her own son's death. And Cadmus, for his attempt to go along to get along, is fated to be changed into a serpent -- the ultimate slitherer. Yet, Dionysus declares that these punishments are just and the will of Zeus: for in denying Dionysus, they have denied his father who is the king of all the gods. By possessing the women of Thebes and using them to prove his very existence, Dionysus achieves the honor so-far denied him -- and with that honor he pays homage to his father, who made it all happen.

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