Study Guide for Euripides' The Bacchae (or The Bakkhai)
by Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Temple University
updated 25 January 2008. This guide is now keyed to Roche's translation, but will be updated soon to Esposito's.
I also recommend the on-line guides from Steve Esposito's translation, as well as Hardy Hansen's page, Dionysos at Athens: Tragedy, Comedy, and Cult .
There is another page with a worksheet on the drama's structure.
We will read two plays that feature the god Dionysus as a character; The Bacchae and Aristophanes' The Frogs. Given this presence, and since this is Euripides' last play, we should be aware that Euripides' might be commenting on the nature of tragedy and theater. Keep your eye out for things in this play that might be suggestive of "metatheater" -- theater that is about the nature of theater itself.
Like many of Euripides' plays, opinion is divided over its meaning. Is Euripides "anti-Dionysus" or "pro-Dionysus"? After years of scepticism about the Olympian gods does this demonstration of their power show a death-bed conversion, or is Euripides again showing the absurdity of traditional religion and the viciousness of human nature that it conceals? Also, carefully consider the nature of Dionysiac religion, as established in the early choral odes.
Prologue: Dionysus will prove himself a god by disguising himself as a man. Is this strange? Why is Dionysus so obsessed with proving his power and divnity? Note that the myth represents him as coming from Asia.
What relation is Pentheus to Cadmus? Where is Pentheus' father?
Tiresias and Cadmus: do you see anything funny in this scene? Note that the two men make a rational choice to adopt an irrational religion; are they truly worshippers of Dionysus?
Pentheus: how old is he? Does he remind you of any other characters? What does he assume the women are doing while off on the mountainside?
407-8 Study Tiresias' defense of Dionysus carefully. How does it strike you?
415 Throughout this and the other encounters between Pentheus and Dionysus, beware of indications that Pentheus might feel an erotic attraction to Dionysus/Stranger. What familial relation do they have?
416 (bottom). Dionysus is probing Pentheus' self-awareness and says that Pentheus is deceived about his true nature. What does he mean by this? Ignore Roche's direction that Pentheus is "shaken"
419-20 An earthquake releases Dionysus/Stranger. Is it real or imagined?
424-7 The messenger's speech is important as it indicates more about the nature of the women's worship of the god. Is there anythng wrong with the initial picture? How do the subsequent events on the mountain foreshadow what happens later?
428-30. The key scene in the play. What happens to make Dionysus/Stranger to make his final move here? What does he play on in Pentheus? What is it about getting Pentheus to admit his desire to see the women that places him under the god's power?
432-5 Is this the real Pentheus, or is he mad? Why dress as a woman? what does that symbolize? By the way, remember that female characters are always played by men, so is Euripides having a bit of a joke here?
438-42. Death scene. Look at Aristotle's remarks about family tragedies. What, if anything, does Pentheus realize at the end?
447-9. How does Cadmus get Agave to return to reality?
454 Is Cadmus right that Dionysus has been excessively cruel?