Bacchae Flashcards
Dionysus’ parents?
Semele
Zeus
“I must vindicate my mother Semele”
Dionysus in his first speech
“therefore I will demonstrate to him, and to all Thebes…
…that I am a god.”
Dionysus first speech
“he is a fighter against gods, defies me, excludes me from libations, never names me in prayers”
Dionysus first speech - about Pentheus
“we see things clearly;…
…all the others are perverse”
- Teiresias to Cadmus about how they are the only ones to worship Dionysus
“he desires equal worship from all men”
Teiresias on Dionysus
Pentheus’ first dialogue how does he describe the Bacchants?
“astounding scandal”
“our women… have left their homes on some pretence”
“upstart god Dionysus”
“give themselves to lecherous men”
says there is more of aphrodite than bacchus in their ritual
“the truth about Dionysus is that he’s…
…dead”
Pentheus
Teiresias representing societal fear of prophets taking advantage of people
Pentheus says “by introducing a new god, you hope to advance your augurer’s business, to collect more fees”
Teiresias’ advice to Pentheus ?
“welcome this god to Thebes, offer libations to him”
Teiresias on Bacchic influence on women?
“in the Bacchic ritual, as elsewhere, a woman will be safe from corruption if her mind is chaste”
Cadmus foreshadowing?
“remember… Acteon’s miserable fate - torn and devoured by hounds” (for disrespecting Artemis)
“I will punish this man who has been your instructor in lunacy”
Pentheus thinks he can punish Dionysus
“He’s securely in the trap”
Pentheus to the guard after catching Dionysus
Dionysus says Pentheus must be punished for his
“blindness and impiety to the god”
Pentheus says their “moral standards fall far below ours” about what
Dionysus says every eastern land dances bacchic mysteries
“the god himself, whenever I desire, will set me free”
“he is close at hand here”
Dionysus tricking Pentheus
“where is he, then? Not visible to my eye”
Pentheus can’t see Dionysus - foreshadowing
“your name points to calamity…
… .it fits you well.
- Dionysus to Pentheus (foreshadowing)
“i made a mockery of him”
“he neither held nor touched me, save in his deluded mind”
Dionysus to the Bacchants about how he tricked Pentheus and escaped
“he, a man, dared to take arms against a god”
Dionysus on Pentheus trying to attack him with a sword
“strange and terrible doings”
Herdsman describing the bacchants
How does the herdsman dispute Pentheus’ judgement of the Bacchants?
He says they were modest - not as Pentheus suggested using the woods to have affairs