Where will the Bacchae go from here? -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 05:40:35 02/12/08 Tue
Author: Betsy Peters
Subject: Where will the Bacchae go from here?

In the orginal act of violence we have discussed that the violence of the crowd may easily shift targets. When Dionysus dresses Pentheus up as a woman, he warns him "you may surprise them or they may surprise you" (960). This unknown certainly seems to anticipate this tendency of the crowd to shift objects. If Pentheus suprises the women, he might be able to head them off. If they surprise him, it is all over. In this same tension of the unknown victim of the crowd, Pentheus declares that he expects to reide home in triumph in his mother's arms. Dionysus, of course, anticipates his return as a dead man. Pentheus does indeed return in his mother's arms, but hardly in the way he anticipated. Why is it is so dangerous to approach the Bacchae? The chorus of Dionysus provides the answer: "But what the common people do, the things that simple men believe, I too believe and do." (430). There is no control in the crowd.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]