Who Is This Stranger?

We have all heard the tale of the Pied Piper and how he lures away the rats that have infested the city, but when we aren’t given what is owed to him as payment, he causes panic among the city when he leads away all the little children because the parents and king don’t maintain their end of the agreement. The story Euripides' Bacchae closely parallels with this story. Dionysus, god of intoxication, is similar to the Piper because the people of Thebes and Pentheus, king of Thebes, don’t conform to the fact that he is a god. He wants to be revered as a god like Zeus and the other gods of Olympus that are honored. So, Dionysus comes to liberate the young women from the grip of Pentheus to demonstrate his powers to him and that he will be respected.

     Not all may agree that the women are being liberated, from their husbands and lives at home, but from what one can infer from the text where it states, “[They] sprang upright in close drill—an amazing sight—/ young and old, unmarried girls too. / First they let their hair down to their shoulders” (693-695). The women of that time are held under strict rules, which makes the passage significant because it illustrates that the women are being released from the standards they are required to abide by. Liberation is a smart tactic for Dionysus to enlist in his situation, as well as, who he is “liberating.” If he had chosen to lead the livestock of Thebes away, then there wouldn’t be as sever a response as he is searching for as he endeavors to gain reverence from Thebes. In order to convince the women to stay on the mountain, Dionysus uses his powers to supply them with everything they could want that their husbands and families can’t give them. The text tells us that they, “All crowned themselves with ivy, oak, and flowering/ vines. One took her thyrsus, struck a rock, / and water leapt out, pure as dew” (703-705). The text goes on to paint a grand portrait of all they were given, but this image aids in portraying the freedom they are experiencing on the mountain. Women are a creation of nature. And here Euripides places the women of the city in harmony with nature as they interact with it and envelop themselves in the clothing of nature—vines, flowers, and ivy. 

    As a result of the women showing reverence to Dionysus, he gains a percentage of the kingdom that’s now blindly fallen into his grasps. Next, he utilizes the women by empowering them with unhuman like strength. The text describes the women’s rampage through the mountain after the men of Thebes like a bull’s rage. It says, “You’d see ribs and feet/ hurled every which way, hooves flying, pieces hanging/ in the pine trees, smeared with blood and dripping” (740-742). Knowing that it is impossible for humans to rip apart horses and cattle like the text indicates happens, the men and Pentheus can’t deny that this man has some kind of powers. However, they continue to dismiss the thought as they rally men together to attack and retrieve the maidens. Dionysus warns Pentheus when he converses with him that, “They’ll kill you if they see you as a man” (823). Dionysus programs the women this way because he despises men who think of themselves as mightier than the gods and plans to teach Pentheus and Thebes a lesson. That is that, one way or another they will fall to worship him, in death or life.

    Moving along in the plot, Pentheus begins to blindly trust the man we know as Dionysus. He follows along with the plan to dress as a woman and march through the city, where he is jeered at by his subjects. We come to the point in the text now where Dionysus declares, “The contest you will face is meant for you. / Follow me. I am your guide and your protection. / Someone else will bring you back” (964-966). This statement holds great importance in understanding what Dionysus’ plan is for Pentheus. The “contest” he must face is trying to retrieve the women from the mountain without dying. Furthermore, Dionysus adds “I am your guide” because he is still trying to convince him to follow his lead and godliness. Meanwhile, Pentheus is so caught up in everything that he doesn’t catch what is being implied. He isn’t going to come back home alive because he has continually failed to bow to Dionysus and turnover to him his desires. 

    The point is when a king, such as Pentheus, is too caught up in his own glory and power, he fails to see that sometimes others around him, like Dionysus, are mightier and have the power to crush him. Defiance of a king’s command typically means death in a kingdom to the less superior, in this instance it’s the death of Pentheus, who is inferior to Dionysus. The kingdom is broken hearted, and as a result, they submit to the powers of Dionysus just as all the surrounding nations. Who is this stranger they may ask? Well, he is the one that one day will rule over them.

Work Cited

Euripides. Bacchae. Translated by Paul Woodruff, Hackett Publishing, 1999.