The Chorus and the Bacchae

Obviously as the namesakes of the play, a consideration of the role of the bacchae on the mountain is also crucial in the decrypting of Euripides' message. Do they perhaps represent a way to lead the good life? The answer is a resounding "no" from the very outset. These women are Thebans who denied Dionysus recognition, and it is known from the prologue that as such, they are to be punished:

Therefore I have driven those same sisters mad, turned them
All frantic out of doors; their home is now the mountain;
Their wits are gone...
...
For Thebes, albeit reluctantly, must learn in full
This lesson, that my Bacchic worship is a matter
As yet beyond her knowledge and experience;
[Dionysus, p.192-3]

There are two major elements in the characterisation of the Bacchae:

a) the beauty of their closeness to nature; and
b) their potential for highly destructive bestial violence.

Various scholars have dwelt on the descriptions of the Theban Bacchae in the Herdsman's speech (661ff) as representing the ultimate Dionysian ideal. That interpretation is strenuously opposed here. If the Theban Bacchae at all display some of the positive traits of Bacchic worship, it is just as a prelude to their negative excesses. It is the latter circumstances upon which the focus must lie in determining their role in Euripides' meaning. It is not the case "that the beauty of Dionysiac worship coexists and is coextensive with the horror of Dionysiac violence" (Michelini, 1987, p.317).

If it is the case that they do not represent the Dionysian ideal, the question arises what is the dramatic purpose of the Bacchae? It is important to note that the Herdsman's speech functions to convey news of another miracle of Dionysus which Pentheus, true to form, ignores. The supernatural elements are not part of normal worship of the god. Indeed, the Chorus of Asiatic followers of the god have no recourse to miracles to alleviate their situation in Thebes. They sing of the supernatural elements of the worship of Dionysus in their odes, but it can readily be seen as a romantic vision of their cult. All that occurs that is supernatural in the Bacchae is conjured by Dionysus in his plan to make Pentheus, his aunts, and all of Thebes pay for their rejection of his godhead.

Why then, it may be asked, if the Bacchae are representing the negative side of excessive physis, do they not engage in drunkenness and debauchery, as Pentheus suspects? It seems that Euripides is at pains to deny that these acts are occurring on Cithaeron. Part of the reason may be to support Teiresias' comments:

Dionysus will not compel
Women to be chaste, since in all matters self-control
Resides in our own natures.
[Teiresias, 315-17]

The major reason seems, though, to be related to Pentheus' fantasies about what is occurring on Cithaeron. The fact that the Theban women are not involved in such behaviour creates a sharp contrast to Pentheus' beliefs that they are, beliefs that he refuses to relinquish, regardless of the evidence to the contrary. As such, the fantasies are pointers for what is going on inside Pentheus, not what is happening on the mountain(13).

To return to the Herdsman's speech regarding the events taking place on Cithaeron with the Bacchae, what they represent, most vividly in their episodes of sparagmos(14), is the extreme of physis that not even Dionysus requires from his worshippers(15). The ritual sparagmos that is a usual part of the sanctioned Bacchic rites, as described by the Chorus in the first ode, is very different from the insane sparagmos that is enacted on Cithaeron(16). The most glaring difference is the number of victims; where the Chorus sings of the celebrant and "the slaughtered goat" [p.196] (singular), the Theban women tear apart every animal in their vicinity(17). Furthermore, they follow their mountainside sparagmos with deadly raids on nearby villages [p.217-8]. This fiendish killing is not of the ritual kind. Through this comparison of the Theban women and the Chorus, it is clear that what the former do is the abnormal extreme of physis; it is a mania that is wholly repugnant. What they experience, particularly in the ultimate sparagmos and planned omophagia(18) of Pentheus, and the royal family's final exile, is that punishment for denying the god that was foreshadowed from the start.

Another important point that excludes the Theban women from the role of representatives of condoned positive behaviour needs to be mentioned. It has been argued that the Bacchic state is gentle and blissful until threatened by external forces, then the Bacchants become fiends (Faas, 1984, 72; Diller, 1983, p.359). The play does not bear this out as a pattern of Bacchic worship. Only the maddened Theban Bacchae respond in this inappropriate manner. When the Chorus of Asiatic women, bona fide worshippers of Dionysus, are threatened by Pentheus [p.208], they do not respond with bloodthirsty acts of revenge; rather, they pray for external assistance from the god (Diller, 1983, p.359):

Dionysus! Do your eyes
See us? O son of Zeus, the oppressor's rod
Falls on your worshippers; come, mighty god,
Brandish your golden thrysus and descend
From great Olympus; touch this murderous man,
And bring his violence to a sudden end!
[Chorus, p.210]

The Chorus of Asian followers of Dionysus therefore serve an important purpose in the play as a comparison to the inappropriate behaviour in Thebes and on Cithaeron. They more than any other character represent the Dionysiac ideal, but it is important to note that the purpose of Euripides does not seem to be specifically to present a Dionysiac ideal, therefore such elements of the narrative do not form a complete picture. What is more important is showing the failure of the extremes of nomos and physis. The ideal is suggested by implication. The Chorus recognise the deity of Dionysus, they accept the importance of nature in their lives, and they also respect wisdom. This wisdom is for them, and Teiresias, an amalgam of the nomos and physis parts of human experience:

What you have said, Teiresias, shows no disrespect
To Apollo; at the same time you prove your judgement sound
In honouring Dionysus as a mighty god.
[Chorus, p.202]

No mortal ought
To challenge Time - to overbear
Custom in act, or age in thought.
All men, at little cost, may share
The blessing of a pious creed;
Truths more than mortal, which began
In the beginning, and belong
To very nature - these indeed
Reign in our world, are fixed and strong.
[Chorus, p.223]

The Asiatic followers of Dionysus also support ideas of calmness and moderation as ways to lead the good life (387ff) (Diller, 1983, p.359).

It is also important to note that the Chorus at no time take part in the madness on the mountain. When Agaue returns with the head of Pentheus, they show no kinship with this "Bacchant" except in a cynical sense. They are clearly repulsed by the image of the mother with her son's head in her hands, even though that son is their enemy, and it was not so long ago that they were calling to Dionysus to vanquish him. Even Teiresias and Cadmus do not practice their worship with the Theban women. They to go to the mountain to be close to nature and to sing and dance, but they are to be distinguished from the mad "worship" of their kinswomen.

Apollo versus Dionysus & the Hippolytus

What you have said, Teiresias, shows no disrespect
To Apollo; at the same time you prove your judgement sound
In honouring Dionysus as a mighty god.
[Chorus, p.202]

The reference to Apollo is notable because that god was as thoroughly a nomos god as Dionysus was a physis god (Faas, 1984, p.70).

The invocation of Apollo at this point and in this manner suggests a polarity relationship between him and Dionysus(19). This can be seen as further evidence of the nomos versus physis antithesis working in the play, just under another name - the Apollonian versus the Dionysian (Bowen, 1969, 8). Obviously, both gods and what they represent are crucial to the successful state. The ideal as involving both the rational and the irrational is something which Euripides' Choruses have expressed on a number of occasions (Dodds, 1951,187-88).

Another of Euripides' extant plays which seems to deal with the nomos versus physis antithesis is the Hippolytus. It is the story of a youth, Hippolytus, who as a follower of the goddess Artemis, leads pure life of restraint. This lifestyle leads him into negligence of another goddess, Aphrodite. The drama unfolds as Aphrodite seeks revenge against Hippolytus for ignoring her. Her elaborate scheme is to cause his stepmother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him, but as a result of his shunning and her pain at having to endure the pain of unfulfilled desire, Phaedra kills herself, but not before she implicates Hippolytus in her death. Hippolytus dies in turn as a result.

Basically, the similarity to the Bacchae lies in the conflict between restraint and passion. Aphrodite represents a figure similar to Dionysus and Artemis correlates with Apollo, as described above. The core of the nomos versus physis question, though, arises in Phaedra. As in Pentheus, it is on the psychological level, but Phaedra is not in denial. She knows that according to custom and law, she cannot have sexual relations with Hippolytus, but her natural desires will not be quelled by this knowledge. The conflict leads to her suicide. Hippolytus too is a correlate for Pentheus. As did the Theban king, the youth denies the claim of the passionate god and thus is punished.

The correspondences and the differences between both Euripidean tragedies potentially reveal a lot about the intents of both plays. With similar themes, how has the different dramatic narrative shifted focus, and where? The most obvious difference between the plays on a dramatic structure level is that the Bacchae clearly focuses on the struggle between two characters, the king and the god. All the action flows from their confrontation. In that sense it is a very "clean" work in that sub-plots, off stage characters and the like do not exist to divide attention. The Bacchae is clearly about the conflict between Dionysus and Pentheus; the other characters and events not generated by these two are there only to further explicate the details of the conflict between the two major characters. Add to this the clear polarity structure, and it seems that what Euripides began with the Hippolytus, he brought to a climax with the Bacchae(20). That is, a consideration of the psychological life of the individual in terms of ideas of restraint or passion, and how the "good life" for the individual lies in a balance of these forces.

IMAGE: Cult worship around idol of Dionysus
Attic Vase
The National Archeological Museum of Naples

IMAGE: Maenad with Satyr
Attic Vase, Internal view
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze

Image of Pentheus being torn apart by the Bacchae