Modern Scholarship

Foley- Dionysus

A director who constructs his own play within a play

Garvie- Dionysus

Paradox- promises joy, at the end produces suffering and horror

Carey- Pentheus

Becomes an outsider, made worse by his tyrannical behaviour

Wyles- Pentheus

Cross-dressed with bacchic accessories- symbolic of Dionysus' control over him

Roisman- Pentheus

Desires the sexual activity he condemns

Roisman- Agave

Recognition scene is one of the most painful and harrowing scenes in Greek tragedy

Wyles- The Bacchae

Their ecstatic joy is chilling and heightens the pathos for Pentheus' death

Garvie- Tiresias

Tragedians portray Tiresias with respect and characters who disrespect him usually pay a price

Mills- Gods and Mortals

Dionysus is a god in human form, Pentheus aspires to be a human in god form

Wyles- Fallen palace

Transformed from a symbol of royal authority to a symbol of Dionysus' power