All Characters who speak:

Dionysus

Pentheus

Cadmus

Tiresias

Agave

Chorus - Persian Bacchants (women)

Soldier

First Messenger

Second Messenger

Characters who are mentioned but do not speak:

Semele

Ino

Autonoë

Actaeon

The women of Thebes

Prologue

Dionysus

“I have put aside my divine form” - disguise

“the undying crime of Hera against my mother” - his origins

“Cadmus, however, I praise” - established dynamic between Dionysus and his mortal relatives

“so that I might be revealed to mankind as a god” - this is how he wants to establish himself

“my mother’s sisters, the last people who should have done so” - sense of betrayal

“blamed Zeus for her sexual shame” - deception and disguise

“I have stung them into a frenzy” - madness

“I have driven all the women… in madness from their homes” - disruption of the society of Thebes

“I must vindicate my mother Semele” - his reason, is this justifiable?

“Pentheus, who now fights with gods” - blasphemous, he is at a position of disadvantage and does not realise it established

“I have put aside my true form… taken on the likeness of a mortal man” - disguise

Parados

“Blessed is he… Who leads a life of reverence” - Pentheus is not blessed, foreshadowing

“Thebes, nurse of Semele” - lots of maternal imagery

“let all become Bacchants” - reverent to Dionysus

“Stung to madness by Dionysus” - reinforces the events Dionysus’s telling of events

“the straining dance of ecstasy” - Dionysus is the god of pleasure

“The joy of eating raw flesh” - omophagia, a maenad tradition (foreshadowing the sparagmos that will happen to Pentheus)

“to the mountains of Phrygia, of Lydia” - a sense that a foreigner has invaded Thebes

Episode One

Tiresias

“make ourselves a thrysus, put on fawnskins, and garland our heads with ivy wreaths” - maenads, associated with femininity

“I too feel young” - the effects of Dionysian worship

“that would show the god less honour” - as an oracle, Tiresias is incredibly conscious of how his actions appear to the gods

“we alone have sense” - showing the gods respect is the expectation

“We do not hold intellectual debates on the gods” - potentially ironic, Euripides has been accused of being godless and atheist for his criticisms of the gods through his plays. Either way it is the opposite view to the one presented by Pentheus within the play, which he is punished for.

“No logic will overthrow the traditions” - emphasis on traditional views

“he wants to receive equal honour from all” - understanding of Dionysus’ position.

“You have a smooth tongue… there is no sense in your words” - Pentheus does not speak logically despite thinking he does.

“through Dionysus people may have good fortune”

“This god is also a prophet”

“Do not be too sure that force dominates mankind”

“If you have an opinion, and that opinion is weak, do not consider it wisdom”

“Accept the god in this country”

“how ignorant you are of what you are saying!”

“not in your right mind before, and now you are raving”

“the fool is speaking folly”

Cadmus

“we must honour him as much as we are able” - incredibly respectful of the god

“it is so sweet to forget that we are old!” - both Tiresias and Cadmus are aging

“Are we the only men…?” - the men of Thebes have not taken kindly to Dionysian worship

“I do not scorn the gods, since I am mortal myself.” - an understanding that the gods have complete control over mortals and their fortunes

“How agitated he is!” - about Pentheus, establishes his characteristics before he makes his first appearance on stage

“You home must be with us, not outside our ways and traditions”

“Tell a lie in a good cause”

“You know the grim fate of Actaeon”

“Do not suffer that fate”

Pentheus

“I have been away from this land” - Pentheus has returned to find the disruption of the established social order by the maenads and Dionysus.

“fake Bacchic revels” - blasphemy, hubris

“this new god, Dionysus - whoever he is” - blasphemy

“the women creep off to hide in secret places and serve the lusts of men” - prudish, incredibly misogynistic even by ancient greek standards

“the put Aphrodite before the Bacchic god” - Aphrodite, goddess of lust, implying they care more for sexual passions that to celebrate Dionysus. Pentheus fundamentally misunderstands the situation.

“I will hunt from the mountains” - brutal, misogyny

“a magical enchanter from… Lydia” - Pentheus has an obsession with Dionysus’s looks within the play

“his blond hair smelling of perfume, his cheeks flushed, with the charms of Aphrodite in his eyes” - description of Dionysus from Pentheus

“cutting his head from his body!” - the first of many ways Penthus describes killing/punishing Dionysus

“Do such outrageous acts not deserve death by hanging…?” - accuses Dionysus of blasphemy whilst he himself commits blasphemy

“my mother’s father - an utter laughing stock” - feels disrespected and disgraced by his grandfathers presentation, implies his youth

“I say there is nothing healthy in the rites” - blasphemy

“don’t wipe your stupidity off on me!”

“Lever it up with crowbars”

“Throw everything into utter confusion”

“That is how I will hurt him most”

“track down the effeminate foreigner”

“disease to our women, and is dishonouring their beds”

“bring him here in chains, to be punished by stoning and so die”

Chorus

“Blasphemy!” - The Chorus directly calls Pentheus out for his words and actions in Episode One

“Stranger, have you no respect for the gods…?” - despite the fact they are the strangers in Thebes, Pentheus’ disrespect towards the gods others him.

“will you shame your family?” - how one person acts reflects upon the rest of his family

“Old man, you do not shame Phoebus with your words”

“his unholy insult”

“Unbridled mouths and lawless folly/ End in disaster”

“Wisdom is not cleverness”

“Life is short; one who seeks greatness - / Misses what lies at hand”

“These are the ways of madmen”

“people who cannot see sense”

“god of joy!” - ironic?

Episode Two

Soldier

“we have captured the prey”

“this wild beast was gentle to us”

“he even smiled”

“allowing himself to be bound and led away”

“I felt ashamed”

“set free, skipping away to the mountain glades”

“The chains on their legs snapped apart all by themselves”

“This man… is full of miracles”

Dionysus

“It is nothing to boast of” - his past

“He is the same Zeus who married Semele here”

“It is forbidden to tell those not initiated in the Bacchic ways”

“It is not permitted for you to hear; but it is worth knowing”

“The mysteries of the god abhor a man who lives without reverence”

“Whatever he wanted” - Dionysus’ appearance

“One who speaks wisdom will seem foolish to the ignorant”

“All of Persia” - knows of Dionysus

“Darkness has sacred power”

“Even in daylight one can find debauchery”

“You will pay, for your ignorance and irreverence to the god!”

“My hair is sacred”

“The god himself will free me”

“He is here now, and he sees what is happening to me”

“you have no reverence, so you do not see him”

“I give clear warning to those whose minds are not clear”

“You do not know what your life is, nor what you are doing, nor who you are”

“You are well named for disaster” - Penthos (pain and grief)

“I cannot suffer”

“you are imprisoning the god”

Pentheus

“He is in my net” - ironic

“you are not bad-looking”

“Your hair is long”

“very seductive!”

“you hunt Aphrodite with your beauty”

“There is some Zeus over there, who fathers new gods?”

“in a dream, or face-to-face”

“a clever trick, to make me want to hear!”

“they have far less sense than Greeks!”

“to deceive and corrupt women!” - about darkness

“your vile cleverness”

“I will cut off your lovely curls”

“I will have you locked up”

“He is not visible to my eyes”

“He is mocking me”

“I have more authority than you!”

“he can contemplate shadows in the dark!”

“I will sell them as slaves, or keep them as servants at my loom”

Chorus

“Dirce, reject me when I come to you”

“Why do you refuse me?”

“I swear by the lovely clusters of Dionysus’ vine”

“He rages, how he rages”

“A savage, unnatural creature, inhuman”

“end the crimes of this murderous man!”

Episode Three

Dionysus

“Io bacchants!”

“Again I cry!”

“Shake the floor of the world, spirit of earthquake!”

“Set light to the bright blaze of lightning!”

“Stand up!”

“Take courage and stop trembling!”

“Did you fall into despair when I was taken away?”

“I freed myself, easily”

“That is exactly how I humiliated him”

“he did not touch or hold me”

“I was close by, sitting peacefully and watching”

“Pentheus saw it, thinking the palace was on fire”

“a phantom in the courtyard”

“Everything is wrecked”

“my imprisonment is a most bitter sight for him to behold”

“he dared to fight against a god”

“a wise man keeps his good humour with his good sense”

“calm down and relax”

“Did I not say that someone would free me - or did you not hear?”

“Can gods to not pass even over water?”

“I have been shamefully treated by you”

“you must not take up arms against the god”

“a mortal against a god”

“Ah… Would you like to see them sitting together in the mountains?”

“Have you fallen so passionately for the idea?”

“you would enjoy seeing what makes you angry?”

“you must clothe your body in a linen dress”

“long hair”

“A dress down to your feet”

“it is wiser than hunting evil with evil”

“We will take deserted streets. I will lead you”

“the man is moving onto the net”

“he will be punished with death”

“take vengeance”

“put him out of his mind, a lightheaded madness”

“I will go to dress Pentheus in the fine clothes he will wear down to Hades”

“slaughtered by the hands of his mother”

“most terrible, and yet most gentle to mankind”

Chorus

“The cry of Bacchus that calls me?”

“the palace of Pentheus/ Will be shaken apart and collapse!”

“the blaze of fire”

“sacred tomb of Semele”

“Throw your trembling bodies to the ground”

“How happy I am to see you after feeling so abandoned!”

“Who would look after me”

“unholy man” - Pentheus

“Dionysus is as great as any of the gods!”

“it has escaped the terror of the hunt”

“Rejoicing in the places empty of men”

“What is wisdom?”

“It corrects mortal who worship arrogance/ And do not revere the divine”

“a man must not think and act/ Beyond the ways of tradition”

Pentheus

“An outrage has been done to me!”

“Everything you say to me is bizarre!”

“Clever you are, clever - except where you need to be clever!”

“You will not be harmed by me” - to the messenger

“the more I will punish this man”

“the wild outrages of the bacchants blaze up like fire”

“we are to march against the bacchants!”

“Do not lecture me!”

“I will sacrifice a great slaughter of women”

“I am quite ensnared by this impossible stranger!”

“This is some trick”

“stop talking!”

“I would give a countless pile of gold for it”

“I would not like to see them drunk”

“Shall I change from man to woman?”

“You are right”

“How clever you are”

“Women’s? I am ashamed!”

“I could not put on women’s clothes!”

“I must go as a spy”

First Messenger

“I want to know whether I can say freely what is going on there”

“I fear the swiftness of your moods”

“your temper, which is excessively kinglike”

“All were sleeping with their bodies relaxed”

“but decently”

“it is not as you say”

“a marvel of decency and grace”

“a dewy spring of water”

“a spring of wine”

“found gushes of milk”

“sweet streams of honey”

“the sight would have made you approach the god in prayer”

“we should hunt Agave”

“the ambush”

“a woman pulling apart a young… heifer, with her bare hands”

“tearing fully grown cows to pieces” - sparagmos

“the men’s spearpoints drew no blood”

“women overcoming men!”

Episode Four

Dionysus

“The man who desires to see what should not be seen”

“The god is with me now”

“This curl has fallen out of place”

“my job is to look after you”

“I am sure you will call me your best fried when you see the bacchants behaving more modestly than you expect”

“I congratulate you on your change of mind!”

“now your mind is as it should be”

“the trial you must undergo awaits you”

“to guide and protect you”

“You will be carried back… in the arms of your mother”

“You are a man to inspire terror, great terror, and it is to terrors that you go”

Pentheus

“I seem to see two suns, and a double city of Thebes, two cities with seven gates!”

“you look like a bull leading me”

“I am in your hands now”

“strong enough to loft the ridges of Mount Cithaeron on my shoulders”

“force must not be used to defeat women”

“My mother!”

“luxury”

“You insist on spoiling me!”

“I take what I deserve”

Chorus

“Cadmus’ daughters hold their sacred gathering”

“Sting them to madness”

“the madman in women’s clothing”

“his mother will see him first”

“Let Justice appear!”

“the enemy of the gods, laws and justice!”

“unjust judgement and lawless anger”

“death accepts no excuse for wisdom in divine affairs”

“I do not hate intelligence; I delight in it”

“to honour the gods”

“Go, Bacchus, with a smile on your face”

Episode Five

Second Messenger

“How I grieve for you!”

“rejoicing at my master’s misfortunes”

“there is nothing fine in exulting over crimes that have been committed”

“Poor Pentheus”

“I saw a miracle performed by the stranger”

“a fir, high as heaven, and pulled it down, down, down to the dark earth”

“a deed no mortal could have performed”

“a voice, Dionysus, it would seem, cried out”

“between the sky and the earth spread the light of divine fire”

“the glade of the forest held its leaves still, and you could not hear the cry of any animal”

“they sprang off with the speed of a dove”

“maddened by the inspiration of the god”

“The poor man was seated higher than even their passion could reach, trapped and helpless”

“so that we can capture the climbing beast”

“His mother was the first to start the killing”

“so that poor Agave would recognise him”

“he touched her cheek as he spoke”

“take pity on me, mother, and do not kill me”

“she was… not in her right mind, possessed by the Bacchic god”

“she put her foot against the wretched man’s ribs and tore his shoulder out of its socket”

“all the women, bloody-handed, were playing catch with the flesh of Pentheus”

“she fixed it on the point of a thyrsus as if it were the head of a mountain lion”

“‘fellow-hunter, comrade in the kill, crowned in victory’”

“through him she wins tears”

“The best thing if to know one’s place and revere the divine”

Chorus

“You reveal yourself as a great god!”

“I cry out in ecstasy” - at Pentheus’ death

“You have made your glorious song of victory/ Into a lamentation, into weeping”

“With the blood of your child”

Exodus

Agave

“freshly cut tendril,/ Prey that is blessed!”

“This young cub of a wild lion”

“That honour is mine first”

“I am called ‘blessed Agave’.”

“This is a lucky prize!”

“His cheek is growing his first beard”

“Do you praise me?”

“I am overjoyed!”

“Where is my old father? Let him come to me”

“where is my son Pentheus?”

“I am holding this trophy” - Pentheus, still believes it to be a mountain lion

“you are blessed, blessed”

“How bad-tempered people become in their scowling age!”

“he is only able to fight gods!” - Pentheus

“It is brighter than before, and clearer”

“I am somehow returning to my senses”

“A lion’s - that is what they said in the hunt”

“What am I looking at?”

“I see the most terrible pain”

“I am lost!”

“Dionysus destroyed us; now I understand”

“How was Pentheus involved in my madness?”

“we are miserable exiles”

“In misfortune I leave you”

“I mourn for you, father”

“Leave them for other bacchants”

Chorus

“Who was it that struck him down?”

“I, take a share, poor woman?”

“Strange!”

“Are you happy?”

“show your prize to the citizens”

“I grieve for your fate, Cadmus”

“What seems likely does not come tp pass,/ But god finds a way for the improbable”

Cadmus

“carrying the pitiful burden of Pentheus”

“I bring his body here after the labour of endless searching”

“the terrible deeds of my daughters”

“I have brought home my boy”

“poor women”

“she is not a happy sight” - Agave

“pain that cannot be measured or looked upon”

“a fine sacrifice to the gods”

“lord Bromios, who was born in our family, has destroyed us, yes, but excessively hard”

“you will feel terrible pain”

“you will think nothing is wrong when in truth nothing is right”

“do you feel the same soaring excitement in your heart?”

“Now look properly”

“he was mourned before you recognised him”

“how ill-timed your revelations are!”

“You killed him, you and your sisters”

“he did not revere the god”

“the god joined you all together in the same suffering”

“you were the terror of the city” - Pentheus

“now I will go into exile”

“now I am misery”

“Dionysus, we beg you - we have done wrong!”

“you punish too severely”

“My child, what a terrible fate we have come to”

“like a swan protecting its weak, white-feathered parent”

“I weep for your sisters too”

Dionysus

“You will be turned into a serpent, and your wife will take on the savage form of a snake”

“If you had understood what wisdom was when you rejected it, you would have had good fortune”

“You are late in recognising me”

“My father Zeus agreed to this long ago”

“your behaviour towards me was terrible”