Artistic Theme Of The Bacchae Essay, Research Paper

My artistic theme is about the play The Bacchae of Euripides and how the god Dionysusis irrational behavior is in accord with that of Alcibiades in Plato s Symposium. In both books the above named character s behavior was reactive to their situations rather than proactive.

In the Symposium, Alcibiade s unrequited love, or rather lust for Socrates drives him to make a fool of himself at the dinner party . During his speech Alcibiades speaks of Socrates as if he were a superior being; he has a special hold or power over emotions of others. He mentions that (Socrates) presents himself as your lover, and before you know it, you re in love with him yourself! Therefore, justifying to himself that he is not in control of his body or emotions. This is in direct contrast to the character of Socrates presented by Plato. Socrates believes in self-control-being in control of what you do what ails you and what you allow to bother you. In conjunction with this is the concept of love.

According to Socrates lust or sexual desire is on of the lowest forms of love; thus does always need to be obtained. Rather wisdom, the highest form of love according to Diotima and Socrates should be sought and revered. The concept of honoring life and love as it is, exemplified in the Handbook of Epictetus. In the Handbook Epictetus specifies not to seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen . This concept Dionysus in the Bacchae of Euripides did not comprehend. He was embittered the Milles-Dave 2 people of Thedes did not believe that the God Zeus impregnated his mother, thereby making him half God, that he took revenge on the women of the city including his aunt. Dionysus, the God of ecstasy removes the women from their daily work schedule and leads them to the forest where they make a world of continuos play.

Even though Dionysus is the God of ecstasy according to myth, a world filled with pleasure does not ensure a fruitful existence. To honor Dionysus would be to follow Epictetus s handbook to a certain extent. Epictetus would like his followers to live life without any emotional attachments, or standards-with standards come disappointment. On the other hand, Dionysus would except his followers to live life freely. These are two extremes and productive lives can not be lived on either end of the spectrum.

All work and no play leads to a stressful existence. But a life with no work leads to destruction as seen in the Bacchae of Euripedes. In order to live a fun-filled, productive thereby making a fruitful life, we must base our lives in the middle scale, i.e. creating a happy medium.