Reviews

Euripides Bacchae by Euripides

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havefa1th's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

proffy's review against another edition

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3.0

Dionysus is alternately the most awesome god ever, the most ridiculous, and the most dangerous. He seems to be the god of excess, of drunken orgies and animal instincts; but along with the sexier versions of excess comes violence and rage and emotion without logic. It is to Dionysus which can be credited the reality of ecstatic frenzy (think arms in the air, speaking in tongues type religion, but with lots and lots of alcohol). When Dionysus begins his evil plan to reveal himself to Thebes, he seduces/possesses the women of the town who run off into the woods with him. This pisses Pentheus off since those women are his relatives, including his mother. Understandable really, I mean who wants their mom taking off with some playboy into the woods for irresponsible sex and drinking?

Pentheus determines to get the women back and drive Dionysus, who he refuses to believe is a god, from Thebes. But come on folks, as we all know, you don't mess with a god - and you certainly don't deny him his existence in the first place. Mucho badness befalls Pentheus and his family.

The central theme of The Bacchae is arguable. Certainly the convergence of religious tradition and rationality is at work in the text, represented by Dionysus and Pentheus; however, to say that the play favors one over the other seems questionable. While Dionysus "wins" in the play, both characters are presented as equally undesirable. Dionysus is manipulative and conniving and Pentheus stubborn and delusional. Personally, I believe the play supports the immovability of mankind's belief more than it supports any religious doctrine. The truth of the existence of gods is secondary to people's belief in the existence.

clothbound_world's review

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Truly disturbing and intense. Still not sure how I feel about it. The choral odes are luminous tho.

drxxdpersephone's review

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

angelsubrinaa's review

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3.0

i think this play was white good!! i guess the only thing i didn't like was the pacing. it was a bit iffy in my opinion as the beginning was rather slow and then the climax just popped out out of nowhere. dionysus is depicted in quite an interesting way. he's powerful and vengeful which contrasts with how ancient greeks would have viewed him as he is the greek god of wine and revelry and drama. pentheus isn't a likeable character - he's irrational, misogynistic, impetuous, xenophobic etc. although his beliefs are out of order, he is an inexperienced young king (i believe around 16/17?) who was forced into being a king and therefore had loads of responsibilities. i don't think dionysus should've gone to the extent of killing him the humiliation pentheus experienced should have been enough i think. dionysus definitely takes it too far when he starts killing others from his own family who did actually support him. i quite liked how all the characters were complex and it was really fun analysing this got classics!!