Auteur(s) : A.J. PODLECKI (Pennsylvania State Univ., USA)
Titre : Individual and Group in Euripides' Bacchae
Revue : L’Antiquité Classique
Volume : 43
Date : 1974
Pages : 143-165

Abstract:
An analysis of Euripides’ Bacchae in terms of its significant themes and images shows that it can be read as a poetic statement of the tensions between individuals and groups. Dionysius and Pentheus confront one another as cousins, but also as group-leaders, Dionysus of his sacred thiasos, Pentheus as political head of Thebes. The conflict ends disastrously for all parties: Pentheus loses his kingship and his life; Dionysus loses his votaries’ respect for and even credence in his godhead; Cadmus and Agave suffer total political and social alienation, and must go into exile as part of a roving band of marauders.