Interpretive Essay 3

Week 7 Interpretive Essay 3

Stephen Thornton
Dr. Andrew Jacobs
Great Books 1
10/04/18

                       The Moo Moo Murderers

     Euripides’ Bacchae is a book in which the reader will be left wondering about several instances from the book. One story from the book that gives us a proper example of this is how Bacchae possesses a throng of women and causes them to kill a herd of livestock in a gruesome fashion. Several questions that come to mind when reading this odd passage in the book are: why the women were the only ones that were possessed, were the women in full control of themselves when this happened, and why is Bacchus possessing these women and causing them to do this in the first place.        

Ultimately, Dionysus focuses more on women because he wants to repay them for the way that they treated his mother, and he uses them to bring that city of Thebes into subjection of his religion (23-32).
     The women possessed by Bacchus were sleeping in a mountain meadow. Then Agave, Pentheus’ mother, wakes up when she hers the herd of cattle mooing, jumps to her feet, and yells loudly as the spirit of Bacchae is around her, waking the rest of the women. They get dressed, let their hair down, and prepare themselves for the day ahead. Pentheus’ men then devised to ambush the women. Their plan was to hide on the mountain and capture Agave. As they were about to attack the women, their cover was blown as Agave spotted one of the men. At the sight of this, Agave yells “Oh you running dogs of mine, these men are hunting us! Now follow me, follow! A thyrsus is a weapon in your hands” (731-733) and all the women fled straight to the livestock. They ripped the cows into pieces. There were feet and ribs everywhere, there pieces of cow in pine trees hooves were flying in all directions. The area was completely covered with blood and gore from the cows’ bodies. The girls had pulled them down and torn the skin off their backs slaying them ruthlessly (737-747).
     The women were the only ones possessed because he is repaying them for how they treated his mother when she told them that she had conceived a son from Zeus. They mocked her and ridiculed her for her testimony and claimed that she was blaming Zeus for her sexual misconduct and that Zeus killed her as a result of this. The reader can see this when the author says “because my mother’s sisters – of all people, they should have known better – said Dionysus was no son of Zeus. They said Semele was seduced by some man or other and put the blame on Zeus for her mistake in bed, and Zeus killed her because she pretended to be his wife” (26-32).
     The women in the book were not in control of themselves at all. They were completely irrational and inarguably cruel. The reason I say this is because of the fate of Pentheus. Pentheus was torn apart and killed by his own mother who was possessed by Dionysus. The author describes the possession of Agave in this scene perfectly. He says “She was foaming at the mouth, face twisted, eyes rolling, not thinking as she ought to think” (1122-1123). This scene demonstrates no emotion or even second thought given by Agave. The author then goes on to describe what she did to him and how she did it when he says “She was possessed by Bacchus and did not believe him. Grabbing his left wrist with her hands, she braced her foot against his ribs - what a horrible fate for him – and tore of his shoulder” (1123-1127). This scene shows us that Agave showed no remorse for her actions and did not hesitate to ensure Pentheus’ death. She didn’t even kill him quickly. She, and all the women, ripped him limb from limb and played catch with the remains of his body (1129-1137). This shows us the opposite of human nature which, although evil, tends to think things through and react accordingly rather than irrationally.
The purpose of Dionysus possessing the women is to prove that he is a demi-god born of Zeus. They did not believe that Dionysus was the son of Zeus and repay the women of Thebes for their misconduct of Semele, Dionysus’ mother (23-32). He is hungry for attention, and he wants the people to worship him in his own religion, and therefore he drives the women of the town crazy. The reader has a clear illustration of this when the Dionysus says “I sent them cray from their homes. Even the king’s daughters are running wild with them under fir trees, or seated in rocks in the open. This city must fully learn its lesson, like it or not, since it is not initiated in my religion” (36-40).
     As we see, the lust for power can drive any of us to commit sins or go to the extreme. In this case, Dionysus let his pride and arrogance get the best of him. He was honorable in avenging his mother but dishonorable in forcing others to worship him. Either way, Dionysus’ tactic of possessing the women for the subjection of Thebes and the avenging of his mother Semele.