Morality In The Bacchae

The Bacchae: Women and Morality
A Perception of the Lesser Gender Based on Greek Mythology As is made clear in the introduction of The Bacchae, this Euripides play is intended to display an unlikely scenario, one where the normal worship of a god by women is taken to the extreme. Furthermore, it was specifically noted this applied to Theban women, not Athenians, as referenced by translator and author John Davie, “actual maenadism was not a feature of Athenian cults of the gods, though there is clear evidence that it did exist in Thebes...Athenian women sometimes journeyed to take part in the Theban celebrations, but at fixed times and for a brief period, after which they returned to their accustomed domestic lives.” But what comes through
As seems to be the trend for most Greek tragedies of the time, this would have been the penultimate punishment, to be slain by not only family but of the lesser gender and after having been tricked to dress in the manner of that gender. What is truly entwined in this tale is not the odd or convoluted family dynamic, but the obvious disparity Greeks had between the genders. For all the talk of worshiping goddesses, mortal women had to operate within a much higher moral code. Throughout the play it seems Euripides reveres women who are and remain virtuous in the face of temptations like men and alcohol. Here the maenads are stripped of their virtue because they chose to deny Dionysus. In opposition, the women of the chorus are honored because they support Dionysus, sing his praises, laud his existence, but they are still supplicated. Euripides delineates through use of social hierarchy that the women of the chorus were not of the same virtue as the women under Dionysus’ spell. He describes women as beneath and under the control of men in having Pentheus ask in disbelief, “am I to give up being a man and rank as a woman?” In this short question, Euripides reflects his understanding, and perhaps opinion, of how expendable