Order vs. Irrationality Theme Analysis

The Bacchae is chiefly concerned with two very different ways of being. On the one hand, there is the “civilized” order represented by King Pentheus which, generally, is the way the Thebans live their life. However, Dionysus’ aim is to show them the other side of themselves—to get them to give into their irrational nature, a plan that clearly works. Pentheus believes his subjects are wrong to indulge in irrationality, and tries to impose order by hunting down the Bacchae (Dionysus’ followers) “with nets.” The play, then, asks whether there is a place in life for irrationality—or whether what Dionysus gives the Thebans is even irrational in the first place.

Dionysus is the god of wine. His festivities encourage the Thebans to drink alcohol as a means to loosen the order from everyday life and connect with their more “irrational” side. This poses the question—does this widespread drunkenness represent wasteful irrationality or an important method for the reevaluation of life itself? Wine is certainly at the heart of Dionysian celebration. He sees it as a way of attaining a state of ecstasy, a kind of release that reminds people of what makes them human in an increasingly civilized world. Tiresias sees wine as a great gift bestowed on humanity by Dionysus. He says it “brought peace to the troubled mind, gave an end to grief, and gave us sleep—blessed sleep—a forgetting of our sadnesses. He, a god himself, is poured out in honour of the gods. Through that holy wine we win their favour.” In other words, Tiresias believes wine to be a kind of cure, bringing order to emotional distress. Pentheus, on the other hand, associates wine with madness, irrationality, and immorality, claiming that “Drink is at the bottom of it all.” Both Pentheus and Tiresias are right, in a way. Dionysus does intend to use “drink” to bring madness to Thebans as part of his revenge, but his “gift” is also intended to improve people’s lives, as the chorus lets the audience know: “He shares his gift of wine, of bliss, with rich and poor, and hates all those who have no care of this: who would not live a life of blessedness, day and night.” For Dionysus, then, there isn’t really a contradiction between order and irrationality—one is part of the other. By facilitating his followers’ so-called irrationality, he restores what he sees as a kind of order to their lives, based on realizing the more primal and sensual sides of their nature.

It’s not just copious amounts of wine that symbolizes Dionysus’ undermining of the social order of Thebes. His followers temporarily reject their civilized nature by leaving the city for the mountains and indulging in behaviors that would normally be considered irrational. Euripides explicitly links their actions with a return to a more “animal” nature, asking the audience to examine what “civilization” really means. Dionysus inspires his female followers to leave Thebes and decamp into the mountain forests. Here, they sleep on pine needles and breastfeed wild animals, surviving on hunted prey that they tear apart with their bare hands and eat raw; Dionysus wants his followers to abandon the order of their normal, civilized lives in order to reconnect with the natural world. Numerous characters explicitly frame the “madness” of the Bacchae as a supernatural liberation. After Pentheus has tried to imprison some of the women, a servant tells the king that they’ve escaped—“the chains just fell of them, like magic.” When Dionysus effortlessly destroys Pentheus’ palace, he undermines one of the grand symbols of Theban civilization.

Euripides leaves the question of order and irrationality open to the audience’s interpretation. Pentheus and Dionysus represent two extremes—and it’s up to the viewer to decide which is right, or whether there is a compromise that leads to a happy, fulfilled life. In the play, too much order and too much irrationality both lead to destruction. Pentheus’ refusal to acknowledge Dionysus’ godliness is also a denial of Dionysus’ philosophy of irrationality, chaos, and ecstasy. That’s part of the reason why Dionysus feels he has to teach Pentheus such a tragic lesson. However, Dionysus hardly offers a sustainable way of living—to engage in Dionysian behavior continuously would also result in a person’s destruction. So perhaps Euripides is arguing for a third way—a mode of living that is generally civilized but is punctuated by rituals that remind individuals of the full scope of human nature by exploring humanity’s more wild and animal side. The second messenger, who arrives to bring news of Pentheus’ death, offers this view: “This is another lesson: that moderation and reverence for the gods are a mortal’s best possession.”

Order and irrationality, then, offer the audience another duality. They appear to be two contradicting, conflicting ways of being—but neither extreme order nor extreme irrationality comes across as particularly appealing. In investigating order and irrationality, Euripides asks the audience to examine their relationship to one another, and to consider that they are, perhaps, not contradictory, but complimentary. It’s not certain that this is Euripides’ intention—but if Pentheus had embraced his irrational side, he would have saved himself; and if Dionysus had brought more order to his actions, he might have won his following without having to resort to deception and murder.