Examining gender as presented in Euripides’ Baccahe

by Alexander Wilderspin

Euripides’ Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy written in 405 BC. The main conflict in Bacchae is between Dionysus and his cousin Pentheus. They act as each other’s foils throughout, with Pentheus standing for man’s rational side, and Dionysus standing for the hedonistic and irrational side. The play is centralised around both Dionysus’ assertion of his position as a God, and his strive to receive rightful worship. To reach his desired status, he drives all of the women out of Thebes to Mount Cithaeron and forces them into a state of madness. In the absence of the women, the city of Thebes falls into disarray.

Proceeding this, Dionysus is recognised as a God by some parties, yet not by his cousin Pentheus. Through earthquakes and illusions, Dionysus places Pentheus in a trance-like state and dresses him as a woman to take him up to Mount Cithaeron. Dionysus turns the bacchants at Mount Cithaeron against Pentheus and they tear him apart limb by limb.

Despite being written almost seven thousand years ago, Euripides’ writing style is modern in its presentation of women as an integral part of society. Yet, in spite of this modernity regarding gender, the women in Bacchae are still constrained to their ‘traditional’ roles as child bearers. Therefore, Euripides’ presentation of women as vital has patriarchal undertones, as they are presented as necessary to fulfil the duties men cannot fulfil alone.

The relationship between man and woman is a central theme of this play, and the concept that the city cannot survive without women is interesting. The city may be formally run by men, yet is carried by women. Euripides does have a neutral approach to gender discourse, as he does not praise men or belittle women on gender grounds.

It goes without saying that gender stereotypes are still present in the play, as the female bacchants are portrayed as hysteric, thus aligning to traditional misogynistic ideas re- garding female behaviour. However, an alternative reading of this play could reveal Euripides’ portrayal of women as a criticism of masculinity. To elaborate, Euripides could have portrayed women as frantic to emphasise the extent to which males of authority - such as Pentheus - lack emotion and base their personalities around social expectations.

Pentheus’ hamartia is his hubris in denying Dionysus’ position as a god, yet his hubris is a manifestation of his desire to stick to the masculine status quo, as it is his desire to be logical and tactical which prevents him from acknowledging his cousin’s new status. Pentheus confines himself to the stereotypical masculine role, rather than entertaining the possibility of Dionysus’ newfound status. As Dionysus dressed Pentheus as a woman to punish and humiliate him, this illustrates the low social status of women, therefore highlighting the extent to which traditional gender stereotypes are present in this play.

It is also important to note that perhaps Pentheus’ punishment is a microcosm of the masculine fear of engaging in the feminine. As a transgender person myself, it is difficult to read this as a denunciation of crossing gender boundaries. Perhaps this form of punishment is a method deployed by Euripides to condemn the stringent gender boundaries upheld not only by Pentheus but by Greek society as a whole.

One could even say that throughout Bacchae, Euripides addresses gender curiously. In some instances, he portrays gender traditionally by enforcing archaic boundaries, yet in other instances, he views gender through an incredibly modern and progressive lens. Bacchae appears to criticise stark gender boundaries, whilst also emphasising the importance of women due to a woman’s role in the traditional gender boundary. Thus, Bacchae is definitely a play worth reading, as the gender issues addressed throughout this play are relevant in modern-day society.