Scholars quotes

Question 1

What does DOVER say about gods in GREEK TRAGEDY

Answer 1

The idea that Greek Tragedy scares you into worshipping the gods –> Pentheus’ death used as an example of what happens when you fail to revere the sacred.

Question 2

What does Barry say about the Royal family? (BACCHAE)

Answer 2

Barry says The destruction of the royal family is, no matter how pitable, no disaster for THEBES
- Greek audience would not feel upset at their destruction – they hated TYRANTS and EARNED = disrespectingg the gods.

Question 3

What does EASTERLING say about the BACCHAE

Answer 3

DIONYSUS = director of the play

Question 4

What does GRIFFIN say about FEMALES

Answer 4

the reversal of female nature is the ultimate nightmare

Question 5

What does FREUD say about oedipus

Answer 5

The play teaches submission to divine will

Question 6

What does BLOOM say bout oedipus

Answer 6

OEDIPUS = man OF ACTION, swift and vigorous action

Question 7

WHAT DOES GOULD SAY ABOUT OEDIPUS freely brought

Answer 7

Oedipus acting freely brought on the catastrophe not the gods and not fate.

Question 8

What does WAGGONER say about oedipus dogged pursuit for answers

Answer 8

WAGGONER SAYS Oedipus seeks out knowledge beyond the scope of what is prudent or necessary

Question 9

What does ARISTOTLE say about Greek tragedy

Answer 9

Greek tragedy makes men better than in actual life

Question 10

What does DOVER say of the treatment of mortals in tragedy

Answer 10

DOVER says that the punishment of mortals by gods is undiscriminating and extravagant

Question 11

WHAT DOES LORD ACTON SAY

Answer 11

ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS

Question 12

What does Griffin say about family

Answer 12

Griffin explores the idea of Greek tragedy as making people feel scared about familial dynamics, such as FEAR of the over/under loving mother and fear of women in general.

Question 13

What does GARVIE say about Oedipus and Tiresias

Answer 13

Garvie says “Oedipus is ignorant but determined to know, whereas Tiresias knows the truth but is determined to suppress it.”

Question 14

What does Garvie say about the ending

Answer 14

Garvie says: “In one sense, oedipus does not fall at all. He set out to uncover the truth, and by the end of the play he has succeeded in his quest”

Question 15

GARVIE about Oedipus’ crimes

Answer 15

Garvie says “it is not so much his crimes as his discovery of them that leads to his fall”

Question 16

Garvie on Oedipus quest for truth

Answer 16

Garvie says “It is Oedipus, with the relentless search for the truth, whom we admire.”

Question 17

Moorwood says about Dionysus ambiguity

Answer 17

Moorwood says that the Audience are torn between viewing the god (Dionysus) as evil and good

Question 18

Garvie on minor characters

Answer 18

Garvie says it is the minor characters whose behaviour is more attractive than the hero’s.

Question 19

Higgins on Oedipus fate and audience

Answer 19

Higgins says “Watching Oedipus’ fate unfold, the audience identifies with the hero, sharing vicariously in the horror of the reversal he suffers and acknowledging the power of destiny”

Question 20

Morwood on DIONYSUS AND WOMEN

Answer 20

Morwood says: By driving the Theban women out of their homes, Dionysus profoundly disrupts Thebes’ social order

Question 21

Higgins on oedipus’ behaviour as king

Answer 21

Higgins says that oedipus seems outwardly the ideal king, revealing his intelligence, responsibility and energy. But his overly eager insistence that Creon announce the oracle’s words publicly betrays a certain arrogance about his abilities

Question 22

Higgins on ATHENIAN IMPIETY (OEDIPUS)

Answer 22

Higgins says that : the ridicule of the prophet and his prophecy reflects a change in Athens during the fifth century B.C., when the proponents of reason began to challenge the authority of spiritual power

Question 23

Higgins on catharsis

Answer 23

Higgins says that: the pity and terror aroused by Oedipus’ tragic fall brings about a catharsis, the realisation that the power of fate cannot be overcome by will -even by the will of a king

Question 24

Fagles on Oedipus destruction

Answer 24

Fagles says “Oedipus is his own destroyer”

Question 25

Foley on DIONYSUS

Answer 25

Foley says that Euripides presents Dionysus as creating his own play within the play

Question 26

Rosie Wyles - EARTHQUAKE

Answer 26

ROSIE WYLES says “Earthquake scene turns the palace from a symbol of royal authority to a symbol of Dionysus’ power”

Question 27

PENTHEUS’ CROSS DRESSING - ROSIE WYLES

Answer 27

Rosie Wyles says that the Image of Pentheus cross-dressing and with Bacchic accessories shows the extent of Dionysus’ power over him

Question 28

ROSIE WYLES SAYS WHAT ABOUT THE CHORUS AT THE end?

Answer 28

ROSIE WYLES SAYS THAT the Chorus’ ecstatic joy at hearing of Pentheus’ death is chilling and heightens pathos for circumstances of his death

Question 29

Goldhill (Oedipus is a paradox)

Answer 29

GOLDHILL SAYS: “Oedipus is a paradox in himself -he is both a saviour and a monster. Oedipus conquers a monster, the sphinx, becomes leader of the city… yet this leads to a final discovery of Oedipus’ untenable position in the order of the city, as he has gone against norms of society by killing his father and marrying his mother.”

Question 30

WHAT DOES CHRIS CAREY SAY ABOUT PENTHEUS as an outsider

Answer 30

CHRIS CAREY SAYS THAT Pentheus is the secular central power of Thebes and becomes alienated and an outsider, others fails to understand his behaviours and beliefs and his tyrannical behaviour does nothing to help

Question 31

CHRIS CAREY affirms what about the chorus

Answer 31

Chris Carey affirms that the chorus help audience imagine wilderness of Mount Cithaeron, the Bacchic ritual they sing about describes what the Theban women are doing up in the mountains

Question 32

KOVACS on religion in BACCHAE

Answer 32

Kovacs says that Cadmus and the chorus’ defence of religion may be a reply from Euripides to contemporary speculation about religion

Question 33

GARVIE on DIONYSUS paradox

Answer 33

Garvie says that the striking paradox that Dionysus promises joy yet at the end causes horror and pain

Question 34

GARVIE on TIRESIAS

Answer 34

Garvie claims that Tragedians portray Tiresias with respect and characters who disrespect him usually pay a price

Question 35

Garvie on JOY AND DARKNESS

Answer 35

Garvie says that the Horror of ending parts of Bacchae seem darker because of the joy that preceded

Question 36

ROISMAN ON PENTHEUS’ MORALITY

Answer 36

Roisman believes, rather controversy that Pentheus is not all good, not all bad. Has enough positive aspects to make the audience feel some sympathy when he is torn apart.

Question 37

ROISMAN - PENTHEUS’ SEXUALITY

Answer 37

Roisman states that Pentheus desires the sexual activity he condemns, we see him lose the struggle with his own irrational impulses. He is both repulsed by sex but also unconsciously desires it

Question 38

ROISMAN ON SYMPATHY FOR AGAVE

Answer 38

Roisman states that during The scene of her recognising what she’s done is one of the most harrowing in Greek tragedy, no parent can watch it and not sympathise

Question 39

Sophie Mills on Pentheus HUBRIS.

Answer 39

Sophie Mills says that

Dionysus is a god in human form, Pentheus is human but aspires to be a human in god form

Question 40

Goldhill on THE CHORUS OF THE BACCHAE - Uncertainty and Paradox

Answer 40

Goldhill says that the Chorus of Bacchae focuses on paradoxes and problems in Dionysiac worship. There’s uncertainty between human reason/order and potential for destruction/violence/madness

Question 41

Bremmer on DIONYSUS as a feminist queeeewn

Answer 41

Bremmer states that Dionysus appears typically weak and womanly, but uses this to destroy male authority and give power to women

Question 42

Higgs (depiction of Bacchants)

Answer 42

Higgs says that Euripides’ depiction of the Bacchants conveys both an image of harmony with nature and complete destructiveness.

Question 43

MACLEOD on mother and son

Answer 43

MACLEOD states that: The sparagmos (the dismemberment of a victim, forming a part of some ancient rituals and represented in Greek myths and tragedies) of Pentheus by Agave is the revelation of the power of Dionysus = he can break apart the most fundamental human bond of all: mother and son.

Question 44

Higgs on Pentheus’ attitude

Answer 44

Higgs believes that Pentheus’ attitude is neither flexible nor rational

Question 45

Heystee on AGAVE

Answer 45

Heystee believes truly that Agave has committed the most egregious (extraordinary in a bad way) crime and brought her family to an end

Question 46

Edith Hall claims that… BACCHAE IS ABOUT

Answer 46

Edith Hall states that the Bacchae is a study of Dionysus’ elusive personality and of his devastating powerE

Question 47

Mills (uncomfortable)

Answer 47

Mills says that because Pentheus is manipulated into the mistake of believing he is dealing with an equal, watching the whole experience becomes highly uncomfortable for the audience

Question 48

H.D.F.Kitton - OEDIPUS

Answer 48

Kitto claims that ‘what happens is the natural result of weakness and the virtues of his character, in combination with other people’s’

Question 49

Knox on oedipus

Answer 49

Knox says that his knowledge is what makes him tyrannos - his power comes from his knowledge; how he defeated the Sphinx

Question 50

Silberman states that Oedipus’ fate….

Answer 50

Silberman says that Oedipus’ fate is shown to be a direct result of his actions

Question 51

Griffin says

Answer 51

Griffin says that to an extent we must blame Oedipus - He killed LAUIS through FREE CHOICE. Wasn’t forced to by the gods.

Question 52

Goldhill on DIONYSUS tragedy his role

Answer 52

Goldhill says that “Dionysus’ role as god of subversion was essential to tragedy”

Question 53

PLUTARCH SAYS THAT

Answer 53

Plutarch: theatre was “nothing to do with Dionysus”

Question 54

Higgins on religious duty

Answer 54

Higgins: “to attend the theatre was the religious duty of all pious citizens”

Question 55

Higgins on theatre audience

Answer 55

Higgins: “the dramatisation of stories from a shared heritage helped to nurture and preserve a cultural identity through times of hardship and war”

Question 56

Cartledge states about comedy and tragedy

Answer 56

that comedy is “more obviously connected with Dionysus than tragedy”

Question 57

Edith Hall on tragedy

Answer 57

Edith hall said that tragedy is ‘multifocal’ - it gave a voice to those who were excluded from democracy

Question 58

Higgins on catharsis in oedipus

Answer 58

Higgins says that “The pity and terror aroused by Oedipus’ tragic fall brings about a catharsis”

Question 59

What does Robertson say about the Bacchae as a Metadrama

Answer 59

The robing scene (Pentheus cross dressing) = God is costume designer, stylist & choregrapher. It is a darkly comic charade - Bacchae is after all a play ABOUT dionysus performed in the theatre of Dionysus and written, directed, stage managed and acted by Dionysus with a narrative created to expose Pentheus and punish Thebes.

Robertson continues that the play = METADRAMA. A drama about a drama that uses transformation, via illusion or disguise to undermine conventional distinctions between TRUE AND FALSE, REAL AND UNREAL

Question 60

Robertson on Pentheus

Answer 60

the King has brought death on himself in his vanity and his blindness he has denied the hood and his punishment for this transgression will be an inversion of the ritual mysteries he is so keen to spy on

Question 61

What does Robertson say about Agave

Answer 61

Agave = on stage for one scene only and it is probably the finest recognition scene in tragedy. Her role is to come to her senses and realise what she has done and then to pass into the most acute suffering, allowing the play a moral grandeur and dignity. As she grieves, loyalties of audience and chorus move to AGAVE. Chorus = human pity “Poor Woman”. The Gods final heartless ferocity = balanced against the devastating anguish of a mother who has unwittingly murdered her son. Tips Emotional balance from charismatic god to broken mortals.