Madness: Overview

Maddness and sanity are seen to be universally known opposites. They are as different as two things can get. They are generally seen to be balancing forces such as light vs. Dark, yin vs. Yang, and so on. In the Baccae, Pentheus represents sanity, while Dionysus represents maddness. However, Euriprides portrays the struggle between maddness and sanity as one sided, rather than an even battle. Through out The Baccae, Euriprides hints at maddness being the ultimately dominant force in the battle between the two.

Various events in the Baccae show that Euriprides believes hat the battle between sanity and maddness is always in favor of the side of maddness, showing that maddness will always win in the end. In the Baccae, the seer Tiresias chastises Pentheus for not honoring Dionysus. Pentheus has been arguing that all the new god’s rituals are crazy, and he does not want them allowed in his city, to which Tiresias responds; “There is no cure for madness when the cure itself is mad. ” (22). Tiresias is trying to tell Pentheus that him that denying the madness that Dionysus brings is itself a crazy idea.

Pentheus epresents sanity and order, and he is trying to keep his city from falling into the hands of the maddness that follows Dionysus. But no matter how hard he tries, the struggle is between a god and a mortal. There is no way for Pentheus to win. This is Euripides showing that it is basically futile to fght maddness, and that ultimately, we have no choice in the matter. Maddness is so dominant over sanity, that we it is a waste of effort, and things would be much easier if we simply succumbed to maddness.

Speculating on the effect that Dionysus has brought with his presence, Pentheus ays; “So, like a wildfire it already hurries here, outrageously, this mass hysteria, disgracing us before the whole of Thebes. ” (121) No matter how much Pentheus did to prevent madness from enveloping his city and his entire life, the power of madness is Just too strong. This quote shows the overwhelming power that madness has. No where in the Baccae does euripides show the awesome power that Pentheus, or sanity holds.

Euripedes is again showing that madness is far more powerful than sanity. Although madness can be held off for a while, like the simile to the wildfire, ltimately, the wildfire that is madness will envelope that which it inhabits. The chorus sings; “Slowly but surely divine power moves to annul the brutally minded man who in his wild delusions refuses to reverence the gods. ” (173)This is the Chorus alluding that to deny the gods is madness. This is an example that isn’t an event of the story, but comes from the chorus, who arent involved at all with what takes place. his is evidence which shows us that Euripides really is trying to show how maddness is dominant, not Just through the events that take place in the Baccae. Euripes is really trying to show the overwhelming power that maddness wields. The very fact that the people telling us this worship a god who induces madness as a hobby is Euripedes reinforcing the idea that no matter what you do in the world of The Bacchae, or in life, maddness ultimately dominates.

The messenger comes back to recount on what ne nas was toaming at the mouth Her eyes dilated rolled. Her mind was gone–possessed by Bacchus–she could not hear her son. (225) The natural instinct of a mother is to protect and care for her offspring. That is what her natural, maternal instincts consist of. The wellbeing of her offspring is any mother’s natural, sane goal. So the fact that the maddness that Dionysus brings could make Agave rip her own son to shreds shows that maddness prevails over the sanity that Agave had. Agave was not known to be a particularly unstable character, so the fact that dionysius could drive her to commit such a terrible act to her own offspring leaves little hope for sanity prevail in the fght.

Euripedes uses such a terrible and gruesome example to show that madness is a terrible and owerful force. Euripedes is showing us a metaphore, where sanity is represented by Pentheus, and he is torn apart by the maddness that has taken his own mother. This is a terrifying way for Euripedes to show the imbalance between the two forces. After Pentheus tries to chain and torture Dionysus, The god tries to persuade Pentheus to change his mind. However Pentheus resists the persuasive power of the god. “l don’t think so. You’re setting me up for your tricks again. (984) This shows that maddness can be fought. Pentheus is remaining strong, and fghts bending to the will of Dionysus. There is power in sanity, and it can be used to battle madness. But this is Just Euripedes showing that sanity is not completely defenseless. It is not him showing that sanity can defeat madness in the end. Maddness can be battled, but it can never be defeated. This is showing that no matter how drawn out the battle with madness can be, the end result will always be madness dominating. Euripedes’s outlook on the battle between sanity and madness is a bleak one.

Tragedies are not supposed to be happy ending type of stories. Although Euripedes is saying that maddness will ultimately triumph over sanity, not everyone is confronted with that battle. Madness is not present in the lives of all living things. Euripides is saying that if madness presents itself, it will ultimately consume that which is puts itself upon. This is still a very bleak outlook on things, however it is only what Euripides is conveying through the Baccae. He may not even believe this, and if he does, there is no reason to believe he is correct.