Reduction and Growth
Pentheus and Dionysus are at odds in the Bacchae. The king, Pentheus, seems to start as a large character and as the play progresses he becomes a portion of what he once was. The God Dionysus on the other hand seems to start out a rather meek character and grows into a rather fierce one. With the switch of stature comes a switch of power.
Both Dionysus and Pentheus share a grandfather, Cadmus. Just because they share a family tree doesn't mean that Pentheus and Dionysus share the same ideas about Gods. Both stand firm in their own beliefs about if Dionysus is or isn't a god, but both have an opposing view. Obviously Dionysus knows that he is a God, but Pentheus disagrees. Pentheus refuses to consider the possibility and believes the slander about Semele, Dionysus's mother and Pentheus's aunt. This belief is the conflict between Pentheus and Dionysus. That and the people of Thebes follow the beliefs of their king.
Pentheus calls for Dionysus to be brought to him in cuffs and the king's servants do just that. When the two cousins first encounter each other they are both very eager to trade words with each other. Both are set to defend their beliefs and ideals. This is also where we get an idea of what Dionysus looks like. At this time Dionysus looks very effeminate to Pentheus. Dionysus has curly golden hair which Pentheus cuts to try and belittle Dionysus. This is a way that Dionysus's appearance gets altered, but it is Pentheus who altered the appearance of the god. Pentheus says .”You wrestle well- when it comes to words.” p. 39, 491 This suggests that the God may not have been very athletically built and this is something Pentheus uses to try and shame Dionysus with. Even though Dionysus is projecting that he looks like an effeminate man who would not wrestle well he has a hidden power. Under the facade of weakness there is a God who is playing with mortals.
Dionysus is consistently holding two positions at the same time. Not just in the literal form, but in the figurative form. Pentheus tries to lock Dionysus away and have the God chained, but Dionysus has Pentheus wrestle a bull instead of Dionysus himself. One of the the representations of Dionysus is the bull so it makes sense that he would use it in one of his illusions. Pentheus does wrestle the bull and wins and thinks he has succeeded in binding the God. While the king is trying to bind the God, Dionysus has already started to bind the mind of the king. When chaining the God doesn't go the way the king wanted he tries stabbing the God. No blood is shed, Pentheus only hits a shadow and then he freaks out. He sets fire to his palace, burning it to the ground.
This is a major defeat for the king. He started out full of confidence in his beliefs and what he had his people believe. There was no worship of Dionysus to be had, but it seems after this defeat Pentheus shrinks a little. At the time of the king shrinking mentally, the God seems to grow a little bit in power. After starting off as a reserved character Dionysus starts to show more of who he is. Both are escalating the confrontation.
Dionysus gets scarier in the next confrontation. It is not a direct confrontation between cousins this time, but of shepherds who discover the Maenids in the field. The god has taken all of the kingdoms women and basically driven them insane; he has had all the women go into the pasture and worship him. The shepherds come among these women and see that one is none other than the King's own mother. In deciding to make the King happy they want to capture his mother and bring her back to him. While the shepherd's watch the women, they witness the miracles of the God Dionysus and how he can produce honey, wine, and water for his followers. After laying an ambush for the kings mom the shepherds are discovered by the Maenids. It does not go well for the shepherds. The Maenids use their wands and bare hands, the weapons of choice for Maenids, to tear apart livestock, the land and some shepherds. The shepherd who made it back very nearly didn't.
This all seems to be to much for the king. It is time for action, something has to be done about this madness. Pentheus decides he needs to attack the Maenids. This does not settle well with Dionysus. The God seems to use his cousins rattled mental state to manipulate him. Dionysus probably could have started out manipulating his cousin, but it seems the God gave the king ample chance to come around. Since the king did not come around, Dionysus keeps going to more and more drastic measures. In his final measure he talks Pentheus into dressing as a woman so he can go view the Maenids without being caught. Up to this point seemed Pentheus seems like an honest and conservative person. It is clear that the mind wash from the God has been taking a toll on Pentheus. Until now it would be very out of character for the king to request to see an orgy in which his mother and other family members are taking part in.
Once the God has convinced his cousin to take up woman's dress, the king is worried that his people will see him. If people see Dionysus leading the king of Thebes, dressed as a woman, it would be a coup for the God. It would show that the king is little more than a play thing for the God would let the people know that their king had made the wrong choice in Gods. That worshiping Dionysus would be a good idea. Especially so they don't end up in women's clothes while being led to their death. As Dionysus helps his cousin dress as a woman the god gets his verbal revenge, he even tucks in one of Pentheus's curls that has come loose. It is like the play has come full circle now, both have switched their power. Dionysus is now the one in charge leading around the king, not the king leading around his people's beliefs.
After Dionysus has gotten the king all dressed up he leads him up to the Maenids. In woman's garb, being paraded through the streets, it is clear that the king has had a change of heart. Not by choice, but Pentheus is dressed up in Dionysus's follower's outfit and being led by the God himself. What are the people to think? This display shows who has the real power in the relationship between king and God if not between man and God. There is a lesson to be learned and that is don't anger the Gods.
Once Dionysus and Pentheus reach the Maenids, Pentheus can see the horns on Dionysus's head. The king's brain has been tampered with enough that he doesn't freak out and run away, he just takes it in stride. When Dionysus's horns are showing he has transitioned into full god status. This goes beyond the three steps that switched the roles of the cousins. Now that Dionysus is showing his horns it is time for Pentheus to be less than he was dressed up in woman's clothes and going against his own decree. It is time for Pentheus to die. This is the final way that the play shows one character elevating and one declining. As if to parallel that, Dionysus bends a tree for Pentheus to sit in. Dionysus brings down the top of the tree without breaking it, has the king get in it and raises him to full glory. Once at full glory Dionysus enacts his final betrayal on Pentheus by outing him to the Maenids.
While Pentheus sits at the top of the tree, as if in all his glory, the Maenids figure out a way to get him down. When the Maenids pull up the tree and bring the king to the ground it is Dionysus enacting his revenge and letting the people of Thebes know he should be worshiped. Out of all the Maenids around, it was Pentheus's own mother who killed him and then carried his head into town. Of course Dionysus had brainwashed her, so she thought it was a young lions head, but it must have been a sight to the people of Thebes. The kings mother walking through town, a representative of both the royal family and of the Maenids, holding he sons head. It sends a very clear message, worship or be destroyed. More than destroyed, to bring shame upon your family on top of being destroyed.
The killing of Pentheus brought so much shame onto his family that they exiled themselves. That is an added threat from Dionysus. Don't worship me, but I can kill you and do it in such a way that I will bring so much shame to your family that they will willingly leave town and never associate with anyone ever again because they are so polluted. With this, Dionysus made his point.
Dionysus's power grew and grew as Pentheus's shrank. Pentheus should have known better than to mess with a God. Even if at first he didn't want to believe for political reasons the king should have given in when the God had proven himself. There could be no happy ending for Pentheus once he truly committed to going against Dionysus. By showing that he refused to worship what was right in front of him Pentheus chose to let his pride guide him instead of the good of him and his people. That led to his folly, pollution, and death.
Work Cited
Euripides. "The Bacchae." Euripides V. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: U of Chicago, 2013. 19-84. Print.