Euripides' tragedy The
Bacchae is fundamentally predicated on the structuralist binary
human/not human: the play's tension comes from anxiety over the
borders between the two states. The anxiety comes from two main
sources: how to distinguish between the human and not-human when they
appear to be the same, and how to preserve one's own status as human.
The first of these
sources is embodied primarily by Pentheus' inability to recognise
Dionysus as divine (i.e. not-human). We share Pentheus' point of
view, to a certain extent. Dionysus appears to be human, and may be
acting the role of prophet out of expediency. However, the audience
knows that which Pentheus does not: Dionysus IS divine, despite his
appearance. How are we to distinguish between the two states?
Pentheus' mother Agave
also appears to be human, but in her Bacchic frenzy becomes
animalistic (i.e., again, not-human). Pentheus too reverts to the
animalistic state of hunted prey. How impenetrable can the borders
between human and not-human be, if we can slip so easily from state
to state?
Under Dionysus'
influence, Pentheus slips into the role of actor, pretending to be a
woman. He acts not as a real woman, though, but as a hyperfeminised
parody: in other words, not a real human, but a hyperreal one. Divine
Dionysus himself also acts the role of his human prophet. The notion
of "acting" underlines the anxiety-inducing nature of the
binary: if someone can pretend to be something else, how can we
recognise their truth? And if we are acting a role, to what extent
have we become the thing that we are acting?
The anxiety over what
is human and what is not, and the extent to which we can preserve our
own humanity, are the major motivational forces behind the events of
the play, and these anxieties have at their root the human/not-human structuralist
binary.
Euripides, The
Bacchae. Trans. William Arrowsmith. Greek Tragedies, Volume 3
(2nd Ed).
Ed. David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: Uni. Of Chicago
Press. 1991.
The Ancient Greek Hero by George Nagy at HarvardX
ReplyDeleteOnline course starting Spring 2013
http://www.edx.com
The Ancient Greek Hero will use the latest technology to help students engage with poetry, songs, and stories first composed more than two millennia ago; this literature includes the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, a selection of lyric poetry (including the songs of Sappho), excerpts of prose history, seven tragedies, two Platonic dialogues, and the intriguing but rarely studied dialogue, On Heroes by Philostratus. Through English translations that have been carefully prepared and arranged for this course, as well as through supplementary comparative material drawn from cultures other than the Greek, and featuring a wide variety of media such as vase painting, European opera, and cinema—from Ingmar Bergman's version of Mozart's Magic Fluteto Ridley Scott's science fiction classic, Blade Runner—the course provides students who have no previous background in classical Greek civilization with a fully engaging and immediately accessible introduction to the most beautiful moments in this ancient literature, its myths, and ritual practices.