The Denial of Dionysus: Pentheus' Fixation on Dionysus' Hair

In The Bacchae by Euripides, Pentheus is a complex character. Throughout the play Pentheus seems to be fixated upon Dionysus’ hair. Through examining how Penthius treats Dionysus, in particular Pentheus’s disdain for Dionysus’ hair, it reveals that Pentheus values appearing manly and strong while he scorns appearing womanly (which he equates with weakness). Ultimately, this is important because Pentheus’ value of appearing strong helps to explain his denial of Dionysus. Pentheus wishes to appear as strong and in power so he continues to deny the existence of a more powerful god.

Pentheus’ fixation on Dionysus’ hair helps to reveal his value of appearing manly which is an underlying motivation for Pentheus’ denial of Dionysus as a god. The very first time Pentheus speaks, he references Dionysus’ hair. He says, “I am told told that a foreigner has come to Thebes from Lydia, one of those charlatan magicians, with long yellow curls smelling of perfumes” (235). These lines are full of anger and disdain. Pentheus is angry about Dionysus’ arrival and pointedly chooses to talk about his hair (of all things). Pentheus sees Dionysus’ curls as something unnatural. Pentheus doesn’t like that his curls smell good and are long. These characteristics of Dionysus’ hair are those associated most often with women’s hair. This is the first time we see Pentheus show disdain towards Dionysus because of his womanly hair. When Pentheus first sets eyes on Dionysus he remarks, “So, you are attractive, stranger, at least to women—which explains, I think, your presence here in Thebes. Your curls are long. You do not wrestle, I take it” (453-454). Pentheus is once again fixated on Dionysus’ appearance. It is the first thing he comments upon when they meet. He even comments that he must not wrestle; he sees the curls and immediately assumes that Dionysus does not fight—the curls are an inhibition to the sport. This helps us to realize that Pentheus equates a manly appearance to to strength while he equates a womanly appearance with weakness. Finally, Pentheus shows his ultimate disdain for Dionysus’ hair when he punishes the god saying, “I shall cut off your girlish curls” (492). Pentheus reveals directly that he sees Dionysus’ hair as womanly. Pentheus cannot stand this weak, womanly appearance on a man. So he cuts the curls off. This is the ultimate clue we need to see how importantly Pentheus’ treats appearance and to understand his absolute disdain for a man who appears weak.

Ultimately, it is this disdain for appearing weak that is an underlying motivation for Pentheus’ denial of Dionysus. Pentheus scorns the long, yellow curls of Dionysus and through this we come to understand his care about appearance and deep contempt for appearing womanly. Pentheus sees appearing womanly as weak—he wants to appear manly and strong. This becomes a reason that Pentheus then denies the existence of Dionysus as he wishes to appear strong and be the one in control rather than submit to this new god.

The Basis for Pentheus' Disbelief

In The Bacchae, Pentheus, the king of Thebes, simply cannot accept the notion that Dionysus is in fact a divine being, descended from Zeus. While Pentheus never explicitly states the true reasons why he rejects Dionysus the objections he raises to the practices of the Bacchae coupled with Pentheus' fears about their implications shows that Pentheus rejects Dionysus and his Bacchae because they create a new social power dynamics that threatens the masculine, hierarchical, and patriarchal basis of his reign.

 Pentheus begins his criticism of Dionysus as soon as he comes on stage. In his second line of dialogue he shows his concern for the "strange mischief" (216) that has been going on in Thebes of late. Of most grave concern is the corruption of the women of Thebes who have been "leaving home" and "dancing in honor of [Dionysus]" while they "serve the lusts of men"(217-223). To further add to this affront this corrupting stranger wears "long yellow curls smelling of perfumes" (235) which make him appear "effeminate"(352). Further adding to the strange newcomer gender bending is the fact that he does not wrestle (455) as men do. Instead on relying the physically dominating power of a man, he wrestles well "when it comes to words"(490) using nontraditional methods of imposing his will and rebuffing the strong and manly Pentheus. What's worse is that Dionysus can justify his effeminate looks and manners by claiming that "my curls belong to god" thus justifying an abhorrent breach of social convention using the divine.

 Dionysus' radical actions have serious consequences for Pentheus' power and the foundation upon which it is based. Pentheus claims that Dionysus is "mocking me and Thebes" (502) thus trivializing his glorious kingdom. The gravest insult Dionysus lays against Pentheus is the threat that he will soon "repent that name"(508). Since Pentheus is so proud to be "Pentheus the son of Echion and Agave" to repent his name would be to reject the hereditary basis of his power and the hierarchical status it gives him. The final straw for Pentheus is when he hears his troops have been defeated. It frightens him immensely that "men ran, routed by women"(764). After threatening his hereditary and hierarchical power this effeminate man is now threatening his patriarchal power over women. In the end Pentheus simply cannot accept the fact that the social upsets caused by Dionysus force him to accept "orders from my own slaves"(803) and he cannot believe that Dionysus is a god.

Drugged into Madness: The Illness of Dionysus

Dionysus, because he is the god of wine and debauchery, is often associated with drinking, dancing, and partying. The play, “The Bacchae,” exhibits him no differently. The general atmosphere of debauchery is described in the play by Dionysus stinging the women with “frenzy” and making them “crazed of mind.” (156) Moreover, the word “madness” repeats through the play. Teiresias pronounced “you [Pentheus] are mad, grievously mad, beyond the power of any drugs to cure, for you are drugged with madness.” (167) These words suggest the idea of being inflicted with an illness of madness that could have cure, but in the case of Pentheus he is so ill there is no cure for him. I found it interesting that he used the words “drugged with madness,” especially with Dionysus being the god of wine. Although alcohol is not normally considered a drug, it at the very least can have similar side effects to drugs. The idea that Pentheus could be drugged into a state of madness juxtaposes how the others ,including Teiresias, have been drinking wine and joining in the frenzy and craziness. The induced state of ecstasy created by Dionysus could be seen as an illness, as illustrated by the above example, and therefore should be able to be caught as if it were contagious. This idea is broached by Pentheus when he states, on page 168, “Take your hands off me! Go worship your Bacchus but do not wipe your madness off on me.” It begs the question can madness be passed off. Although Pentheus is not lured into the madness of Dionysus’ induced ecstasy by wine, he is by his curiosity. Dionysus gets Pentheus under his influence by inciting his curiosity to see the women on the mountain, which ultimately leads to his demise. Rather than wine Dionysus “drugs” Pentheus into the frenzy and madness by trickery. 

The Hollowness of Attraction

In Keats La Belle Dame sans Merci he tells the story a young man, a strong "knight-at-arms"(47), who was drawn in by the beauty of "a faery's child"(47). So enthralled was he with her that he "made a garland for her head, and bracelets too"(47) in a attempt to woo her. After succeeding in gaining her affection the knight follows the beautiful girl back to her "elfin grot"(48) and is "lulled.. asleep"(48). However, not all is well in his dreamland. He sees "pale kings and princes... their starved lips.. gaped wide"(48). This nightmare awakens him and he find himself "on the cold hill's side" next to a dead and withered lake.

The purpose of the poem is to the show that when the young knight submitted to his lust for the faery daughters beautiful appearance he found that her lovely figure gave him no real reward or satisfaction. This want is shown by the emaciated state of the men who had come before him, they also found no spiritual sustainable in the "elfin grot".

Keats' message is strikingly similar to that of both Augustine and Plato. In Confessions Augustine spends much time reflecting on how he was "a slave of lust"(VI,15) and how it kept him from wholly committing himself to God. Plato too states that lust for physical forms is the lowly impulse of "footed and winged animals" who are "sick for intercourse with each other"(207B) and that furthermore "beauty of people's souls is more valuable than the beauty of their bodies"(210C).

The common thread through these three texts is that the desire for the outward beauty cannot fulfill all of a person's spiritual needs. That to truly be fulfilled and elevated one must look to a being's deeper appeal, such as Plato's beautiful ideas or Augustine's holy trinity. The knight of Keats' poem clearly found the faery daughters inner beauty to be lacking.

Transient sources of happiness are not good ones.

John Keats in these selected lyric poems is skeptical of happiness because the inevitable transiency of its doomed objects cannot truly yield it. In Ode on Melancholy, the narrator describes that though beauty found in physical objects is doomed, some “glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,…rainbow… wealth…mistress” (45). The verb “to glut” here illustrates that a rose, rainbow, wealth, or mistress does not satisfy one’s sorrow but rather continues to feed and grow it. These transient, physical objects further sorrows because they “[dwell] with Beauty—Beauty that must die” (45). The inevitability of an object’s end for the narrator is enough to disregard any possibility of that object eliciting happiness. Therefore, the narrator is skeptical of any being exhibiting happiness because nothing can possibly provoke it. The narrator suggests that anything happy is merely fooling itself, for it resides “in the very temple of delight/ Veil’d Melancholy has her Sovran shrine” wherein its ‘soul shall taste the sadness of her might” (45-46). By equating happiness to veiled melancholy, anything that feels happiness actually feels just depression. By this theory the narrator expresses skepticism of happiness in positing that simple things like “leaves hast never known,/ the weariness, the fever, and the fret” of a ‘realistic’ life in which happiness does not exist (34). Objects without the proper realistic perspective see the happiness they feel as true are ignorant of their actual sorrow.

            The narrator further demonstrates his skepticism of happiness through outright disbelieving a bird’s happy existence, trying and failing to find happiness for himself, and questing where it could possibly be. The narrator examines a bird and describes its miserable condition as “half in love with easeful Death,” “While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad/ In such an ecstasy!” (35) ‘Thou’ in this case refers to the bird that somehow manages to exhibit joy while the narrator suffers. Unable to believe the bird is happy in a world in which happiness is a lie, the narrator claims that “Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!,” expressing the idea that something happy must not be a part of this real, unhappy world (35). In order to feel happiness for himself, the narrator tries to fool himself by living in a “blissful cloud of summer-indolence” that only serves to “Benumb [his] eyes; [his] pulse [grows] less and less;/ Pain [has] no sting, and pleasure’s wreath no flower” (49). Since the narrator cannot trick himself into feeling happy, he feels further depressed as his knowledge of the veiled melancholy in every happiness predicts. Finally, the narrator asks himself, “What is love! and where is it?/ And for that poor Ambition! it springs/ From a man’s little heart’s short fever-fit” (50). Just as these positive emotions are short-lived from a little, feverish heart, so are the objects of happiness which provoke these positive emotions. Since the narrator believes that deriving happiness from such doomed, transient objects is impossible, he is skeptical of all happiness and joy, even to the point at which a singing bird seems unreal. Therefore, if happiness did not require a source object, it could be real. Here, Augustine’s beliefs suggest that if the narrator were to make the infinite, incorruptible god his object of happiness, he would not have this problem.

Mortal Honor and Divine Wisdom

Christine de Pizan’s Book of the Three Virtues is a continuation of her City of the Ladies, and deals with how a woman can achieve self-improvement. She presents two contrasting paths – that of active duty towards our fellow humans, and the contemplative path, which requires a full withdrawal from the world so as to better pursue spiritual matters. Both are good paths, and lead to heaven, but are achieved with nearly opposite actions. The paths can be equated to a religious comparison, detailing the differences between the world of men and the world of God. The world of God is clearly the morally superior goal.

Christine de Pizan’s chapters on the duties of women constantly stress the importance of devotion to one’s husband. “She will deliberate with all her powers to see whether she can do something, all the while preserving her lord’s honor, to avoid this war.” (163) While a woman must attempt to avoid the horrors of war, the honor of her husband is paramount. Protecting her own honor comes next. A lady must “love honor…more than her life” (165). An honorable life, Pizan argues, must be the ultimate goal for a woman who interacts with the world at large. One who is dishonorable “will suffer reproach, dead or alive, as long as there is any memory of her.” (165). A woman who does not act well will be remembered as such -- Pizan is making the argument that worldly reputation should be the pinnacle of the world of man, and is made up of good acts that will bring her and her lord honor.

This idea contrasts starkly with that required for following the contemplative path. She who takes the contemplative path “loves God so much and so ardently that she completely forgets…everyone, even herself.” (160)  The contemplative path cares nothing for status or position in the world. “Her way of life is to…remain solitary and apart from everyone else.” (160)  Honor is a worldly goal, which has no place a path so dedicated to God. Pizan clearly states that the active path, though “more useful to the world than the [contemplative]” (161) is clearly not as dignified or noble.

Pizan’s message, though outwardly a lecture as to the different paths that one may take to become a Good Princess (or any other kind of good woman) has an underlying message – while it is noble and honorable to do good deeds in this world, all the good that one can do in the scope of the mortal world pales before the glory of the eternal realm of God. By incorporating this second, less obvious message, Pizan gives herself the moral high ground, positioning herself as a believer. As she is merely the messenger rather than the author of the work, it is harder to refute.

Women and Action

In the second section of Pizan, The Book of the Three Virtues, there is discussion over role women play in society and how this role relates with their relationship to God. Pizan illustrates that women should fill the roles of workers—they are not to be idle. This activity should be to serve God and directs women on the path to heaven.

To start out the Book of Three Virtues, we are shown that to be idle is bad in the eyes of God. We see the Virtues chiding Christine for her laziness: Christine says, “I remained idle, seeking some repose, since I was worn out from having accomplished so much work” (157). The Virtues then appear before Christine and say, “Will you now listen willingly to the lessons of Laziness” (157). They chide her, for though she has done a lot of work, they are saying that she should never be lazy. They tell her to, “no longer crouch in the ash heap of idleness” (157). The Virtues are the daughters of God. They do not like laziness and make sure to let this be known to Christine. This is also a way for God to convey to Christine and others that idleness is bad through the Virtues. Now that we see that idleness is bad, we can look at what women are supposed to do.

Women are supposed to be active for God. The Virtues express that “The Scriptures speak of two paths that lead to Heaven which you cannot enter without following them: one is called the contemplative life, the other the active life” (160). One of the ways to enter Heaven is by living an active life. This is important as the contemplative way is difficult to achieve so most women must reach heaven through the active life. The active life means that a person would “be so charitable that, if she could, she would serve everyone for the love of God” (160). A woman should dedicate her life to action which demonstrates her love of God. The right thing for a good woman to do is leave behind laziness and dedicate herself to charity work and service.

We see that in Pizan’s Book of Three Virtues, women are supposed supposed to fill the role of workers. They are to dedicate themselves to action and leave idleness behind. This is turn will put them on the path to Heaven and show women’s love of God through all of the things she does.

The Handbook on Virtuousness: Focusing on the Noble Class

In this reading of Christine de Pizan’s the Book of the Three Virtues, it states that “[this] is a handbook for women in society-not in the idealized society of the city but in the dangerous courts, cities, and countryside of Christine’s own time” (155). The three allegorical ladies with the help of Christine build the City of Ladies where great women thrive under the protection from the evils that can corrupt their virtuousness and destroy their devotion to God. There becomes a problem for those who do not dwell in the city, which the three ladies guide Christine to write this handbook to instruct them to be virtuous and devoted to God.

A good portion of the reading focuses upon the good princess and the several ways for these noble women to become virtuous through their devotion to God. The good princess is told to “be as much as a peacemaker as possible” (164). Because of her status in the nobility, the princess or queen with their peaceful nature must aid the noble men in their decisions concerning war to avoid bloodshed. Along with the efforts in peacemaking, the princess must set an example of sobriety and chastity. The princess must “[pertain] to the moral life she wants to lead…” and “… to the rules she will follow in her lifestyle” (166). Because of her higher position in society, she is given many worldly things and must not let those things affect her virtuousness and devotion to God.

With the higher position in society, the noble class of women stands apart from other classes of women in that they have more worldly things to possibly corrupt their virtue. When discussing the ways for immoral women of the lower class to earn a living, the text states “… And in this way she could serve God and earn her living. One penny earned honestly would do her more good than a hundred earned in sin” (172). Even though the lower classes have less money and worldly things, they still must do everything in the fear and love for God to obtain virtuousness.

Possibly, this lifestyle of devotion to God may be easier for the lower classes than the noble class. So the initial focus is upon the noble women and how they must live moral lives of the devotion to God. The others hopefully will follow these examples of virtuousness. The princess that follows these virtues is said to “detest books about dishonest and lubricious things and will not have them at her court and will not let them be brought before her daughter, relative, or lady in waiting, for their is no doubt that examples of good or evil influence the minds of those who see or hear them” (167). If the noble woman surrounds herself with and becomes influenced by those evil books, it will also influence the others around her. Noble women are surrounded with different classes of people such as her subjects, her relatives, and her servants, which become influenced by the noble woman’s behavior and characteristics.

The three allegorical women begin the focus of this handbook upon the noble class of women because they have a large influence upon society. They use the good princess as an example to go through the ideals of being a virtuous woman. If she is a virtuous and God-fearing woman, many others around her will be influenced by those ideals because of her high position in society. Thus, the women outside of the City of Ladies must strive for a virtuous lifestyle and defend themselves from the evils of society by the instruction of this handbook created. 

The Role of Women in Society as Interpreted by Lady Reason

            The Book of the City of Ladies begins with de Pizan’s reflection on the misogyny present in most of the scholarly texts that she encounters. Her reflection on these texts creates an internal conflict between what de Pizan understands from personal experience and what the scholars are telling her. However, de Pizan’s later interaction with Lady Reason helps her solve this conflict. The dialogue between de Pizan and Lady Reason results in her reevaluation of preexisting social constructs that creates an intentional structure in which women are equal to men in society.

            The dialogue between de Pizan and Lady Reason begins by establishing the intentionality of women through references to God. Lady Reason describes the slander of women as an “opposition to [Nature]; for in this world there is no greater and stronger bond than that of the great love that Nature, by the will of God, forged between man and woman”(127). As explicitly stated, higher powers intend the relationship between men and women to be corporative and thus, slander is directly oppositional to the wishes of God.  Further developing this idea, Lady Reason offers an interpretation of the creation story. She explains that since God formed woman from one of Adam’s ribs, “she should be at his side as a companion and not at his feet like a slave, and also that he should love her as his own flesh” (132). Once again, an interpretation of divine intention reinforces the idea of woman as an equal in the eyes of God. This provides justification for the perceived differences in the conditions of men and women explored as the conversation continues.  

          As the dialogue continues, Lady Reason builds on the previously established intentionality of woman through explanations of these differences, describing how the perceived shortcomings of women are intentionally complimentary to the strengths of men. Explanations of the perceived weaknesses of women are in relation to men and extended through examples of extraordinary women. For example, Lady Reason says that “women have more delicate bodies than men, weaker and less able to do various things, so they have minds that are more open and sharper in the cases where they apply themselves” (136). The story of Conificia, who went to school with her brother, supports this assertion (137). In this case, the physicality of men compliments the intellectual strength of women, and both qualities are equally valuable.

            By establishing the intentionality of woman and explaining their qualities in relation to men, de Pizan justifies the role that women have in society without accepting their inferiority. Instead, this interpretation of social roles shows women to be equally important in society.

The Metaphor of Construction

           In The City of Ladies, Pizan constructs a city with the help of three mysterious women who go by the names of Lady Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. In doing so, these angelic women assist Pizan through her confusion concerning the misrepresentation of women in literature.  While Pizan portrays the City of Ladies as a literal endeavor, this extended metaphor speaks to her understanding of the maltreatment of women and how to properly mediate this tension between genders.

Lady Reason speaks to Pizan first, proposing the idea of the City of Ladies and communicating its importance. She ensures that with the help of herself and her companions, Pizan will be able to construct this city. “‘The City of Ladies, for whose foundation and completion you will take and draw from the three of us fresh water as from clear fountains, and we will give you plenty of material, stronger and more durable than marble, even if it were cemented,’” (124). Her address communicates that Pizan will need the help of Reason, Rectitude, and Justice in order to properly create the city that aims to protect women from the slanders of men. Their contributions represent the metaphorical aspects that are vital to this endeavor. As their names suggest, Lady Reason, Rectitude and Justice all offer different things that manifest accordingly in the construction metaphor.

Lady Reason assists Pizan in laying the foundation for the city, which she describes to be understanding. She believes that the basis of women’s protection is the understanding of men’s sexist fallacy. By using her reason, Lady Reason guides Pizan towards this understanding. “‘Take the pick of your understanding and dig deep and make a great ditch wherever you see my outlines, and I will help you carry away the soil on my own shoulders,’” (127). Understanding is the first step in building the City of Ladies because it reveals men’s false premises of the subjugation of women. In order to defend women, Pizan must prove that this subjugation is not sound through the process of reasoning. Pizan proceeds with a long process of questioning in order to gain understanding through Lady Reason’s reason. “In order to obey her command, [Pizan] struck with all [her] force in this way…”, imploring as to why men would subjugate women through their literature (130). Using reason, Pizan and Lady Reason conclude that “neither the eminence nor the lowliness of people lies in their bodies according to their sex, but in the perfection of morals and virtues,” (132). Pizan lays the foundations of the City of Ladies with the understanding that women are not inherently inferior to men. Her understanding metaphorically provides grounds for the promotion of virtuous women in the form of the City of Ladies.

Lady Rectitude implements her strong sense of morality to build the city walls that defend its women against any opposition. When first introduced, “‘Lady Rectitude holds a ruler in her hand with which she separates right from wrong and which will serve to measure the walls of the city,” (125). This ruler that defines the city walls speaks to her ability to protect women from opposition with immoral grounds. She defends women with the religious justification that God created the soul of men and women equally in his divine image. Since God never prejudiced against women, neither should men. Lady Rectitude continues that “‘God has never had, nor has, any objections to the feminine sex…now the walls I have built for you as the enclosure of the City of Ladies must suffice; they are finished and covered with plaster,” (141). Lady Rectitude protects women with theistic morals that defend against any subjugation of women due to the example set by God. The city walls stand as the physical manifestation of this moral barrier. 

Lady Justice assures that virtuous women gain entry into the City of Ladies. As the ladies have previously established, virtue, rather than gender, distinguishes superiority. To protect the integrity of the city, she commands that “no one will live except all ladies of renown and worthy of praise: for those who are without virtue the walls of [the] city will be closed,” (124). Lady Justice insists that a virtuous standard must be implemented in order to distinguish those who gain entry into the City of Ladies. She continues by presenting examples of such virtuous women, those who are honorable, wise, and humble. These virtues qualify them as exemplary women of the City of Ladies and Lady Justice willingly grants them entry into the sacred city. In this manner, Lady Justice dictates the population of women that reside in the City of Ladies. Her justice creates a community of virtuous women who deserve this safeguarding.

            In the construction of the City of Ladies, the three ladies that assist Pizan represent specific metaphorical aspects. Lady Reason implores Pizan to discover that the subjugation of women rests on false grounds. The true understanding that she promotes concludes that women are not inherently inferior to men due to the equality of the sexes in terms of goodness. In doing so, Lady Reason provides the foundation for the defense of women. As Lady Rectitude defends, God created men and women in his divine image, favoring neither as a superior sex. She protects women due to the theistic morals that proclaim both sexes of deserving equal treatment. Her protection in the form of upstanding morals composes the sturdy walls that defend the city. The ladies continue to argue that virtue, instead of sex, defines goodness, which Lady Justice discerns. This virtue grants entry into the City of Ladies. Lady Justice therefore justly determines the community of virtuous women that reside in the city based on their true merit. This trilogy that defines the City of Ladies implies that reason, rectitude, and justice are necessary in promoting the welfare of women. These three factors encourage an understanding of why women deserve equal treatment, a defense of their equal treatment, and a means to determine true goodness exemplified by women. In adhering to the requests of the three ladies, the sexism that Pizan encounters can be properly mediated.