The Bacchae essays

The Bacchae essays All work for no play makes one a dull boy/girl this timely phrase has been ingrained in modern minds across the western world. Spawns of todays society often believe in going out and seizing the day carpe diem. In much of the western world, people are taught to go out and experience life, to fulfill their passions and devotions, and to enjoy their short time they have on earth. This tradition reigns most fervently in highly-developed countries such as the United States, Japan, France, Britain, Australia, etc. The young celebrate a long weeks work with a Friday night of intoxicating fun at a party. A family ventures into the realm of extreme sports by taking a weekend ski trip. People put themselves through the excruciating pains of punches and bloody noses when they enter boxing matches. People dive off from a moving plane hundreds of feet above the ground. People blow their eardrums away at concerts, jumping up and down screaming like there is no tomorrow. There is a gener al belief within much of the western world that to be a truly successful and fulfilled person, one must incorporate outrageous activities that allow one to really experience the wild side of life into ones ordered, structured life. This thought come in large part from the New Age thought and economic prosperity, but its roots can ultimately be traced back to the ancient Greek tradition, stemming in part from Euripides The Bacchae. The Bacchae shows, through the extreme ends of tyrannical control and absolute frenzy, the need for balance between strict order and manic passion, or else, society will be doomed. Life cannot exist without stern organization, but simultaneously, life cannot exist without frenzied fervor. The Bacchae presents the twin struggle between restraint and release. Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, prophecy, religious ecstasy and fertility, begins the play alr...