Power In Euripides Bacchae

Greco-Roman mythology is rich in human names, characters, events, culture, traditions. They had a dozens of Gods, Goddesses who had a structured pattern as to the ways in which mortal humans associated themselves for various traditions , events and cultural practices to demonstrate their power relations in Greek and Roman myths. Power, without any hesitation, can be termed as a driving force for humans as well as gods themselves. Power is capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. The interesting part about these myths has been the incredible relationship and power sharing. It would be so unbiased to say, that in Greco-Roman myths, women (both mortal and immortal) reflect and exemplify the two

Therefore after punishing the king, Dionysus says “And if you had known how to be wise when you did not wish to be, you would have acquired Zeus' son as an ally, and would now be happy.” The author explains that peace and happiness can only be achieved by praying to the Gods and that making the Gods your enemy never a good thought. When the grandfather of the kings asks for forgiveness saying, “Gods should not resemble mortals in their anger.” Dionysus replies, “My father Zeus approved this long ago”. From the above we can say that even a God could be unforgiving and unsympathetic. Gods, like mortals, in anger can be very punishable and prejudiced. Also a king cannot rule without the favor of the Gods. The Gods also want sacrifices and offering from the people. Likewise, in the closing verse of Sophocles’ Antigone “Wisdom is provided as the chief part of happiness, and our dealings with the gods must be in no way unholy. The great words of arrogant men have to make repayment with great blows, and in old age teach wisdom.” Here, Sophocles ends his play by advising

It showed how a very small and simple gesture was considered as a sin that had to be punishable. Pandora was entirely the creation of male imagination and anger created by Zeus against Prometheus. In his works, Hesiod describes it as “And he bade famous Hephaestus make haste and mix earth with water and to put it in the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to be immortal goddesses in face; and Athena to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he called this woman Pandora, because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each gift, a plague to men who eat the bread”. Pandora is a wonderful illustration of how male power operates in the Greco-Roman myths. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mould her out of earth and water; Athena to make her look elegant and seductive with jewels; and Hermes to make her mind like a dog and her temper like a thief. The above has shown that women have descended from Pandora to harm mortal men. It can be concluded from the story that the women from Pandora are responsible and solely the reason for the pain and suffering on the