Conflict in Aeschylus’s Eumenides compared to in Euripides’ Bacchae

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Conflict in Aeschylus’s Eumenides compared to in Euripides’ Bacchae

Introduction

These two plays tell stories of the ancient Greek gods and the everyday lives of the Greeks. However, the main theme in both stories is a reflection on conflict and the challenges faced due to the different point of views that existed at the time. In the first instance of Aeschylus’s Eumenides, the conflict is more widespread into various areas of the everyday life. In the Euripides’ Bacchae play, is more centered on a relationship between two characters and the relationship between them tends to affect the other characters around them. The two plays however, incorporate relatable aspects of the ancient Greek community and the portrayal of power and ability to control supernatural aspects was one of the major concepts in the gods of the time. This paper therefore seeks to evaluate the different concepts emulated by the two plays individually to show the conflicts that were in one side compared to those of the other to create a clear understanding of the theme of conflict by the two writers.

Conflict in Aeschylus’s Eumenides

According to Eumenides, there are four basic conflicts in the play. These conflicts are between the genders, the different views of justice, the models of society and the old and new gods. In the conflict between gods, there are two main rival families. There are those that trace their ancestry to the ancient god Chasm and those that trace their ancestry to heaven and earth. This tends to bring about competition on who is the true god in the community creating the first disagreement in the play. The two models of society that also cause similar disagreements are the Oikos who are all about blood relations and basing their judgment on vengeance and on the other hand the Polis, who rely on oaths and  contracts. Gender is also an issue that separates the members of the community according to the play. This is because in this case the furies are recognized as females, while Apollo and Athena rely on the masculine claims of Agamemnon. Lastly, the views of the state with one side advocating for punishment for failing in personal family obligations and the other punishment is carried out by the state.

The issues above are because of the need to integrate the old and the new because the central theme is about misunderstandings, struggle and conflicts especially between the opposite sides. In this context, the characters as well are used to emulate the theme in their parts such that the acts of warfare and the intensity of the disagreement may be felt. For instance, Athena who is a woman is portrayed as a warrior and the writer Aeschylus dresses her up in armor alongside her half brother Apollo. In addition, the writer of the play tries to show that Athena as a woman had a softer approach to the disagreement and shows that she is compassionate not to treat her enemies in any way less than respectable. This also helps to explain the famous Greek myth of the goddess Athena who is responsible for wisdom, soundness and good warfare crafts. In addition to this, she is shown to be creative and destructive and is able to reconcile one of the aspects of gender by playing in the role of both females and males.

Generally, the play shows that in the attempt to reconcile the old and the new, the Furies who are in the old are drawn to civilizations but there are certain aspects that they too cannot meet. The play is also relatable in the theme of conflict because it is not common for people to agree on one thing in a society meaning that there will always be two defending sides or more. The ability to incorporate the essence of moral code and logical evaluation of punishments between the two sides could offer a solution to the ongoing conflict, however having two different standpoints is the problem in the community and Aeschylus does a great job at emulating this.

Conflict in Euripides’ Bacchae

Conflict in this play is one demonstrated against Dionysus who claims to be disguised as a mortal and yet he is a God. His intention is to spread his religion to Thebes and yet even the people he is related to deny him due to his birth story having been in Zeus. When he is born, the first elements of conflict is displayed because he is denied by the royal family and because of this, he results in vengeance against them all. The conflict however worsens because he intends to punish the women in the royal family buy having them dance in the forest. Unfortunately, however, when one of the powerful people named King Pentheus finds out that his mother is among the women dancing in the woods as revenge by Dionysus, he sends his main soldiers to have him chained and brought to him. King Pentheus and the rest do not know that they hold an actual god in mortal form and they think that the lad is just the leader of the cult. Dionysus is mocked and jailed and as soon as it happen, he is forced to regret his move because earthquakes, lightning and storms are summoned to the jail with the dancing omen getting more agitated and crazy. This is because when they attempted to take all the women in custody, they tore their clothes, fought and raised hell.

Another conflict arises when King Pentheus makes yet another wrong decision of summoning soldiers to kill the Maenads, which refers to the dancing women and Dionysus convinces the King to dress up like a woman and observe the ritual first that he first refuses until the gods place him at a place he could not refuse anymore. Unfortunately, when the King joins the women, he is sold out by Dionysus for spying and his own mother rips him apart. Later, the play shows that Agave is headed to Thebes and she is carrying her son’s head thinking it is a lion’s head. When Cadmus, her father, wakes her from the mind control she realizes what she has done but it is too late but Dionysus on the other hand is seen as a conquering god who curses Cadman to a snake. The play ends with all of Dionysus enemies dead and a chorus singing in praise to his power as god.
Conclusion

Looking at the two plays it is certain that both writers capture the true depictions of the occurrences in the ancient Greek kingdom. This is in relation to the issue of struggle for power, the belief in gods, the challenges facing the gender identities and understanding the difference in standpoints in knowing what is right and what is wrong. The conflict in the two plays are distinct but the similarities show that they were relatable to the time of the plays and they each managed to portray aspects of a known Greek god to the audience making it both educative and widely entertaining. The theme of conflict, struggle and power has therefore been clearly articulated in these two cases.