ose different mystical acts they performed represented a different aspect of Dionysus divinity. The women struck the ground and wine sprang forth for them to drink, they tore live cattle limb from limb, and flew among other things. The wine was representative of Dionysus gift of wine to mortals. The animals were a reminder of Dionysus love for raw animal flesh. The women flying were simply examples of Dionysus awesome powers and the things mortals can do when under the mystical high you experience under Dionysus control. These awesome acts were spread far and wide by the shepherds who witnessed them first hand. The stories they told of the miracles performed instigated a powerful and destructive curiosity in Pentheus. His curiosity was born out of his attempts to suppress his human side that was all Dionysus represented. Pentheus became so focused on denying his irrational and animalistic values that they eventually became his obsession. What should have been a natural human high turned into a perversion of the normal mortal experience with Dionysus. Pentheus manic desire to view the acts of the women on the mountain was the manifestation of his perverted sense of pleasure. This voyeuristic desire could only be satisfied through experiencing another perversion set up by Dionysus himself for the complete and utter humiliation of Pentheus. Pentheus was coerced into dressing up as a woman to go and view the mountain miracles. This perversion that gave Pentheus personality a complete turn-about from stubborn prude to cross-dressing voyeur was what the Bacchae Chorus warned about throughout the play. If you accepted Dionysus world, you could achieve a peaceful existence with the balance between life and logic. The balance that was meant to be achieved in every day life was what Dionysus was truly all about. Yes, he was the extreme end of irrational instincts, but he was what the Greeks needed because they were so completely logical. Dionysus...
