Gender Roles in Bacchae by Euripides

    Man. Woman. Transgender. Agender. Bigender. Polygender. In today’s society, these are some of the gender variations many people claim to be. All of these genders are, for the most part, accepted throughout our society. No matter what gender a person was born as everyone apparently has a right to change and become the gender they want too. This was not the case during the time period that Bacchae was written. The contrast between men and women is extremely prevalent in this book. In the Bacchae, men had very specific roles as did women and numerous problems arose if these roles crossed between genders.
    We first see the distinction between gender roles when the king, Pentheus, finds out that all of the women in his city have left to become Bacchants. King Pentheus says, “These women of ours have left their homes / and run away to the dark mountains, pretending / to be Bacchants. It’s this brand new god, / Dionysus, whoever that is; they’re dancing for him!” (217-220) It happens to be the women who are drawn to follow Dionysus’s practices, not the men. When the women are gone, there is a sense of urgency to bring them back and return them to their rightful place. This could be because they either need the women for their kingdom to function or do not want the women to have an opportunity to branch out from their place. In this book, men act as if they can do anything they want to with women. Dionysus states, ”I have strung these women into madness, goaded them outdoors, made them live in the mountain, struck out of their wits, forced to wear my cult’s panoply.” (33-35) In this quote, Dionysus clearly thinks of women as something of lesser importance. He thinks of them as something he can manipulate and take advantage of without having any repercussions as does every other man in the Bacchae.
    Since women are seen as inferior to men when Dionysus told Pentheus to dress as a woman so he could see the Bacchant women dancing he said, “How? As a Woman? That’s disgusting!” (828) Women are seen as second class citizens to men; so much so that Pentheus only dressed as a woman at the promise of seeing the Bacchant women. The women in this time period, and still today, are often seen as things to be owned and objectified for their bodies. They are looked down on except in regard to their physique, and even then it is only okay for a woman to show off her body if it is for a man’s pleasure.
In this book, there are also hints of women as possessions. Pentheus refers to them as “our women”, as they belong to men.  King Pentheus also says, “Really? You want me to give in to my own women, my slaves?” (805-806) Here, he blatantly referred to women as slaves which shows his culture’s views on women and their place in the hierarchy of their patriarchal society.
Men have always been treated differently. Men are praised as if everything they do is a gift. Men could have several sexual partners without being shamed. However, a woman's place is answering to the men in her life, be it her husband or father. Women are looked down on in the society in which Bacchae takes place, so when a man tries to dress as a woman it is the end of the world. Yes, cross-dressing is frowned upon, but when it is to see women it is easily excusable. Being a woman has not been a remotely positive thing until recent years. Women are finally being seen as people of power and authority. It is not an uncommon sight to see a woman nowadays being the breadwinner of a household. This is not something that would be common twenty-five years ago, much less in ancient times.