| Quote #4 Herdsman: |
The villagers are completely defenseless in the face of the Maenads. When they try to meet the crazed women's violence with violence, they only bring more destruction on themselves. It seems there is no fighting with the will of the gods.
| Quote #5 Dionysus: |
No kidding. Dionysus, in the form of the Stranger, warns Pentheus again and again not to try and use violence against Dionysus's followers. It's the same thing as trying to strike at Dionysus himself. The central spine of The Bacchae is a chain of increasingly violent reactions from the god and his followers against Pentheus's blasphemies.
| Quote #6 Pentheus: |
The King seems to be fully prepared to slaughter all of Maenads. Wait, aren't they his own people? Aren't his mother and aunts the leaders? It seems that Pentheus's obsessive refusal to accept the ways of Dionysus has turned him into a real monster.