About halfway through Euripides' Bacchae, a messenger describes to the bewildered king of Thebes his encounter with women who have left the city to practice their religious rites in the forest. Her narrative convincingly presents the fundamental opposition between nature and civilization that is inherent in the work by formalizing the interconnections between these mad women, the god Dionysus, and nature. Although Agave later becomes Dionysus' victim, this scene takes place in a separate context where it parallels her role in relation to Thebes. Foreshadowing the city's final fate at the hands of the angry god, it encapsulates the work as a whole. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Within this passage the character of the women changes radically from languid, peaceful creatures in harmony with their environment to frenetic bringers of destruction. Their metamorphosis mirrors the dual nature of Dionysus himself, the god who is "the most terrible, and yet the kindest, to humanity (861)." Before detecting the men's menacing presence, the women doze in the desert, adorn themselves with "writhing serpents" and leaves, and nurse wild beasts. They seem to know the secrets of nature and enjoy its benevolence simply by tapping with the magic wand or scratching the ground. When they begin their religious rites, the forest takes part; “all the mountain seem[s] wild with divinity (726-7).” Their behavior changes dramatically when the women find the spying herdsmen. They immediately become warriors on the offensive, forcing men to flee in terror, fully capitulating as Pentheus did in the face of Dionysus' excessive power. By dismembering livestock (domestic, not wild animals), burning and looting homes, and fighting villagers, the women are driven to extremes of violence as they punish everything that conflicts, even symbolically, with their new religion. The wands that moments before sprayed honey now inflict bloody wounds on the village's defenders. Nature itself is the ultimate model for these sudden and global changes in character. Like Demeter, who brings harvest or famine according to her whim, Dionysus' initiates go from nurses to murderers. Whether the women behave peacefully or violently, there is a quality of wantonness associated with them throughout this scene. In the forest, water, wine and honey unexpectedly flow from the earth, giving the reader a visceral sensation of liquid abundance. The milk swells both in the ground and in their breasts, thus indicating that both the forest and the women are involved in the same wild force of nature. This setting cannot be controlled by mere men; when the shepherds attempt to capture the dancing women, the prey quickly transforms into the hunter as they swoop across the meadows (735-6) and fly like birds (748) towards their prey, which they overwhelm with numbers, speed, and strength. Spears and flames cannot harm them; just as Dionysus throws off his chains and continues to destroy the city, the women barely pay attention to attempts to restrain them as they rampage through the villages. They move according to a collective and reckless will, not according to a lucid democracy. In contrast to the orderly adherence to law found in the city, their chaotic behavior follows no rules and their power is limitless. Perhaps the most striking aspect of this passage is the reversal of power between the sexes that the religion of Dionysus generates. Under normal circumstances, women stayed at home, excluded from any kind of organized meeting, but here in the forest we see them far from the.