The Wild Child

When you think of the phrase “wild child,” somebody probably pops into your head. This person is different for everyone, but each of these people probably share very similar characteristics. They can be attention-hungry, obnoxious, chaotic, dramatic, a partier, or even petty. In most cases, this wild person is seeking validation from those around them. Consequently, these fears create a rambunctious party-animal that will do anything to be loved. In Bacchae, Euripides makes it pointedly clear that Dionysus is the wild child of the gods. He craves attention from all cities he can find, dramatically enters every scene he’s in, and parties like it’s 405 B.C. From brainwashing a horde of women into following him to manipulating a mother to kill her own son, it is evident that he will stop at nothing to be adored and loved by all. Dionysus's burning desire to be worshipped by all is triggered by his own insecurity, and we can see throughout Bacchae how his way of receiving “validation” is ineffective and unsatisfactory.

Dionysus does not start out well known by humanity, but he comes out of Zeus’s leg wanting and ready to prove himself to both the rest of the gods and the world. Throughout Bacchae, Dionysus’s mother is considered a sham and not the mother of a god. With his divine inheritance already in question, it’s no wonder that Dionysus has validation issues. Where other gods were created and immediately recognized as gods, Dionysus had to start small. This humble beginning meant going around Greece, gathering followers and starting a cult. The members of this cult were none other than the Bacchae.

The women of the Bacchae are not there voluntarily, though, and are actually being manipulated by Dionysus. He admits to brainwashing them when he says “I have stung these women into madness / struck [them] out of their wits, forced them to wear my cults panoply” (33-35). The key word in Dionysus’s proclamation here is “forced”. These women leave everything, including their children, to join the cult, which is a clear sign that they are not in their right minds. No sane mother would leave her children, and yet, here the mothers are. Dionysus craves attention so badly that he would take empty worship over real worship from people who legitimately appreciate him. Dionysus does not get his followers because he did something to deserve them. Instead, he cheats the system by artificially creating fans for himself to fuel his pride and ego.

While Dionysus has the power and pride of a god, his need to be acknowledged by all is an indicator of insecurity issues. Dionysus justifies his quest around Greece to the Chorus in the line “So that mortals / will clearly see me as divine” (22-23). Dionysus, like any other god, craves worship from humans, and he enforces the idea that people must accept his divinity or die. However, unlike other gods (such as Hera, who would likely smite anyone who ignored her) Dionysus wants attention before he resorts to smiting. His attention-hungry nature can be proved by closer examination of his actions regarding Pentheus.

Pentheus is a skeptic, realist, and a stick-in-the-mud. He criticizes Tiresias for leading Cadmus down a foolish path when he says “Shame on you, old man / You should both have some sense at your age” (251-252). Pentheus constantly disrespects the name of Dionysus and his heritage, and this disrespect gets Dionysus’s attention. Instead of killing Pentheus as a first resort, however, Dionysus tries to convert him. Dionysus enters his human form and greets Pentheus bearing news about the god. At the end of the conversation (after Pentheus has threatened him multiple times and shown no signs of backing down), Dionysus then decides to lead him to his ultimate demise. Although he eventually decides to kill Pentheus, his actions to convert him first prove that he craves “love” before he craves blood.

Despite the immense amount of power he holds, Dionysus will never truly be satisfied with the “love” he receives. His goal throughout Bacchae seems to be to gather as many followers for himself as possible and make his name known. However, his followers are being forced to give him worship and praise, not doing it of their own free will. These sacrifices, libations, and praises, then, are meaningless. Dionysus is just giving himself praise, not accomplishing his mission to be loved by all. Not only is it impossible to be loved by everyone, but his brainwashed followers will never quench the thirst for the true adoration Dionysus craves.

The wild child of the gods is constantly trying to prove himself by garnering followers and establishing his dominance over those who disrespect him. He throws parties to be popular and manipulates everyone around him into loving him (regardless of how they feel about it), but his extreme reaction to being denied and rejected is an indicator that he is insecure in his identity as a god. Although this manipulation scheme seems like it works out for him at the end of Bacchae, the path that Dionysus goes down to get there proves his behavior to be ineffective in the grand scheme of things. Empty worship will never sustain Dionysus, and he, like many other gods, will be unhappy for as long as he exists.