Dionysus, Greek god of wine and fornication is seen as perversion by Pentheus, King of Thebes. The women of Thebes worship Dionysus by drinking and having sex with various men. Pentheus bans the worship of Dionysus in an attempt to lessen Dionysus’ hold over the women; thus giving Pentheus more control over his people. Dionysus, disgruntled by this act and he devises a plot to ruin Pentheus’ life. Dionysus drives Pentheus’ female family members insane and forces them to join his followers in the forest to “worship” him. However, these activities quickly escalate into the mutilation of animals and trespassers later on. While the women are drunk and “lively” Dionysus is cavorting among them in the form of a feeble Lydian. Pentheus manages to capture the “Lydian” and interrogates him to get to the bottom of the women’s behavior. Dionysus lets himself be captured in order to get close to Pentheus and manipulate him. He wants to drive Pentheus mad and have his people lose all respect for him. Pentheus fails to interrogate him, mistakenly ties up a bull (instead of Dionysus), and stabs Dionysus’ shadow thinking it was Dionysus. At that point Dionysus creates an earthquake and Pentheus’ family (now Dionysus’ followers) become violent and kill many animals.
Throughout Dionysus’ plan, he is attempting to get Pentheus to lift the ban on following himself. However, even after all that has happened, Pentheus refuses. Pentheus is too proud and will stop at nothing to get his way. However, this is his downfall. He is blind to Dionysus’ trickery and believes that everything happening is just coincidence. This is when Dionysus becomes even more devious and unbearably cruel. He convinces Pentheus that he gives up but does not try to convince Pentheus that the misfortune was his doing. He tells Pentheus to spy on the women to understand what the situation is and to get information on how to fix everything. Throughout this, Dionysus is somehow deluding Pentheus’ mind and convinces him that if he disguises himself as a women, he will not be attacked by Dionysus’ followers. Pentheus is reluctant at first but goes along due to his gullible state.
It is baffling how cruel Dionysus can be; he may be a god, but he acts as if he were a child with a gun. He only cares for himself and will hurt everyone to get his way. Maddening Pentheus’ family (along with Pentheus) was not revenge enough for Dionysus. He wants Pentheus dead and to spit in his face once he is gone. Dionysus has Pentheus’ own mother tear Pentheus to shreds after having him fall from a tall tree. The madness does not stop there; Pentheus’ mother brings the head of her son to her own father upon which she slowly realizes the horrible act she has committed. The mother and grandfather are in tears over the tragedy and yet Dionysus still is not satisfied. In their grief stricken state, Dionysus further destroys the family by turning the mother and grandfather into snakes, banishes them from Thebes, and will later force them to invade their abandoned homeland.
Dionysus is very cruel in his punishment. He is like a psychopathic child. Pentheus puts Dionysus’ followers in “time out” and Dionysus throws a fit. He proceeds to put Pentheus through hell several times for preventing Dionysus from getting attention from his followers. And just like a psychopathic child, he feels pride for the horrific punishment he has dealt on those who had slightly inconvenienced him. Dionysus claims to be a god, but is merely a child with a god’s powers.