“You have a name that makes you ripe for disaster” (141).
This is a quote by Dionysus to Pentheus at the end of the play, and it questions me what “Pentheus” really means.
Pentheus is well-known as a king of Thebes today, yet according to ancient Greek mythology, his name came from an ancient Greek term, “penthus,” which means sadness or grief. This definition of his name is strongly related to the plot of The Bacchae. The climax of the play, which is probably the moment that Pentheus is dismembered by the brainwashed and hallucinated women. This moment exemplifies that Pentheus brought such a tragedy by himself returning to Thebes. Moreover, it is not only him, resulted in tragedy, but his mother Agaue. At the end, she gradually realizes that she murdered her own son, and her family is on the precipice of despair.
The meaning of the name Pentheus somewhat predicts the ultimate of Pentheus’ life and makes the plot tragic. In my feeling, even though many ancient Greek plays were similarly written as a family tragedy or family conflict, such as Agamemnon from The Oresteia, written by Aeschylus, The Bacchae could be one of the most tragic plays especially after I found the meaning of Pentheus, since bringing disaster and grief seems his destiny.
Perhaps, Pentheus feels grief for the change of his mother, the fall of his family, and the death of himself.