In the Bacchae, Euripides questions the authority of god versus man and man's allegiance to the gods. Pentheus is caught in a unique struggle of maintaining authority in his own kingdom and keeping allegiance to his favored god Apollo. The appearance of Dionysus in Thebes raises a conflict for Pentheus in that he can not accept the authority of a god other than the one he has chosen to revere within his kingdom. Pentheus resists Dionysus supreme authority as a show of solidarity with Apollo and the laws of reason versus Dionysus and the disruption of civil order.

Pentheus is worshiped and revered in Thebes just as he reveres Apollo. Apollo represents rationality, law, order, harmony and philosophical enlightenment. Dionysus is the god of wine and pleasure and represents all that is irrational, chaotic, and physically pleasing. Dionysus takes possession of the women of Thebes who have denied...