Otherness in Euripides' Bacchae and Euripides' Bacchae Both Euripides and Wole Soyinka focus on a fundamental ethical imperative in their rooms: welcoming the stranger among you. The acceptance of Dionysus as god, as “an essence that will neither exclude nor be excluded,” is emphasized (Soyinka 1). Pentheus is severely punished for excluding or refusing to recognize or submit to the divine authority of Dionysus. In order to carve out a place for himself (in the pantheon, in the minds of the people), the divinity of Dionysus manifests itself in an overtly political way: his effect on those who worship him. This struggle for acceptance is first expressed in the confrontation between Pentheus and Teiresias in each play. While Euripedes must respond to the specific challenges posed by Dionysus to Greek society, Soyinka attempts to trace Dionysian influences into the future, beyond the existence of a god or a historically linked culture. Soyinka is more attentive to the transcendent qualities that separate Dionysus from all others. By examining this first conflict in each play, it may be possible to determine how (if at all) Soyinka expands the ethical dilemma first created by Euripedes. In Euripides' play, Pentheus perceives Dionysus as a challenge to the status quo. Dionysus is a political, moral and spiritual threat to Thebes. Pentheus uses images of corruption and defilement, anarchy and absolute evil to characterize Dionysus. Pentheus is empowered to defend traditional notions of justice and truth. Similarly, Soyinka's Pentheus is driven by an overwhelming sense of order. This order must be applied even to the detriment of individual freedoms. "I will have order! Let the city know...... middle of paper......you also meet (or find) a second stranger: our inner self. While the two playwrights elaborate their arguments more fully as each play progresses, the fundamental thematic foundations were laid by this initial conflict between Pentheus and Teiresias. Reconciliation and inclusion are introduced and furthered by their debate and absolutism, under its influence. many forms, is ultimately punished by expanding his concept of Dionysian worship to the exploration and expression of a singular personal knowledge of the self, Wole Soyinka pushes Euripides' powerful ethical argument beyond its historical limits, making it particularly relevant and accessible to a modern audience Works Cited Bacchae in Ten Greek Plays Ed. LR Lind, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957. Soyinka, Wole The Bacchae of Euripides New York: WW Norton.., 1974.