Shan'Tra S. Henry- The Bacchae

In the Euripides Bacchae characters Pentheus and Dionysus seem to continually have an ongoing battle in regards to how much power one may hold over the other. In the particular text, Penthesus’ arrogance and persecution of the Bacchants can be justified. It seems that Pentheus’ city has been receiving some terror from the Bacchants, as I understood it is in regards to the mistreatment of their women or at least it’s affecting them the most. In this case why wouldn’t Pentheus feel that is important to condemn the Bacchants? Any ruler of a particular area wants there citizens to be at peace and will bring to justice those that are causing an up roaring. Dionysus was attempting to spread ideals in the kingdom of Pentheus, how disrespectful. I just think that Dionysus is being extremely sensitive when it comes to Pentheus not treating him like a “real” god. I believe Pentheus refers to Dionysus as a “new god” because maybe he does not yet deserve the respect that other gods have, so Pentheus refuses to treat him as such. Throughout this text Penthesus is justified in all that he is doing, it’s just that because Dionysus is a “god” that he comes off as being arrogant. But any king that cares about his people and kingship would have committed the same actions as Pentheus.

Shan'Tra Sarah Henry Question 2 post

Book 2 of the lliad is very interesting. I finally get a visual of Achilles in battle, but honestly I don’t like it! He is very boastful and I don’t think his actions were that of a hero. As stated in the question, he actually does have blind rage and he admits it. When Hector is begging him to uphold his honor after death, but Achilles refuses and instead taunts Hector about how his fury will drive him to basically mutilate him. This is not a way in which a hero is supposed to act. Given, this is a time when war and killing seems to be honorable and that’s fine, kill if you must but the mocking of the enemy to the death is totally unnecessary. The only thing that I am confused about is that action that caused all of Achilles’ rage. What lead him to mutilate Hector? Until I know this answer, I do not think that Achilles’ actions were justifiable. Yet, I do understand that ethically, the actions of Achilles could be right. Considering that fighting for ones honor and pleasing the gods is a sort of code of conduct. I just honestly do not believe that neither the taunting nor the lack of empathy on Achilles’ part can be justified.

SHANTRA SARAH HENRY QUESTION 1

The characters in Book 1 of the lliad are, or at least they seem to be very engulfed in the religious view that the gods are the beginning and ending of society. So, in that regard they must be pleased above all else. The idea of loyalty and pleasing the gods so comes to mind when it comes to the religion as well. As read, the gods have those "special" followers; these are those that remain loyal to them the fullest extent. Such as Chryes, who seems to be a fateful follower of Apollo, not automatially Zeus. And, because of his loyolaty Apollo punished the whole Achaeans army. These beliefs order the characters life on a daily basis, in accordance to how they bahave and what is ultimately acceptable in society. This is where i believe communal ethics plays an important role. A code of conduct is established when it comes to obeying the gods and thier rulings as a final say or solution. Such as accepting what the gods rule as final, Achilles,the famous warrior, was stopped in his tracks of rage to listen to the gods Athena and Hera. He did not fight their word nor did he disobey them. other examples of communal ethics in this text I believe would include reaching out to the gods for solution and reasoning.This is exactly what Chryses, Achilles, and Thetis have done. In regards to personal morality, I honestly believe that these immortals have been coerced into taking the gods' ideas on right and wrong and on how to enrich a person's life so that they may be a ''good person.'' Personal morality has to do with one deciding for themselves the difference between rght and wrong according to their beliefs. But, when you think about it, being forced feed ideas and values is not much different in this text that how things are in present day America. We have been. for the most part, forced to accept ideas and traditions wiothout giving it a second tought. So maybe our Greek god in the society we live in and its ethics that we are forced to accept.