DRM100Y1 Lecture Notes - Kome, Lysistrata, Pentheus
12 Dec 2012
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Document Summary
Dionysus is from thebes but he comes back as a stranger, such a paradox. He is male/female, disruptive and breaks down structure. He challenges hierarchies and rules about the masculine world. His identification of feminine powers gives his plays elements and powers to the theatre. Feminizes men and is shown through the masculine eye of females. Women act as hidden anti- models and hidden models of a masculine self. Pentheus makes the first discovery of his bodily self once he starts to dress as a woman. Dionysus breaches the physical integrity of pentheus and prepares him for the terrible sequel. His body becomes the temple of their hands. It"s about the body- that can be breached, and violated. The play depicts women as they undo the body- literally! Initially pentheus was opposed to anything feminine, and here, the masculine self is literally fragmented. The woman is represented as a subversive threat to male authority.
