Posted: May 7th, 2015

The Bacchae

How can the insight from Giorgio Agamben’s political theory as expressed in Homo Sacer be used as insight to read The Bacchae

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Giorgio Agamben’s political theory, as expressed in Homo Sacer, allows us to interpret the institution of the sovereign as including the state of nature, which it only seems to exclude. How can this key insight be used to read Euripides’ classic play, The Bacchae, as a narrative about the struggle between sovereign power and bare life? Your answer should specify how the figure of Pentheus can combine political sovereignty with some of the marks of the sacred. In your answer, be sure to discuss as well the dual role of Dionysos in terms of the notion of a “zone of indistinction” that ultimately brings the narrative to a certain resolution