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Agave's Use Of Dramatic Irony In Bacchae

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The patriarchal society of the Greeks views women as weak and inferior. However, the way the women are portrayed contradict the weak and inferior viewpoint. On the surface, Agave is oblivious to the fact she “with hands alone . . . caught [the] beast and tore it limb from limb” (Bacchae 1209-10). Agave believes that the bloody item she is holding in her hand is the head of a lion, rather than the head of her own child. Agave’s obliviousness is a form of dramatic irony which Euripides uses to represent Agave and the other woman's rational inferiority to men. The Chorus and all the other men look in awe while Cadmus tries to rationally explain to Agave that, “that horrible thing you carry [in your hand] is Pentheus,” however Agave still insists

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