不可視の舞台「キタイロン」-『バッコスの信女』試論
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概要
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この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。In Euripides' Bacchae there are two entirely different groups of Bacchae, the Asian Bacchae, who form the Chorus, and the Bacchae of Thebes, including the daughters of Cadmos, who as divine punishment have been driven into madness by the god Dionysus and live a wild life on Mt. Cithaeron. It is conceivable that without the existence of the latter. the effect of the play would be greatly diminished. In this paper I will try to show the relationship between the actions of the Theban Bacchae and those of the characters, and the songs of the Chorus, especially that in the parodos. It may be argued that Cithaeron is not introduced simply as a place where the terrible death of Pentheus is to be carried out, but also established from the beginning of the play as an invisible stage where the possessed women can act freely and reveal what they really are. This is clearly shown in the prolog where Dionysus states that the women are camped in their mountain fastness mad but peaceful. Their presence is not revealed to the audience or the characters until the first messenger's speech which changes the atmosphere of the play from light to dark. That their exposure is delayed until the middle of the drama has two significant functions : 1) the joyful world of Dionysus which the Chorus sings of seems superficially attractive and real to everybody except Pentheus, who appears to be an obstinate opponent of the cult ; 2) Pentheus and other characters are given no chance to see the situation and find out the true facts about the cult. Pentheus imagines pruriently that the women are drunken and indulging in promiscuity. An idea which arises from his ambivalen feeling towards the female sex, which he has oppressed as an over-conscientious ruler. Much of his prejudice may be attributed to the fact that he is young and inexperienced in sexual matters. According to the first messenger's speech, the Theban Bacchae have two entirely different aspects : one is peaceful and joyful, and the other violent, which is analogus to the hidden aspects of Dionysus himself-the destructive power underneath the smile. The scenes on the invisible stage show, however, that they live a wild but spiritually exalted life as suggested in the Chorus' song. Possessed by madness they exercise inconceivable abilities beyond human limitation. With this power they kill the herd of cattle and plunder the villages, which excites Pentheus' rage towards them. The sparagmos of the cattle reveals the savagery latent in the cult, which together with the disastrous fate of Actaeon, hinted at by Cadmos, fortells how Pentheus is to meet with a tragic death. Their quietness after their violent actions is ominous, hinting at more violence to come. Dionysus dresses Pentheus in women's robes and indulges his prurient imagination at Pentheus' expense. Like Agave who, in her delirium, thinks her deeds to be worthy of praise and feels blessed, Pentheus feels liberated from oppression and happy during his madness, though he pays the price of having to abandon his self-consciousness. When the two of them enter Cithaeron, the two streams of action which have been running parallel to each other, one on the visible stage and the other on the invisible, converge for the fitst time on the latter. The second messenger reports the gruesome scene of Pentheus' death so vividly that we can visualize it easily. The sparagmos of Pentheus, which had been anticipated in the destruction of the cattle, symbolizes the ultimate destructive power of Dionysus, manifested in the Theban Bacchae. The poet does not seem to share. the supreme joy the women feel while tearing him asunder and throwing his flesh about like a ball. Euripides describes it in all its macabre detail without sympathy. As Winnington Ingram points out, the scenes on Cithaeron are a microcosm of the drama as a whole. The last words of the play before the formulaic close are Agave's : "Let me go away / where bloody Cithaeron will not see me, /where I can not see Cithaeron, where nothing / will make me think of a thyrsus again. / Other women can now be the Bacchae." (1383-87) (translation by R. Lattimore). The mountain that has been the invisible stage looms up at last, destroying every illusion that the world of Dionysus is a joyful one.
- 1980-03-20