Euripides & The Bacchae- Article Questions

These are questions I had to answer from an article titles 'Impiety and Atheism in Euripedes' Dramas' by Mary R. Lefkowitz, so some of these questions may not make sense if you haven't read the article yet

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  • Created by: AnyaSea
  • Created on: 09-01-22 22:08
What is it that Euripides makes his audience aware of?
The gods' interest in human affairs
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How many of his surviving plays do NOT have gods as characters?
Six, but only two of them don't mention miraculous events happening
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Euripides is sometimes thought of as an atheist. What is the first example of this in the Thesmophoria?
'By working in tragedies he has persuaded men that gods do not exist'
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In Aristophanes' Frogs, who accuses him of being an 'enemy of the gods'?
Aeschylus
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Aeschylus, a character from Frogs, claims Euripides has caused a general moral decline. What is the quote illustrating this?
'For what evils is he not responsible? Hasn't he exhibited procuresses, and women who bear children in temples, and have intercourse with their brothers, and state that life is not life?'
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Lefkowitz claims that 'any character in Euripides who expresses 'philosophical' notions about the gods does so out of ___________ and gods still retain their ___________ ______.
Desperation, traditional powers
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In the play Trojan Women, ancient commentators did not hesitate to describe to Euripides the notion of being an atheist but Lefkowitz reminds us of what?
It is Hecuba, not Euripedes speaking about how the gods direct all mortal affairs according to justice, while they go along their own silent path.
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Hecuba and the women of Troy doubt what?
That the gods care about the fate of Troy
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Ancient biographers believed Euripides was a pupil of ________ who was said to have been tried in Athens for impiety.
Prodicus
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The lines in The Bacchae which are thought to have been Prodicean where apparently said by whom?
Tiresias
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Lefkowitz argues Tiresias(or Prodicus') arguments are worthless because 'what the god Dionysus wants is ____________________'
Public recognition that he is the son of Zeus, not gratitude for his services to men
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Lefkowitz says 'to argue Pentheus is the sensible defender of rational order does not correspond with the facts of the play because Pentheus' conduct is neither sensible nor rational. So the issue of the play is not irrationality vs enlightenment but ____
Whether or not it is desirable to have the cult of Dionysus in Thebes.
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As a dramatist Euripides' purpose is what?
To describe ancient myth in vivid and realistic terms
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Mortals complain about the gods, what do they say?
The gods to not play by human rules, and that humans are more kind and forgiving
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What is the law among gods set down by Zeus?
None of the gods will oppose the set purpose by another.
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In a religion where there is no afterlife, what is the highest compensation one can get?
Heroic honour and lasting fame, especially when combined with the possibility of revenge
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Lefkowitz suggests Euripides' audience express more doubts and resentment of the gods than in the heroic epic, even though the gods behave in a similar way because the characters are __________________________
An aspect of Euripedes' celebrated realism
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There is one ability humans have that in this respect alone men are superior to gods. What is it?
Our ability to care for each other & to forgive
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Euripides' gods resemble mortals only in certain ways but in other respects they differ. Describe in what ways they differ.
They do not feel pity, they do not act out of compassion for mortals but in order to see that justice is served.
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Often the plays end with general reflections on human life in order for the audience to do what?
Reflect on the meaning themselves of the drama they have just seen enacted
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The final coda(comment) in The Bacchae is sometimes suggested to be inauthentic by scholars. Lefkowitz says that they should be taken seriously. What does she say?
The lines suggest that the gods deserve honour and respect because of their supreme power, which manifests itself in men, especially in the ritual of dramas, by what we would now call miracles
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

How many of his surviving plays do NOT have gods as characters?

Back

Six, but only two of them don't mention miraculous events happening

Card 3

Front

Euripides is sometimes thought of as an atheist. What is the first example of this in the Thesmophoria?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

In Aristophanes' Frogs, who accuses him of being an 'enemy of the gods'?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Aeschylus, a character from Frogs, claims Euripides has caused a general moral decline. What is the quote illustrating this?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

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