Dionysos and the chora of the feminine divine

The present study has speculated that common human experiences of longing and resentment due to separation/individuation from maternal symbiosis are reflected in Greek culture in what is here called the chora of the feminine divine. This chora is hypothesized as a symbolic space created in individuals at the moment of individuation from the mother and in culture at the time when images of female divinity submerged under layers of masculine imagery. In the chora of the feminine divine, as it was experienced during times of classical antiquity, are exhibited images of primitive female-dominant cultures as they were imagined to have been in semi-mythical, matriarchal times. These images include both representations of paradise that seem to praise feminine divinity and representations of chaotic terror that warn against demonic female nature. This chora and its associated imagery, it is suggested here, coalesced in classical Greece around the figure of Dionysos, particularly as he is presented in Euripides' tragedy, the Bacchae. Evidence that the tragedy re-presents this chora of the feminine divine is to be found in the plays semiotic structure, a matrix of signs that re-calls the feminine divine. Such signs include reports of a seemingly miraculous return to primal paradise and numerous references to submerged or ignored goddesses, nymphs, and sprites that had long been neglected or demonized in Euripides' hyper-masculine world.;The plays major action, as hypothesized here, enacts a ritual that is intended to effect a return to a maternal paradise. Like all rituals, however, it must be carried out carefully and must be accompanied by appropriate beliefs if it is to yield the expected benefits. Perverted rituals may yield catastrophe, and such is the case in the Bacchae. The play's tragic vision is, of course, an awareness of a lost world, one that cannot be recaptured by human effort.;This study comprises three chapters and a brief afterword. Chapter 1 grounds the present study in a survey of scholarship. Chapter 2 synthesizes a theoretical basis for the present study. Chapter 3 consists of a close analytical reading of the Bacchae of Euripides.