Questions About The Bacchae

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Why does Tiresias seem to make an appearance in every Greek play?

Antoine I know right! He appears in both Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Antigone as well as Euripides' Bacchae mainly because these plays take place in Thebes, wh…moreI know right! He appears in both Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Antigone as well as Euripides' Bacchae mainly because these plays take place in Thebes, where he performs his work, but more metaphorically he represents the elder (and more pious) generation as well as a wise man who is often disrespected and rarely heeded in all three of these plays. I suppose he adds to the tragedy because he actually reveals some of the characters' fates to them but they don't take him seriously before falling victim to the fates he outlines. In Oedipus Rex, he repeatedly reveals that Oedipus has fulfilled the shameful prophecy, but Oedipus ignores him. In Antigone, he approaches Creon to convince him to reverse his punishment of Antigone. In the Bacchae, he reveres Dionysus with Cadmus and is frowned upon by the irreverent Pentheus. Sophocles also uses Tiresias' blindness as an ironic symbol of great figurative insight, as compared to other characters, who can physically see, but who are in reality ignorant of their situations (mainly Oedipus in this case). (less)

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Is this edition of Bacchae translated by Frederic Raphael? I'm looking for that one.

Jessica No, this is translated by Anne Carson.

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