Ariadne

Ariadne recounts Phaedra’s fate to Dionysus, and he listens before letting her go to sleep. The next morning, they talk again, and Dionysus mentions that he knew she was in the clearing the night of the ritual, saying he knows that is why she has begun to withdraw from him. He explains these “blood rites”: Alone of all the gods, he claims, he has the power to bring the recently deceased back to life. Ariadne thinks of Phaedra, but Dionysus says it will not work if the soul has fully departed. This power, he claims, has brought maenads in much greater numbers and will continue to attract thousands of followers. Ariadne confesses that she did not like it, and Dionysus simply tells her not to watch again.

Life goes on as usual, and Dionysus and Ariadne do not discuss the ritual again. Dionysus still leaves on his journeys, and his power attracts many new worshippers. Ariadne tries to justify the rituals, believing they must give “fearful shape to the anger and the grief that had driven so many of [the maenads] here in the first place” (282). Dionysus is still troubled by Argos’s rejection of his worship.