The characters of Agave and Eve, although subordinate to their male counterparts, Pentheus and Adam, play extremely important roles within Bacchae and Genesis respectively. Their characters are portraits of typical women who, due to their encounter with the divine, manage to free themselves (albeit temporarily and not without repercussions) from the constraints imposed on them due to their gender. Both women must give up something for this high power; Eve must give up her innocence in exchange for knowledge of "good and evil" and Agave must give up her ability to reason in exchange for power and freedom. The punishments inflicted on each woman by their respective god are severe. This process of sacrifice-empowerment-punishment helps demonstrate a major theme in both stories: humanity is subservient to the divine and cannot occupy the position of a god. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Eve is created by God as “a help and a partner” (Genesis 2:18) for Adam. This establishes from the beginning that the woman is in some sense subservient to the man. However, the use of the term “partner” suggests that this does not imply total servitude. Aside from her position as Adam's helper, Eve's status is not clearly defined. Both she and Adam are ignorant, naked, and shameless (Genesis 2:3). At the moment in which Eve decides to take a more active role in her life, thus moving away from her role as helper, she listens to the serpent's encouragements and «took of the fruit (of the tree) and ate; husband who was with her and ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened" (Genesis 2:3). In doing so, she has disobeyed God's explicit instructions not only regarding the tree of knowledge but also regarding her relationship with Adam, and is being punished. If Eve took one step forward by asserting her independence, then God moved her two steps back by demoting her to servile status. . Because of her initiative, deciding to open her eyes and Adam's eyes to good and evil, she is punished by God. Any essence of equality that existed in their relationship disappears and she is relegated to the status of a servant. God makes her a servant not only of Adam, but also of his female anatomy and the desires that it creates: "I will greatly multiply your pains and your pregnancies: with pain you will give birth to children, but your desire will be for your husband, and he will dominate upon you" (Genesis 3:16). The rest of the text refers to Eve only when she "knows" Adam and when she gives birth. The serpent says to Eve that by eating from the tree of knowledge she "will be like God, knowing good and evil", therefore, in doing so, she attempted to take on the role of God (Genesis 3:5). to assume her role. As a consequence of the violation of her status as a woman, she is cursed because she depends on Adam and desires him flaming sword to eat the fruit of life and live forever as God (Genesis 3:22). The message regarding the subordinate position of humanity in The relationship with God along with the sacrifice-empowerment-punishment model is also shown in Euripides' Bacchae. Although their situations are not identical, Eve willingly sacrifices her innocence to gain knowledge, while Agave is forced by Dionysus to do so. There are strong parallels between their relationships with their gods, the challenging of gender roles, and their ultimate punishments. In the city of Thebes women were denied citizenship rights and consequently not 1392).