Ariadne

Dionysus and Ariadne arrive on the Peloponnese peninsula and walk to the city of Argos. As they approach the city, a massive statue looms over them—the goddess Hera. They reach the walls of the city, and Perseus and his guards meet them. Ariadne is surprised that he is not a “swaggering fool” but addresses them mildly. He explains that his city worships Hera, making amends to the goddess since he, like Dionysus, was born from one of Zeus’s affairs. Hera has forgiven him and is the city’s patron deity. Ariadne understands his dilemma completely: He is wise not to risk incurring Hera’s wrath. He denounces Dionysus’s cult and says that Argos will never submit to him. Dionysus threatens him, but Perseus tells him to be gone and leaves.

Ariadne and Dionysus return to their ship, and Ariadne tries to convince her husband to leave. Dionysus refuses; he is determined to force Perseus and his people to submit. Ariadne chastises him for constantly leaving to seek followers while his mortal wife and children grow older and reminds him that he will still have an eternity after they all die. Dionysus says he thinks constantly of the fact that his children and Ariadne herself will one day be only dust. The knowledge pains him and is part of what drives him to prefer mortal worship to mortal love. This hurts Ariadne, but seeing Dionysus’s own hurt makes her uneasy, as she has learned that “a god in pain is dangerous” (292).

Dionysus sets sail, but rather than head home, he aims straight for Argos’s main bay. He leaves the ship and shouts up at the walls, calling for the Argive women to follow him and offering them protection, freedom from their oppressors, and “the key to life and death itself” (293). The women gathering atop the walls listen but make no move toward him, eventually turning away. Ariadne watches Dionysus, feeling hopeless and humiliated for him but knowing he will not relent. He raises his staff and crashes it against the ground. Snakes come out of the forest, the sky darkens, and the women come pouring out of the city doors, wailing and clutching their heads in pain. Then, all together, they go back into the city. The wailing reminds Ariadne of the women who mourned Phaedra, and she feels sick. She goes below deck, where the maenads huddle in fear. Amidst the women’s screams are high-pitched cries like that of the baby goat ripped apart during the ritual Ariadne witnessed. She cannot bear to watch and waits with the maenads for the horror to end.

The noise eventually fades, replaced by an eerie song, then shouts of joy, weeping, and finally silence. Ariadne goes up to the deck of the ship and sees Dionysus alone on the beach. He appears before her on the ship, and within the city Ariadne now hears screams and clashing metal. Dionysus says calmly that the city is preparing to fight and that Perseus will seek vengeance against him. He tells Ariadne to stay on the ship and out of sight until he can calm Perseus down. Ariadne demands to know what happened, and Dionysus explains: When the women rejected his call, Dionysus called upon Zeus and brought a “madness” on them. Dionysus wanted to demonstrate his power over life and death; the women went back into the city to bring out their own babies and killed them in their frenzy. However, unlike the goats, Dionysus could not bring the children back to life. Ariadne is horrified and stunned that her own husband could destroy the city’s women in this way. She thinks of how Naxos was a refuge for her and so many women, and how so many more women will need such a refuge; they will not find it while Dionysus rules there, nor if Perseus’s army comes.

The Argive soldiers advance. Ariadne tells Dionysus to hold them back and then never return to Naxos, leaving it to her and the women. She will go to Perseus and sue for peace, telling him to leave Naxos alone and promising Naxos will pose no threat. Perseus stands on a hill, monstrous shield in hand, and an unarmed Ariadne races toward him. As she climbs the hill, she sees Hera standing beside Perseus and speaking to him; she then looks directly at Ariadne, who remembers her nightmare of the goddess. Perseus does not notice Ariadne; he is transfixed by Hera’s visions. Ariadne tries to reach for him, but Perseus charges forward, swinging his shield. Ariadne locks eyes with Medusa’s face and begins to turn to stone. She is frozen in place, and Dionysus comes to her. Ariadne can feel his pain, and she thinks of her children and imagines them all together again. Dionysus makes the same hand gesture he made when sending her wedding crown into the sky to form a new constellation. He says goodbye as Ariadne is fully petrified.

Ariadne is now a star in the night sky and can see all of life beneath her. Her sons are raised by maenads and go on to lead “quiet, unremarkable lives—the greatest gift they could have been given” (304). Dionysus made peace with Perseus and left Naxos to the women and children. Ariadne hears all the prayers of women, who call upon her when they are in the throes of childbirth, and helps to guide their babies to safety and give the women strength.