The extant corpus of Greek tragedy is so small that it is hard to say what a typical play was like. Nonetheless, The Bacchae does appear to be an unusual play, and is very far from the archetype of tragedy outlined by Aristotle in The Poetics. If there is a hero, it is not clear who he is, since neither Dionysus nor Pentheus behaves in a particularly heroic manner.

The moral of the play seems to be that one should honor the gods, and The Bacchae is sometimes regarded as evidence of Euripides's late religious fervor. However, the reason given for honoring the gods is simply that they are powerful and cruel, and you will be hurt if you do not. Perhaps a more moral tone would detract from the raw power of the play, however.

Among the major themes of The Bacchae are obedience to the gods, the power of religious fanaticism and frenzy, and the balance, or imbalance, between reason and instinct.