However, Pentheus is a flawed king. He seems driven by inner needs and is fascinated as well as revolted by the changes Dionysus is bringing. He is easily swayed, and sees some aspects of the new religion as alluring as well as a threat to the status quo. Part of him wants a compromise so that the new religion will not completely fade away. He seems to find it a little titillating. This ambivalence results in a fatal weakness in Pentheus: while he logically knows that Dionysus is not bringing good changes to Thebes, like a person who is both horrified and fascinated by a train wreck and cannot look away, Pentheus studies Dionysus.

Dionysus sees this weakness of resolve in Pentheus, and has no trouble tricking him. As a god, he could change the apparent reality of things. In the process, he makes himself...

First he causes Pentheus to see him as a bull, and then he makes it look to Pentheus as if the palace is in flames. Finally he creates a phantom, and leads Pentheus to believe that a phantom Pentheus tries to kill was actually Dionysus. This would mean that Pentheus tried to kill a god.
In the end, a lot of Pentheus' views of this situation are validated. While Dionysus claimed he was willing to compromise, he punished humans with relish, even people who had made some effort to accept his new religion and had even tried to persuade others to do the same. Pentheus saw Dionysus as a vengeful enemy, and he is proven right. Dionysus seems to show no distress at the grief he has caused, and by the end of the play, presumably is ready to move on and take over another Greek city.