Why does Alcestis choose not to speak?
Admetus asks Heracles why Alcestis does not speak. Heracles replies that three days must pass, during which she will become purified of her consecration to the gods of the Underworld, before she can speak again. Admetus wishes Heracles well and takes Alcestis into the palace.
What is the story of Alcestis?
Alcestis, in Greek legend, the beautiful daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcos. She is the heroine of the eponymous play by the dramatist Euripides (c. 484–406 bce). According to legend, the god Apollo helped Admetus, son of the king of Pherae, to harness a lion and a boar to a chariot in order to win Alcestis’s hand.
Does Alcestis speak again?
Shortly after fighting with Thanatos, Heracles rescued Alcestis from the underworld as a token of appreciation for Admetus’ hospitality. In some accounts Persephone, ‘the Maiden’, sent her up again. But when she comes back alive she is mute. She chooses not to speak.
What is Alcestis the goddess of?
Alcestis was the mythical queen of Thessaly, wife of King Admetus, who came to personify the devoted, selfless, woman and wife in ancient Greece.
Why is Alcestis a tragedy?
Alcestis was the hero in the tragedy because she died for her husband, and she sacrificed her life for the life of another. Alcestis represents the justification of human life in the tragedy because she proves that there are more important things than living and physically being alive.
Why is Alcestis silent at the end of the play?
The second is the silence of Alcestis, after her return from the grave. This silence is due, not to the theatrical exigencies, and the absence of a third actor, as some critics have supposed, but to the deliberate choice of the poet.
Is Alcestis the oldest work by Euripides?
Alcestis is, possibly excepting the Rhesus, the oldest surviving work by Euripides, although at the time of its first performance he had been producing plays for 17 years. Long before the start of the play, King Admetus was granted by the Fates the privilege of living past the allotted time of his death.
Who was Alcestis in Greek mythology?
Alcestis was a princess in Greek mythology, renowned for the love she had for her husband. She was the daughter of the king of Iolcus, Pelias, and Anaxibia. Alcestis was fair and beautiful, and many asked to marry her. Her father issued a competition, saying that the person who would be able to yoke a lion and a bore to a chariot would be…
What is the tone of the play Alcestis?
Its ambiguous, tragicomic tone —which may be “cheerfully romantic” or “bitterly ironic”—has earned it the label of a ” problem play .” Alcestis is, possibly excepting the Rhesus, the oldest surviving work by Euripides, although at the time of its first performance he had been producing plays for 17 years.
Why does Admetus’ wife Alcestis agree to take his place?
His father, Pheres, is unwilling to step in and thinks that it is ludicrous that he should be asked to give up the life he enjoys so much as part of this strange deal. Finally, Admetus’ devoted wife Alcestis agrees to be taken in his place because she wishes not to leave her children fatherless or be bereft of her lover.