Euripides and Alcestis: Speculations, Simulations, and Stories of Love in the Athenian CultureUniversity Press of America, 1998 - 113 pages Euripides and Alcestis demonstrates the inherent presence of indeterminacy in Euripides' play, Alcestis. The author uses about eighty of the scholarly attempts to establish a determinate meaning of the play to exhibit the difficulty and lack of success in previous attempts at interpretation. She recognizes that the meaning of the play is surrounded by ambiguity and indeterminacy and provides an interpretation based on this knowledge. As an interpretation, the author focuses on Admetus' desire in relation to Alcestis' statue and his nature as a fifth century Athenian man while exposing Alcestis as a nonidentity. She also analyzes the issues of representation and spectatorship, showing that the theatrical performance is constructed in order to function as vehicles for the satisfaction of a dominant position-that of Admetus and the spectator of the performance. |
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Page 3
... appears on the scene .... [ Admetus ] , with his proverbial hospitality , conceals his bereavement from the distinguished visitor whom he invites to stay in his palace . . . . Pheres , Admetus ' father who had refused to die for him ...
... appears on the scene .... [ Admetus ] , with his proverbial hospitality , conceals his bereavement from the distinguished visitor whom he invites to stay in his palace . . . . Pheres , Admetus ' father who had refused to die for him ...
Page 47
... appears in Thessalian legends , is the same person as Narcissus.104 Echo is in love with Narcissus , but she can only repeat the words of others -- as a punishment by the gods because she protected her adulterous father . When they meet ...
... appears in Thessalian legends , is the same person as Narcissus.104 Echo is in love with Narcissus , but she can only repeat the words of others -- as a punishment by the gods because she protected her adulterous father . When they meet ...
Page 50
... appears as a power of fear and death among the flames of the battle . She is depicted on Agamemnon's shield in the famous passage where he fights Hector whose eyes , in turn , " have the look of the Gorgon . " 117 Snakes , which are ...
... appears as a power of fear and death among the flames of the battle . She is depicted on Agamemnon's shield in the famous passage where he fights Hector whose eyes , in turn , " have the look of the Gorgon . " 117 Snakes , which are ...
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absence accepts According action actor Admetus Aeschylus Alcestis analysis Ancient Apollo appears ariste Aristotle Athenian Bacchae becomes believes brings called Cambridge Century characters Charles Segal Chorus Classical Collected Criticism dead death describe desire deus Dionysus Drama Duke University elements Essays Euripidean Euripides fact father female Feminine figure final finds function gives Gorgias Greek Tragedy hand Heracles hospitality human husband identity illusion imitation important interpretation keep language live London look male marriage mask meaning mirror Mortals Myth nature object offered origin Oxford Paris person Plato play pleasure Poetics present Princeton promise reality refers reflection relationship representation returns rhetorical role sacrifice scene spectators speech stage statue story Stranger structural Studies substitute suggests theatre thing tragic trans translated truth University Press values veil Vernant wife woman women York young Zeitlin