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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 23
Page 11
... becomes a symbolic drama with a message which , as Golden emphatically states , is " clearly " shown during the final scene : " . . . if the power of altruism ever becomes stronger than the power of egoism , human happiness is possible ...
... becomes a symbolic drama with a message which , as Golden emphatically states , is " clearly " shown during the final scene : " . . . if the power of altruism ever becomes stronger than the power of egoism , human happiness is possible ...
Page 43
... becomes himself a lover of truth and thus the dissymetries in the relationship are erased.87 This friendship is meant to last forever ; it is " an affinity of character and mode of life , a sharing of thoughts and existence . " 88 As ...
... becomes himself a lover of truth and thus the dissymetries in the relationship are erased.87 This friendship is meant to last forever ; it is " an affinity of character and mode of life , a sharing of thoughts and existence . " 88 As ...
Page 57
... becomes the " truth " to be desired and described . Woman is defined only as the empty set . " One must assume the feminine role deliberately , " Irigaray states.163 Thus , a male actor can substitute for a female character , a statue ...
... becomes the " truth " to be desired and described . Woman is defined only as the empty set . " One must assume the feminine role deliberately , " Irigaray states.163 Thus , a male actor can substitute for a female character , a statue ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
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