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 3
Page 12
... statue - like silent woman , Alcestis ' " ironic ghost ; " 76 for Whitman the " happiness " of the ending is doubtful . According to Vellacott ( 1975 ) , Burnett's view of Admetus as " virtuous " is a naive 12 Euripides and Alcestis.
... statue - like silent woman , Alcestis ' " ironic ghost ; " 76 for Whitman the " happiness " of the ending is doubtful . According to Vellacott ( 1975 ) , Burnett's view of Admetus as " virtuous " is a naive 12 Euripides and Alcestis.
Page 28
... ghost of a dead person . Examples of this category , we find in the Iliad : Odysseus sees the image of his mother2 and Achilles , that of his friend Patroclus.3 These images appear in every respect exactly like the mother and the friend ...
... ghost of a dead person . Examples of this category , we find in the Iliad : Odysseus sees the image of his mother2 and Achilles , that of his friend Patroclus.3 These images appear in every respect exactly like the mother and the friend ...
Page 49
... ghosts , Charon at his oar . I would have brought you back to life .... ( 357-362 ) Nevertheless , he really stands up to his prototype : like Orpheus , he " kills " Alcestis because he desires her too much . The instability of his ...
... ghosts , Charon at his oar . I would have brought you back to life .... ( 357-362 ) Nevertheless , he really stands up to his prototype : like Orpheus , he " kills " Alcestis because he desires her too much . The instability of his ...
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