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 12
... hand , echoing older interpretations , ascertains that Alcestis is about the suffering and learning of Admetus ; 67 Musurillo , on the other hand , believes that what Admetus learns is dramatically insignificant , not only because it ...
... hand , echoing older interpretations , ascertains that Alcestis is about the suffering and learning of Admetus ; 67 Musurillo , on the other hand , believes that what Admetus learns is dramatically insignificant , not only because it ...
Page 49
... hand - in - hand.114 Admetus does in fact ironically wish to assimilate himself to Orpheus whose desire for Euridice prompts him to kill her . While leading Euridice back from Hades , Orpheus does the one thing he is not allowed to do ...
... hand - in - hand.114 Admetus does in fact ironically wish to assimilate himself to Orpheus whose desire for Euridice prompts him to kill her . While leading Euridice back from Hades , Orpheus does the one thing he is not allowed to do ...
Page 54
... hand , and only yours . ... Be brave . Reach out your hand and take the stranger's . Admetus : ... Here is my hand . . . . Heracles : ... [ now ] look at her . . . . Your luck is back . ( 1111-1122 ) The " right - hand - on - the ...
... hand , and only yours . ... Be brave . Reach out your hand and take the stranger's . Admetus : ... Here is my hand . . . . Heracles : ... [ now ] look at her . . . . Your luck is back . ( 1111-1122 ) The " right - hand - on - the ...
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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