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
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Page 15
... revealing of the crisis of traditional concepts and ideas , and he suggests that Euripides advocates a more rational ... reveals his self - centeredness in his desire to replace Alcestis with a statue whose coldness and immobility seems ...
... revealing of the crisis of traditional concepts and ideas , and he suggests that Euripides advocates a more rational ... reveals his self - centeredness in his desire to replace Alcestis with a statue whose coldness and immobility seems ...
Page 55
... reveal the architecture of the interior space : ... open the guest rooms which are across the court from the house , and tell the people who are there to provide plenty to eat , and make sure that you close the doors facing the inside ...
... reveal the architecture of the interior space : ... open the guest rooms which are across the court from the house , and tell the people who are there to provide plenty to eat , and make sure that you close the doors facing the inside ...
Page 56
... reveals another veil : the female mask of the male performer ; the veil conceals only the secret that there is no secret . Admetus ' desire cannot be fulfilled and this is exactly why it is maintained . The veil functions to disguise ...
... reveals another veil : the female mask of the male performer ; the veil conceals only the secret that there is no secret . Admetus ' desire cannot be fulfilled and this is exactly why it is maintained . The veil functions to disguise ...
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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