Alcestis

By the middle of the fifth century BCE, Attic tragedies typically utilized three actors and a Chorus. All speaking parts were distributed among the three actors, with multiple roles played by each actor (the actor who played the most important role was called the protagonists.) Alcestis, only used two actors. The lead actor—the protagonist—probably played Apollo, the Maid, Alcestis, Pheres, and Heracles. Another actor—the deuteragonist—probably played Death, Admetus, and the Servant. A nonspeaking extra would have played Alcestis in the final scene while the boy and the girl would have also been played by extras. Attic tragedies were not technically divided into acts like most modern plays, but they did follow a fairly set structure, and Alcestis follows a familiar tragic structure. Like other tragedies, Alcestis begins with a prologue that introduces the audience to the setting and plot of the play. This is followed by the entry of the Chorus, who sings several choral interludes throughout the play; in ancient performances, these interludes would have been accompanied by instrumental music. The first choral song is called the parodos; every other choral song, called a stasimon, follows an episode or scene, in which the characters interact with each other or the Chorus. Alcestis has four episodes, each followed by a choral stasimon. Finally, Attic tragedies ended with a scene called the exodos, which saw the resolution or dénouement of the action and the exit of the actors and Chorus.

The prologue uses a combination of monologue and dialogue to introduce the play. The play is set before the house of Admetus, and the house does become an important symbol in the play for the virtue and fame of Admetus and his wife. The tense exchange between Apollo and Death explains the setting and foreshadows the resolution that will come when Heracles eventually rescues Alcestis. This foreshadowing is a common literary device in the prologue of Attic tragedies, especially in those of Euripides.

The play’s first scenes introduce not only the setting and plot but other central themes and symbols. The most notable is the human desire for life amid the inescapability of death. Admetus, for instance, wants to live so badly that he asks his loved ones to die in his place, but he suffers greatly when the time comes for Alcestis to die for him. This raises the question of whether trying to avoid death is worth it. The play reflects this question through its plot and its use of traditional motifs. For example, Apollo was forced to serve Admetus because he killed the Cyclopes (the makers of Zeus’s thunderbolts), and he killed the Cyclopes because Zeus had killed his Apollo’s son Asclepius. Zeus killed Asclepius because Asclepius had transgressed mortal limits by resurrecting the dead. The very first lines of the play thus establish the futility of trying to escape death. Throughout the play, there will be various further references to the myth of Asclepius as well as other mortals, such as Orpheus, who have tried to escape death and failed; The Chorus, for instance, reflects on the downfall of Asclepius in their parodos.

The early scenes raise questions about the nature of the gods and their relationship with mortals. Apollo, the first character to step on stage, loves his mortal friend Admetus, declaring that he has found in him “a man who knows what’s right” (12) (in some accounts, Admetus was Apollo’s lover). But the relationship between Apollo and Admetus is also strange and, in some ways, inappropriate. Apollo feels no scruples about transgressing the natural order—not to mention the privileges of the Underworld gods—to help his friend. This carelessness results in much heartbreak and arguably does little good even to Admetus, who ends up finding his life unlivable when he loses his wife. In the end, Heracles, who is mortal at the time, saves the day by rescuing Alcestis from death.