How is Euripides' Alcestis an exceptional figure in Greek tragedy?
Archie MacCormack
Euripides' first extant play, Alcestis , written in 438 BC, recounts the myth of how Alcestis gave her life to save her husband’s. When reading the play, it is clear that, although Alcestis' speaking role ends within the first half of the play, her character never ceases being the focal point of the drama. Since it is her astonishing act which the audience admires most, despite Heracles' heroics in wrestling with Death and Admetus' confrontation with Pheres, Alcestis remains the object of both the audiences' and the characters' minds alike. Alcestis seems to hold a unique position in Greek mythology as a perfect wife who is both loving and honourable, yet also distinguished and acclaimed for her character when women in Greek tragedy, such as Medea or Phaedra, are often infamous rather than glorious. Nevertheless, in 5 th -century BC Greece, the issue of 'kleos', in opposition to love, means that it is not so simple to categorize Alcestis as faultless when questioning her deeper motives for dying. Alcestis is a character with whom the audience can associate the definitively Greek concept of 'kleos'. In Greek literature, 'kleos', which is often translated as ‘glory’, is an important concept in the Greek psyche concerning death. Homer's Iliad , the first extant literary Greek work, concerns 'kleos' as one of its most important themes with formulaic lines such as ʹἀρνύμενος πατρός τε μέγα κλέος ἠδ᾽ ἐμὸν αὐτοῦʹ (winning great glory for my father and for myself), 1 displaying the extent to which 'kleos' was imbedded within the heroic identity. In Alcestis , the chorus of citizens of Pherae mentions a very Homeric form of 'kleos' as ʹπολλά σε μουσοπόλοι / μέλψουσι καθ᾽ ἑπτάτονόν τ᾽ ὀρείαν / χέλυν ἔν τ᾽ ἀλύροις κλέοντες ὕμνοιςʹ (Many a song shall poets make, / Singing your praise to the seven- stringed mountain lyre, / Or in unaccompanied chorus). 2 Although many different myths would have been sung about, the use of the verb ' κλεʆ οντες ' (calling / singing), which is clearly related to 'kleos' recalls how the Homeric oral tradition made the heroes in the Iliad and the Odyssey famous through the oral composition of the epics. Therefore, Euripides somewhat aligns Alcestis with the heroes at the core of Greek literature while he moreover affirms the statement about Alcestis' fame as he becomes one of the poets singing about her through the chorus. However, perhaps ironically for a Greek audience, it is a woman in the form of Alcestis who should be admired for her 'kleos' rather than the masculine Iliadic heroes such as Achilles and Hector who die in warfare. Alcestis' feminine courage is further emphasized by both Admetus' and his father Pheres' apparent cowardice in avoiding the death which Fate had allotted him, although Philip Vellacott believes that 'for us to form a clear moral judgement on Admetus would limit the significance of the play.' 3 Whether we choose to judge Admetus or not, it is nevertheless clear that Alcestis' sacrifice marks her out as the extraordinary character in the play. Even Heracles, who becomes a hero at the end of the play, is mocked for his drunkenness in a passage of satyr, meaning his role as the saviour in the final scene is tainted by his previous appearance on stage. Nevertheless, it is for aspects like his admiring portrayal of Alcestis, in comparison with the male characters of the play, that some scholars have labelled Euripides a 'proto-feminist' in the male-dominated society of 5 th -century BC Athens. Moreover, Euripides seems to particularly link Alcestis to Hector, one of the most masculine figures of the Iliad , through an allusion to Book VI. It is certain that Euripides' Athenian audience during the Dionysia would have been familiar with the Iliad, enabling this following comparison to be recognized
1 Hom. Il. 6.446 (Anthony Verity) 2 Eur. Alc. 445-7 (trans. Philip Vellacott) 3 Vellacott, Alcestis/Hippolytus/Iphigenia in Tauris (Penguin, 1974) p.16
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