Dearest
Brittany,
I’m
so happy that we are coincidentally reading the same literary piece as each
other, what a coincidence! I really enjoyed discussing and comparing ideas
about Fahrenheit 451 with you so I think we should give it a try with the play Alcestis.
I have only read about a quarter of the play but so far, I’m liking it (and surprisingly
enough I’m actually understanding it too). I find it fascinating how Ancient
Greek writers would use universal characters throughout their works such as the
Greek gods because it gives the characters a lot of depth and personality since
the reoccur so often. Many ancient works give the gods flaws and human-like
characteristics to make them more relatable, and this play is no exception.
Alcestis begins with the story of how Apollo did something that displeased Zeus
and he is now being punished to serve a mortal master. Apollo’s relationship
with his master, King Admetus, dictates many of the actions and decisions
within the play. Apollo is the one that tell Admetus that it is possible to
avoid his own death by having somebody else pay the debt with their own life, and
Admetus’s wife Alcestis volunteers her own life as the payment. I was very surprised
to see Admetus allow his wife to take his place, as the man and the king shouldn’t
he have more pride and face his own consequences? Wouldn’t it have been viewed
as weak for him to let his wife die in his place? Even though I have only read
a small portion of the play, I have a lot of respect for Alcestis. She is very
young but still shows resilience and selflessness in the face of death. After Death
comes to take her away, Alcestis doesn’t fear death for her own sake, but for
the sake of her children. She laments not being around longer and fears what
their future will be like, saying: “'O Goddess, since now I must descend
beneath the earth, for the last time I make supplication to you: and entreat
you to protect my motherless children. Wed my son to a fair bride, and my
daughter to a noble husband. Let not my children die untimely, as I their
mother am destroyed, but grant that they live out happy lives with good fortune
in their own land!'’ In the first few pages of the play we see Alcestis real
personality shine through immediately and I believe her selflessness will play a
big role within the theme of the play.
Your Friend,
Hannah
Bienvenidos Hannah,
ReplyDeleteSo great to be out here discussing literature with you once again! I agree, it is so interesting to see so many different authors take their shot at writing about these same characters. I think it will be interesting to see how those characters develop in this play since so far they have been mainly a vessel to give the audience some backstory on how the king and queen got into this situation. Speaking of King Admetus, I was also surprised that he let his wife sacrifice herself so easily, since it seems like they are both well loved by their people and are just rulers, and in my mind I associate that picture of what a ruler should be as someone who is selfless, as Aclestis appears to be. She seems to be resigned to the fact that she is dying, but I am interested in what the other characters are going to do in order to prevent her death. Everyone around seems really fond of her, especially the local townspeople who say, “Cry out, Oh lament. O land of Pherae, for the best of women fades away in her doom.” Since her folks are so fond of her, I doubt much time will pass before people begin scheming to keep Aclestis alive. I also think that it may not actually be too tough to keep her alive since Apollo was already able to reason with Death one time, and Death interestingly enough does not appear to be very difficult to outwit. Do you think the passion of the people will drive them to scheme against death? What do you think about Admetus? Will he ever take some action to try and help out his wife? Keep me posted!
Catch you on the flip,
Brittany
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSalutations,
ReplyDeleteI’m not exactly sure what to think about Admetus at the moment. He talks a big game by saying he will forever mourn her death and never remarry but will he actually follow through with that claim? From what we have seen of his personality so far I think that he will be quick to go back on his word because he seems very self-absorbed. In this second section, Alcestis actually dies after a very dramatic ceremony including many people, her weeping children, and a throne for her to sit upon. This scene seems overly dramatic when you’re reading it but I believe it would be really entertaining to watch it live. Why do you think Euripides wrote such a dramatic death scene? Is this a common theme thorough ancient Greek literature? When mourning the late queen the Chorus talks about how she was the only person willing to sacrifice themselves for the King saying, “When his mother and the old father that begot him would not give their bodies to the earth for their son's sake, they dared not deliver him-O cruel! Though their heads were grey. But you, in your lively youth, died for him, and are gone from the light.” Why do you think this is? If the King’s parents were old with not much life to live wouldn’t it make more sense for them to sacrifice themselves instead of the young Alcestis? I think their unwillingness to die for their son speaks volumes to his personality and relationship with his family. Perhaps his selfishness and his job as king has caused a strain on his relationships. I can’t wait to see this develop further.
Your Brethren in Christ,
Hannah Glynn
Greetings dear kin,
ReplyDeleteI am also very skeptical about whether or not Admetus will follow through on his promise to his wife, but by commanding that all of the young men mourn along with him I think this holds him accountable since he is more likely to follow through when the kingdom is watching. About the death scene, I agree that it is really dramatic but I think that just fit with the style of the time and it serves to accentuate how seriously the culture took death. I am also interested in what will happen with Heracles livening up the palace while on his quest. Do you think he will be causing a ruckus during his stay? My prediction is that he is going to have a run-in with Apollos since we haven’t seen much of him lately. I also am further convinced that he could be a problematic character by Admetus’s hesitancy to tell him who died in his house, since when he was asked if it was his wife he responded, “Of her I make a double answer.” This suspicious behavior is something we should keep an eye on in future interactions. We also got a glimpse of Eumelus in this section and I hope we get to see more character development from him to contrast his style of mourning with that of his father and further analyze how they are both handling things. Do you think Eumelus takes after his father? While Admetus is being very theatrical and outgoing in his grieving, Eumelus seems more subdued in this time of trial, but that could be just because his father has been monopolizing the spotlight. Lastly, I think the chorus will continue to play a significant role in the proceedings as they have guided them thus far and seem to be the ones steering the mood of the story, and I think it is important for them to be up in Admetus’s face like this in order to make sure that he keeps in touch with his people.
Blessings,
Brittany C. G.
Season’s greetings!
ReplyDeleteHeracles definitely does cause a ruckus during his stay at the palace, as you will see in this upcoming section. The servants can’t believe that Heracles has the nerve to stay in the palace during this time of grief and to drink enough of their wine to get drunk. I honestly think they need to cut Heracles a little bit of slack because the king told him to stay at the palace despite the funeral going and nobody ever actually told him who died so he was quite understandably confused. Heracles immediately apologizes after he finds out that Alcestis is the one that died and rushes of to find the King to apologize. He even goes as far as to say he will do whatever it takes, including fight Death itself, in order to avenge Alcestis. Why do you think this is? Did Heracles even know Alcestis before she died or does he just like the idea of playing the role of a hero and saving the day? Another interesting altercation that took place in this section was the conversation Admetus had with his father Pheres. Admetus is outraged to see his father at the funeral because he refused to give up his life for his son, causing Alcestis to die. Pheres says to him, “You were born to live your own life, whether miserable or fortunate; and what is due to you from me you have. You rule over many men, and I shall leave you many wide fields even as received them from my own father. How, then, have I wronged you?” At first I believed that it was selfish for Pheres not to give up his life for his son’s but after their conversation I see his point. He raised his son to be independent and make his own choices and if he is responsible enough to lead his own country than he should be responsible enough to face the consequences of his own choices. What do you think?
Don’t Stop Believing,
Hannah Glynn
Ahoy!
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point about Heracles, I think that he was being mostly sincere in his desire to make up for burdening them during their time of grief. However, he also seems like a guy that knows how to show off and that leads me to believe that he is at least slightly doing this for the attention. Personally, though, I hope that he eventually does confront Death because that would be an entertaining scene. Do you think he will find any success in this confrontation? Overall, I think Heracles has his heart in the right place. I think that the best solution to the “someone has to die” scenario would have been for Pheres to take one for the team and sacrifice himself since as Admetus said, “You enjoyed all that a happy man can enjoy-you passed the flower of your age as a king, and in me your son you had an heir to your dominion.” Pheres had lived a very fulfilling life and it would have been very noble of him to step in for his son. However, though I maintain that Pheres should have been the one to die, his side of the argument cannot be ignored. It is unclear what Admetus did to earn his death sentence from the gods, but whatever it was he should have owned up to it himself. It would have been noble had someone else volunteered to die in his place, but it was unfair of Admetus to assume that someone would take this action for him and he should not have asked that of his family or friends to begin with. I think that at the end of the day, the visit from Pheres was a necessary experience for Admetus, because though it has not been specified how he got into this situation, he needs to take some responsibility for the death of his wife. Since we do not know if Admetus actually committed a crime to earn this sentence, do you think the audience can really place blame on anyone for the death of Aclestis? Lastly, I want to circle back to Heracles and say that my prediction is that whatever he tries to do to make up for staying at the palace, it will most likely end in disaster.
Rock and Roll Forever,
Brittz
Greetings Loved Ones,
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see if there is any more background information available about these characters that we could read to learn more about the character’s pasts and the reason why Admetus owed Death a life in the first place. Honestly, I found the end of the play quite disappointing. Yes, Admetus and Alcestis are back together again and everybody is happy but it just seems so unrealistic and forced. Why was it so easy for Heracles to defeat Death and take Alcestis back? If Admetus never has to face the consequences for his actions then he will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. At least when Alcestis died he had learned his lesson and felt guilty about letting her take his place, but now that she’s alive again I doubt he will remember the important lesson he learned. The inevitability of death and the importance of sacrifice are two important themes discussed in the play. One of my favorite quotes from this last section is, “Many doctrines have I learned; But Fate is above us all. Nothing avails against Fate”. This quote puts the nature of death in simple terms: no matter who you are, what you know, or what you do, death will eventually win. This is one of the main reasons why I am so upset with the ending is because it seems like it contradicts the themes developed throughout the entirety of the play. From the very beginning of the play, multiple different characters discuss the idea that death affects everybody everywhere and is inescapable and that’s what makes us human but in the end of the play Alcestis escapes death and completely contradicts these ideas. Overall I thought it was a good play but the ending was less than satisfactory for me.
Thanks for the journey,
Hannah Glynn
How hops it?
ReplyDeleteThe end of the play did seem pretty inconclusive, but I think that at least to an extent Euripedes tried to show that Admetus had learned his lesson, as near the end he said, “I who should have died, I have escaped my fate, only to drag out a wretched life. Only now do I perceive it.” Before he knows that his wife is still alive, Admetus is definitely recognizing what he did to put himself in to this position, and I think that even though he did get his wife back, he will live his life accordingly and hopefully make some positive changes. In addition to the meaning of death as a theme in the play, the significance of family was also very emphasized and I think in the end it was shown the true strength of loyalty that this community has for one another, whether they are tied by blood, marriage, or just friendship. However, I do think that Admetus should have been more suspicious of his wife’s resurrection because if literature has taught us anything it is that the undead are not always so cool. Lastly, I really appreciate that with contemporary tales being written like the stories about Oedipus, Euripedes still chose to show in this work that a group of people that is faithful to one another can overcome anything, even if it was weirdly easy for Heracles to physically overcome death.
Oh the places we’ve been,
Brittany Gesell
At least, being a demigod, Heracles/Hercules has some legitimacy in being the one to overcome death. Well done pulling out themes toward the end there, especially in recognizing that Admetus "learned his lesson" even if the lesson might have been more striking had Alcestis stayed dead, as she would have done in a tragedy. Keep an eye back on this play if you ever read Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.grade on Pp.
ReplyDelete