The Theme of Alcestis :: Alcestis

The Theme of Alcestis      Ã‚  Ã‚   Alcestis by Euripides is distinct from other Greek Tragedy, due to its fairy tale origins. It was the fourth play in a set and would therefore have taken the place of a satyr-play. Satyr-plays were usually a light, comic play used as a form of relief from the previous heavy tragedies. The play has its comic elements, Heracles and Death playing the main comic figures but is there a more serious meaning hidden within the comedy? Philip Vellacott in his introduction to a collection of Euripides' plays, states that the main theme of the play is the "unequal relationship of man to woman." He believes this theme to be a reading of the play that would not be accessible to spectators who watched the play purely for enjoyment, but would be found by those capable of serious reflection. Did Euripides foresee such a reading of the play and is there enough evidence to support such a view?    In the play, the experience of man and woman do appear to be set up against each other. On the one hand there is Admetus and the chorus of the citizens of Pherae and on the other, there is Alcestis aligned with other second-class citizens, the servants. The chorus sympathise almost exclusively with Admetus and the servants with Alcestis. The servants and Alcestis are associated with each other from line 192:    "She took each one by the hand, and spoke to each...even the humblest."    Alcestis shows how she cared for the servants by being so thoughtful during her suffering. Later in the play another servant hails Alcestis as a mother figure. With such a bond between them, the servants see things from Alcestis' point of view. In telling the chorus the events of the day, the servant speaks entirely with sympathy for Alcestis, recalls what she has said and done and how she is becoming weaker and weaker. The servant does not mention Admetus until the chorus pointedly ask about him. In her reply the servant shows how Admetus is coping with the situation. Line 200: "Oh, yes, he weeps...Beseeching her not to desert him."    Here the irony of the situation is recognised by the servant.