Alcestis

Closely connected to the theme of our desire for life and the inevitability of death is the theme of virtue and reputation. This theme is also central to the play and its characters, especially Admetus and Alcestis. From the beginning, Admetus is introduced as a righteous man, “a man who knows what’s right” (12). Indeed, it is because Admetus is so righteous that Apollo offers him an opportunity to avoid, or at least postpone, his death. Admetus treated Apollo well, and this good treatment warrants Apollo’s gratitude and repayment. Such reciprocity is an important component of the play’s definition of virtue.

Admetus and Alcestis, the play’s most important characters, are both preoccupied with their virtue and reputation. It is important for Admetus that he be seen as a good man. The most effective illustration of this is the hospitality Admetus shows Heracles even as he is mourning his wife. When the Chorus understandably challenges Admetus’s decision to entertain Heracles, Admetus’s response to them reveals his personality. Admetus argues that if he had failed to entertain Heracles,

My misery would still have been

As great, and I should be inhospitable too,

And there would be one more misfortune added to those

I have, if my house is called unfriendly to its friends (555-58).

What Admetus really cares about, then, is his reputation and the reputation of his house. Admetus’s behavior thus raises important questions about the nature of virtue. And while some scholars and critics have been inclined to admire Admetus’s commitment to acting virtuously, particularly by his insistence on giving hospitality at all costs (hospitality, xenia in Greek, was highly prized by the ancient Greeks), others have questioned Admetus’s supposed virtue. Many have wondered, for instance, whether it was fair for Admetus to ask his loved ones to die in his place. Others have pointed out that by entertaining Heracles, Admetus breaks the promise he made the dying Alcestis to ban all revelry and music from his home as a sign of mourning. Entertaining a guest while holding funerary rituals for one’s wife was seen as deeply disrespectful, and the question remains as to why Admetus does not consider the negative reputation he will gain from ignoring those sacred cultural practices. Finally, Admetus must lie to Heracles to convince him to stay with him, and lying is not generally considered a virtuous act.

Alcestis is no less preoccupied with her reputation than her husband though her values are different. Alcestis realizes from the beginning that her sacrifice will win her undying fame, and indeed she repeatedly asks Admetus and her family to remember her courage as she is dying. Even before Alcestis is dead, she is praised by the characters and Chorus as a paragon of wifely virtue. Alcestis’s death thus wins her a reputation for virtue that Admetus can never have, as Admetus himself will realize after he buries her. In a certain sense, the universally lauded and loved Alcestis is indeed “happier” (935) in death than Admetus is in life.

The virtues of Admetus and Alcestis—whether viewed as exemplary or as wanting—are ultimately rewarded. Heracles, burdened by the same need for reciprocity as Apollo, resolves to restore Alcestis to his generous host. The end of the play sees the self-sacrificing Alcestis brought back to life and the pious and hospitable Admetus reunited with his beloved wife. The couple has won their reward; whether this ending should really be understood as a happy one is another matter.