As a punishment for killing the Cyclopes ( in revenge for the death of his son Asclepius) , Apollo was ordered by Zeus to serve Admetus king of Pherae, as a shepherd .
In appreciation of the king’s goodness and hospitality , Apollo bestowed his favour upon him. Thus, when Admetus was told by the Fates that he was to die young, Apollo tricked them into granting an unusual concession : that Admetus would live if he could find someone to die in his stead. No one was prepared to sacrifice themselves on his behalf , however not even his aged parents ,until his young wife Alcestis agreed to take his place .
At the appointed hour of her death Alcestis bids farewell to her husband and children , making Admetus promise never to look at another woman.
Admetus then receives a visit from Heracles and makes him welcome , concealing from him the death of Alcestis . Heracles suspecting nothing eats drinks and makes merry. However ,when he learns what has happened ,he regrets his behaviour and resolves to make amends by bringing Alcestis back to life.
On Admetus’ returns from Alcestis’ funeral , Heracles presents to the inconsolable king a veiled ,silent woman , and tells him to make her welcome until he returns from one of his Twelve Labours. Admetus refuses , since this would break the promise he made to Alcestis. His resolve weakens , however, and he is persuaded by Heracles to receive the mysterious stranger. Her veil is then removed and Admetus is astonished to see his wife revealed before him.
Heracles leaves the palace to perform one of his Twelve Labours and Admetus declares that his happiness is complete.
NOTE
Euripides’ earliest surviving work is highly compelling and enigmatic piece of drama . Although the innovation in Euripides’ later works push back the boundaries of the classical form of tragedy and ironically undercut the tragic hero , nowhere is this ambiguous approach more apparent than in Alcestis .
The play first appeared at the crucial time for Athenian Democracy ,just after the inauguration of the Parthenon and just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War .It was the fourth part of a tetralogy, the place usually taken by a Satyr Play , but the definition cannot be one ,since the Chorus does not consist of satyrs .Nor can it be characterized as a tragedy ,since the plot and the characters are strongly marked by comic and ironic elements .It also has a happy ending ,of sorts. For this reason ,students of the play often end up describing it as a tragicomedy.
The play begins and ends on the day that Alcestis is led to the Underworld by Death and back again to the world above by Heracles , acting almost as a dues or demigod ex machina. Previously, however, various tragicomic episodes have taken place surrounding Alcestis ,both as she is preparing to die and once she is dead. These have the effect of crystallising various questions that go to the heart of philosophy and sophist ideas in Euripides’era and beyond . At the same time , the play is infused with a lyricism that weaves together harmony and parody, beauty and paradox . The ambiguity of the heroes and their unmasking through their extreme and very public exposure does not diminish their standing – but nor of course does it enhance it . It is as if the poet is revealing a fully rounded and not in any way idealised image of humankind: anxious in the face of unknowable death and querying the role of divine intervention in his life and his own responsibility for his fate.
The play , which plainly reflects the influence of Sophist teaching and techniques on the thinking of Euripides , appears to arrive at answers close to the anthropocentric views of the Sophist Protagoras , in which famously ‘man is the measure of all things’ and the knowledge of the divine is impeded by the unreliability of the gods and the brevity of human life.
