Three important decisions in Alcestis

Alcestis is an important play in the history of ancient Greece. This play is based on mythological event and includes characters like Alcestis, Admetus and Heracles. The play revolves around the incident of Admetus cheating on death once but then Alcestis taking her place. Three important decisions have serious impact in the plot of the play. These three decisions taken by three different characters caused unexpected development in the drama. 

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The first decision took place long before the start of the play. The husband of Alcestis, Admetus, could please god Apollo. That is why, Apollo played a trick with the Fates and as a result, Admetus got the opportunity to cheat death. But there was a condition to this matter. Admetus would be able to escape death only if someone else agrees to take his place. Admetus requested his father but he was not ready to die in the place of his own son. However, Admetus’ wife Alcestis agreed to take his position in death. 

This is the background of the drama. Now, the time of Admetus’ death has come and Alcestis is going to die in his place. Alcestis was still a young woman but she decided to do this sacrifice because she loved her husband and she also did not want her children to become fatherless at a very young age. It has shown that in ancient Greece women were supposed to do any kind of sacrifice for their husbands. There is no doubt that Alcestis is a very loving and carrying wife. 

The second decision that had a lot of impact on the development of the drama was that Admetus decided to keep the news of Alcestis’ death a secret from Heracles. Heracles was the strongest human being in Greek mythology. He was very brave and even not afraid to fight with gods. Admetus decided to keep the death of Alcestis a secret because he thought that Heracles has come to his house as a guest and should not see the mourning. Instead Admetus broke his promise to his wife and started drinking with Heracles. This decision of not informing Heracles about the death of Alcestis is important for two reasons. First of all, it shows that Admetus was a generous host and did not want Heracles to suffer. Second of all, it helped Admetus unknowingly as Heracles took the third important decision of the play. 

Heracles drank a lot of wine with Admetus and became drunk. One servant could not control her frustration and told Heracles with annoyed that it was Alcestis who had died. Heracles became totally ashamed after getting the truth and decided to do something about it. He ambushed death and brought back Alcestis to the world again. This decision of Heracles changed everything. 

The three decisions perhaps show us that life is a series of events interconnected. May be something happened long time ago and we feel that it is gone and have no relationship with our life anymore. However, the dramatist in Alcestis showed us that whatever you do in the past can come back strongly. It can affect you good way or bad way. Also, at crucial moments, we have to decide and act or else, we will lose a lot in life. Heracles took a bold decision and fought with death. Because of this, we have a fairy tale finish to this drama. 

Alcestis is a tragicomedy. It starts with a sad note and ends with a happy incident. The story starts with Alcestis’ preparation for death and ends with her coming back to life again. We feel very happy when we find something that we lost many days ago. Same thing happened to Admetus when he got his wife back to life.