Meta Description: Join Dr. David Noe and Dr. Jeff Winkle as they dive into Euripides’ Alcestis. Explore Aristotle’s critique, the origins of Athenian drama, and why Euripides was considered the “most tragic” of the poets despite his messy plots.
Introduction: Gloom in the Vomitorium
Welcome back to the “vomitorium,” listeners! In Episode 16 of the Ad Navseam Podcast, hosts Dr. Jeff Winkle and Dr. David Noe are hunkered down against the encroaching darkness of a Michigan winter. As the days grow shorter winding down to the winter solstice, the gloom descends on Grand Rapids, setting the perfect atmosphere to discuss a playwright known for his “modern” and sometimes unsettling realism: Euripides.
While the weather outside is “brutal,” the discussion inside is warm. This week, the hosts tackle Euripides’ Alcestis, a play that bends genres and challenges the conventions of Greek tragedy. Whether you are a student of the classics or just someone interested in why Aristotle called Euripides a “bad manager,” this episode offers a deep dive into the third of the great Athenian tragedians.
Aristotle’s Verdict: The “Bad Manager”
To understand Euripides, the hosts start with the most brilliant biologist ever to study poetry: Aristotle.
In his Poetics, Aristotle gives Euripides a backhanded compliment. He calls him the “most tragic of the poets” but also notes that he is a “bad manager” (oikonomos).
What does this mean?
- The Messiness: Unlike Sophocles, whose plots were tightly structured and perfect, Euripides was messy. He often painted himself into a corner and had to rely on the Deus ex Machina (a god lowered by a crane) to resolve the plot.
- The Tragic Element: Despite his structural flaws, Aristotle believed Euripides touched a nerve. His plays felt the most emotionally devastating and “tragic” when they succeeded.
Dr. Winkle notes that Euripides often reads as the most modern of the three playwrights. His characters are relatable, often commoners, and he captures a realism that Aeschylus and Sophocles sometimes lack.
The Origins of Tragedy: Why Athens?
Before diving into the play, the hosts explore a fundamental question: Why did tragedy arise in Athens? Relying on the scholar H.J. Rose, they outline three key reasons:
- Geographical Position: Athens sat at a unique crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as between Ionia, Boeotia, and the Peloponnesus. Geography is destiny.
- Competition: The Greeks were highly agonistic (competitive). Early tragedies were not just art; they were contests. Playwrights competed against one another just as athletes did in the games.
- Expansion of Power (Money): Following the defeat of the Persians in 479 BC, Athens found itself flush with cash and influence. Under Pericles, they channeled this wealth into the arts, building the theaters and funding the festivals that allowed drama to flourish.
The Big Three: Aeschylus vs. Euripides
The hosts then distinguish Euripides from his predecessors, Aeschylus and Sophocles.
- Aeschylus: The traditionalist. He represents the Homeric world and the confidence of the early Athenian empire.
- Sophocles: The existentialist. He straddles the middle, writing both before and after the plague of 429 BC, questioning the gods but maintaining structure.
- Euripides: The realist (or the first postmodernist?). Writing during the chaos of the Peloponnesian War, he questions everything.
This rivalry is brilliantly captured in Aristophanes’ The Frogs. Dr. Winkle shares his own translation of a scene where Aeschylus and Euripides trade insults in the Underworld. Euripides calls Aeschylus a “guttural, gribble-grabble… mountebank,” while Aeschylus retorts that Euripides is a “poet of cripples and freaks”.
The Alcestis: A God in Servitude
The episode then turns to the play itself, specifically the prologue. Apollo enters and explains his strange situation: he is serving as a slave in the house of a mortal, King Admetus.
- The Backstory: Zeus killed Apollo’s son, Asclepius. In rage, Apollo killed the Cyclopes. As punishment, Zeus forced Apollo to serve Admetus for one year.
- The Deal: Admetus treated Apollo well (“holy,” according to Apollo), so the god tricked the Fates. Admetus can escape his day of death if he finds a substitute.
The only person willing to die for him is his wife, Alcestis.
Death on Stage
The play features a chilling confrontation between Apollo and Death (Thanatos). Death arrives to collect Alcestis, annoyed that Apollo is trying to cheat him of his due.
Dr. Noe points out a unique feature of this play: Death is a character. This is a rare instance in Greek tragedy where Death walks and talks on stage.
Furthermore, Euripides breaks a major convention regarding the death scene. Typically, violence and death happen off-stage and are reported by a messenger. In Alcestis, however, the audience expects a messenger speech—and they get one from a servant, filled with melodrama. But then, Euripides flips the script. Alcestis does not die off-stage; she dies on stage, in full view.
It is this kind of innovation that makes Euripides both a “bad manager” of tradition and a master of theatrical effect.
Conclusion: A Decent Sort of Fellow
As the hosts wrap up the episode, they promise to explore the rest of the play—including the arrival of Heracles and the comic elements—in the next installment.
Gustatory Parting Shot
Dr. Noe concludes the episode with a quote from A.A. Milne regarding the character of a man and his vegetables:
“What I say is that if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.”
Valete!
Resources for the Classical Learner
- Hackett Publishing: Support the show and save 20% on translations like Diane Arnson-Svarlien’s Alcestis by using code AN2020 at the Hackett Publishing website.
Ratio Coffee: For a brew worthy of the gods, use code ANCO for 15% off at the Ratio Coffee website.
