Apollo Character Analysis in Alcestis

Apollo is a god of the Greek pantheon. He is the deity of a number of things, including prophecy, healing, speech, and light. Along with Alcestis, he is associated with the play’s prominent symbol of light. At the beginning of the play, he has just been freed from slavery in Admetos’s palace, to which he’d been sentenced by Zeus. During his time there, he became Admetos’s loyal friend, even tricking the Fates so that Admetos wouldn’t be doomed to an early death. Apollo prophesies that Herakles will soon come to defeat Death.

Apollo Quotes in Alcestis

The Alcestis quotes below are all either spoken by Apollo or refer to Apollo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

APOLLO: House of Admetos, farewell.
Apollo takes his leave of you,
dear house . . . though it was here that I endured
what no god should ever be compelled to bear.
Here, with serfs and laborers, I ate the bread of slavery.

He turns to the audience.

I do not blame Admetos.
The author of my shame was Zeus. He killed
my son Asklepios, stabbing him through the heart
with his fatal lightning. And I in anger
retaliated. I killed the one-eyed Cyclopes
because they forged for Zeus those blazing bolts
in which my son died. And so,
in punishment, Zeus doomed me,
a god, to this duress,
constraining me to be the bond-slave
of a death-bound man.

Related Characters: Apollo (speaker), King Admetos

Page Number and Citation: 33

Explanation and Analysis:

CHORUS: Hospitality is here.
What house could be more gracious or more generous
than this? Open-handed, always prodigal and free,
its master gives such lavish welcoming
that one might think his guests were gods.
Great gods have sheltered here.
Here Apollo, god of Delphi, condescending,
came, his high divinity constrained to serve
as shepherd for a year. And down these blessed hills,
to mating flocks the god of music sang the season’s song…

Related Characters: Chorus (speaker), King Admetos , Herakles, Apollo

Page Number and Citation: 62

Explanation and Analysis:

Apollo Character Timeline in Alcestis

The timeline below shows where the character Apollo appears in Alcestis. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Obligation, Limitations, and Fate Theme Icon

The play begins in Pherai, Thessaly, in the palace of Admetos, King of Thessaly. Apollo is just leaving Admetos’s house and turns to say goodbye. He calls it a “dear... (full context)

Apollo addresses the audience, explaining that his “slavery” was Zeus’s fault, not Admetos’s. Zeus killed Apollo’s... (full context)

Despite his “duress,” Apollo considers Admetos his friend. In addition to guarding the palace, Apollo even saved Admetos by... (full context)

Death, a winged, black-clad figure carrying a sword, is startled to see Apollo. The two face each other in a tense confrontation. Death asks Apollo if he’s once... (full context)

Apollo explains that he hangs around Admetos’s house because they are friends: “The troubles of those... (full context)

Apollo argues that if Alcestis dies old, her funeral will be rich. Death retorts that Apollo... (full context)

Apollo replies that Death’s savagery won’t be enough—a man is coming, “man enough / to break... (full context)

...them suffer too. / We love, and love hurts.” The chorus remarks that, had Asklepios, “Apollo’s healing son,” survived, he might have intervened: “he medicine to life and saved / death-tamed... (full context)

The chorus sings that “hospitality is here,” recalling the welcome and generosity shown to Apollo during his stay. Now, with his wife so recently dead, Admetos again welcomes a guest:... (full context)