King Admetos Character Analysis in Alcestis

Admetos is the King of Thessaly, a small kingdom in northern Greece. He is married to Alcestis. Before the play begins, Admetos is doomed by the Fates to an early death, but his friend and guest, Apollo, tricks the Fates into sparing him. However, someone must die in his place, and Alcestis volunteers. Admetos is plunged into despair at her death and vows never to remarry or even to enjoy his life ever again. Admetos is portrayed as being genuinely hospitable, generous, and a good friend; at the same time, he is also used to getting his way and has never suffered much before, so he can display an entitled, selfish attitude. He misleads his friend Herakles regarding Alcestis’s death, but Herakles loyally fights Death and brings Alcestis back from the dead to repay his friend’s hospitality. In the process, with the help of the chorus and chorus leader, Admetos realizes that he cannot spend his life dodging death, that love brings suffering, and that he can only know happiness once he accepts mortality. It’s only after he has learned these lessons that he and Alcestis are reunited, prompting Admetos to declare a feast and reform his life.

King Admetos Quotes in Alcestis

The Alcestis quotes below are all either spoken by King Admetos or refer to King Admetos . 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:

MAID Sir, the queen is dying. . . .
LEADER Oh, Alcestis, Alcestis!
What a loss. Poor Admetos, how I pity him. . . .
MAID The master does not know the meaning of his loss.
He will not know, until it is too late.
LEADER Nothing can be done to save her?
MAID Nothing. This is the day. Her destiny is too strong,
a force she cannot fight.

Related Characters: Chorus Leader (speaker), Maid (speaker), King Admetos , Alcestis

Page Number and Citation: 41

Explanation and Analysis:

ALCESTIS: Admetos, I am dying.
This is my last request of you, so listen well.
Of my own free will I gave my life
to let you live. I am dying for you, Admetos,
but I did not have to die.
I could have chosen otherwise.
As your widow
I might have married any man in Thessaly
and lived with him here and ruled this royal house.
But without you, with these children fatherless,
I could not live. I am young, Admetos,
but I have given you my youth—the good years,
the happy years. All the others failed you.

Related Characters: Alcestis (speaker), King Admetos

Page Number and Citation: 48

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:

PHERES: I am not obliged to die for you as well.
Or do you think my father died for me?
There is no law, no precedent, in Greece
that children have a claim upon their fathers’ lives.
A man is born to happiness, or otherwise.
He is born for himself.
Everything you had the right to get from me, you got.
I made you ruler of a rich and populous country.
And I intend to leave you all the vast domain my father left to me.
So how have I hurt you? What more do I owe you?
Life?
No. You live yours, and I’ll live mine.
Do your own dying. I’ll do mine.

Related Characters: Pheres (speaker), King Admetos

Page Number and Citation: 68

Explanation and Analysis:

HERAKLES: Lissen:
you hear that wine purling and gurgling in the cup?
Well, a swallow of this will do wonders, friend,
for whatever’s ailing you.
I mean, we all gotta die. Right?
Well, that’s why we all gotta think human thoughts,
and live while we can.
Eat, drink, and be merry.
Take it from me,
the way those gloomy, bellyachin’ tragedians gripe,
life isn’t life at all, it’s just a goddam
funeral.

Related Characters: Herakles (speaker), King Admetos , Servant

Page Number and Citation: 74

Explanation and Analysis:

CHORUS: —It had to be. We cannot choose our fates.
—A man can fight. But not with life,
not with death.
—Accept it like a man.
—Hard, hard, I know.
—Be brave, Admetos.
—Courage. Others too have lost their wives.
—Some soon, some late, every man is curbed
by suffering or fate.
—Now it is your turn.

[…]

LEADER: Your luck had been good, Admetos. High happiness and great wealth—both were yours. So when this sorrow struck so suddenly, it found you unprepared. Suffering was something you had never known.

Related Characters: Chorus Leader (speaker), Chorus (speaker), King Admetos

Page Number and Citation: 81

Explanation and Analysis:

ADMETOS: To all my subjects and fellow citizens,
I here and now proclaim a feast of thanks and praise
to celebrate the happiness of this great event.
Let the high altars blaze and smoke with sacrifice.
From this day forth we must remake our lives,
and make them better than they were before.

Happiness is mine, and now I know it.

Related Characters: King Admetos (speaker), Alcestis

Page Number and Citation: 94

Explanation and Analysis:

King Admetos Character Timeline in Alcestis

The timeline below shows where the character King Admetos 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... (full context)

Apollo addresses the audience, explaining that his “slavery” was Zeus’s fault, not Admetos’s. Zeus killed Apollo’s son, Asklepios, with “fatal lightning.” Apollo retaliated by killing the Cyclopes who... (full context)

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

...“to violate the dues and honors / of the gods below,” observing that, in saving Admetos, he’s already cheated the Fates once. Now, it appears that, “unsatisfied and unappeased,” he intends... (full context)

Apollo explains that he hangs around Admetos’s house because they are friends: “The troubles of those I love constrain me too.” He... (full context)

...exits. Death mocks Apollo’s “bluster” and tells the audience that Alcestis must die. He enters Admetos’s palace, the doors closing slowly behind him. There is a long silence. (full context)

...asks if Alcestis still lives. The maid replies that the queen is dying, and that Admetos “does not know the meaning of his loss. / He will not know, until it... (full context)

...her bed, remembering that here she “offered my maiden body and my love / to Admetos. Now I offer him my life.” Then, her children and servants gathered around her as... (full context)

The maid concludes, “What has [Admetos] gained but life? / If he had died, he would have lost Alcestis. / Now,... (full context)

The maid further reports that Admetos is weeping and imploring Alcestis not to leave him. Alcestis, rapidly fading, calls for a... (full context)

The chorus kneels to beseech the gods on Alcestis’s behalf. They also wonder how Admetos can live without her, the leader adding: “Not for love, / but something more than... (full context)

...frowning over her. As Death closes in, Alcestis clutches her children and bids them goodbye. Admetos begs her to fight and remain, telling her, “your dying is my death.” (full context)

Alcestis summons the strength to make her final request. She tells Admetos, “I did not have to die [for you]. I could have chosen otherwise.” She points... (full context)

Admetos solemnly vows that “no other woman will ever live with me again.” He further vows... (full context)

The chorus leader tells Admetos that he will “stand beside you now, as friends should stand / and we will... (full context)

Admetos asks the chorus to support him by singing in honor of Alcestis: “cry defiance to... (full context)

...laments being too old to strive with Death and bring Alcestis back. They also charge Admetos’s elderly parents with cowardice for refusing to die. Instead, Alcestis has died “in the fresh... (full context)

Admetos enters, dressed in mourning, and welcomes Herakles. When Herakles asks about his appearance, Admetos explains... (full context)

At this, Herakles turns to leave, but Admetos takes his arm and forcibly detains him. Herakles resists, saying that one can’t mourn and... (full context)

After Herakles is escorted into the palace, the chorus leader asks if Admetos is crazy. Admetos says he can’t turn away a friend. He has “pain enough,” he... (full context)

...and generosity shown to Apollo during his stay. Now, with his wife so recently dead, Admetos again welcomes a guest: “his courtesy and grace exceed all human scale.” The chorus adds... (full context)

Admetos enters, and Alcestis’s body is borne from the palace, ready for the funeral. Then, Pheres... (full context)

...She also spared Pheres from being deprived of his son during his last years. But Admetos angrily steps forward and intercepts the gifts. He tells his father that he has come... (full context)

Admetos continues to belittle his father’s cowardice, telling him “you let a woman / […] do... (full context)

Pheres demands to know who Admetos thinks he is. Pheres is a prince of Thessaly and refuses to be bullied by... (full context)

...“is the worst damned / guest this house and I have ever seen.” Even though Admetos is obviously in mourning, “this dull clod” orders the servants around, drinks like a peasant,... (full context)

...Herakles’s behavior is out of place in a house of mourning. Suddenly Herakles sobers, realizing Admetos hasn’t told him the whole truth. The servant finally tells him that Alcestis is dead,... (full context)

The chorus and Admetos re-enter. Admetos is in deep grief. He says that his home is no longer among... (full context)

The chorus further points out that Admetos has always had good luck. He’s never known suffering, so sorrow “found [him] unprepared.” Admetos... (full context)

...your craft and intellect are weak / […] Suffer and submit.” Then the chorus addresses Admetos directly, exhorting him to bear his loss bravely, “for she was / brave. […] /... (full context)

Now Herakles enters, followed by a veiled girl. He tells Admetos that he had thought, as Admetos’s friend, he had the right “to stand beside you... (full context)

Herakles gestures to the girl. He asks Admetos to keep the girl, whom he won as a prize in an athletic contest, in... (full context)

...what good it will do to refrain from marriage for the rest of his life. Admetos acknowledges that he will be judged as foolish, but that he owes Alcestis his honor.... (full context)

At this, Herakles seizes Admetos’s arm and won’t let go, though his friend protests that he’s being forced against his... (full context)

Admetos doubts the miracle, thinking at first that Alcestis must be a ghost. Herakles retorts, “I... (full context)

As Herakles exits, Admetos turns to his subjects, proclaiming a thanksgiving feast: “From this day forth we must remake... (full context)