Silence as Defeat and Reversal in Euripides’ Alcestis

Alcestis' silence following her rescue from the Underworld by Heracles in Euripides' Alcestis is a perennial source of speculation. This article argues that Alcestis' silence is symptomatic and symbolic of Heracles' reversal of the dual potential of her death, namely Alcestis' ability to orchestrate her presence in Admetus' house on her own terms, a situation made possible by her extraordinary self-sacrifice, and the wider benefit of ontological certainty, whereby Alcestis' death can render life and death discrete categories once more.