Light Symbol Analysis

In Alcestis, light symbolizes life. Both before and after Alcestis dies, light is associated both with the longing for life and the despair of life. When the chorus leader characterizes Alcestis as one whose “bravery and love deserve the light,” he means that she does not deserve the death she’s willingly chosen. As she is dying, Alcestis longs for a last view of the world’s light, in contrast to the dark underworld toward which she’s headed. In contrast, after Alcestis’s funeral, distraught Admetos grieves that he “[hates] the light,” meaning he hates his life without Alcestis, and the chorus urges him to hide from the light, as part of accepting the truth of his wife’s death. But after she dies, the chorus also associates the light of life with Alcestis herself, anticipating and symbolizing her eventual return from the realm of the dead. For example, in its farewell song for Alcestis, the chorus implores Death to see “blazing in that crowd of ordinary / dead, the noblest life the sunlight ever shone upon! / [Alcestis shines] in memory.” The chorus further predicts that each year, in Alcestis’s memory, “your song shall rise / a shining on the lips of men / […] Death shall not eclipse the glory of your shining.” This prediction proves even truer than the chorus knows, as Herakles wrestles Death to “bring Alcestis back to the light,” so the darkness of death cannot eclipse her in the end. Finally, Apollo is the god of light, so his presence as a character alongside Death underscores the ongoing struggle between clinging to life and accepting death that plagues Admetos throughout the play.