Alcestis

Euripides: Alcestis by A. M. Dale (1954)

An accurate translation with an influential introduction discussing the characterization of the play’s dramatis personae.

“The Ironic Structure in Alcestis” by W. D. Smith (1960)

This article (in Phoenix 14) argues that the play is ironic, and questions whether the ending is a happy one.

“The Virtues of Admetus” by Anne Pippin Burnett (1965)

The article (in Classical Philology 10) argues for a highly favorable interpretation of Admetus’s character—a view challenged by many other scholars.

Euripides and Alcestis: Speculations, Simulations, and Stories of Love in the Athenian Culture by Kiki Gounaridou (1998)

This text discusses the play in its cultural and literary context while also reviewing many earlier scholarly treatments of the play. Suitable for more advanced readers.

Intimate Commerce: Exchange, Gender, and Subjectivity in Greek Tragedy by Victoria Wohl (1998)

This scholarly monograph (UP Texas) applies feminist and psychoanalytic theory to ancient Greek tragedy and includes an influential discussion of Euripides’s Alcestis.