Mythology retellings have been gaining popularity in recent years, and Alcestis by Katharine Beutner is another addition to the growing list of feminist adaptations of ancient stories. 

Beutner’s novel follows the life of Alcestis, Greek mythology’s “perfect wife.” Alcestis is known as the woman who loved her husband so much that she was willing to die in his place. She’s taken down to the Underworld, where she spends her time with Persephone and Hades until Heracles comes to collect her as a favor to his friend. 

Although this story differs slightly from the initial myth, the basic plot stays the same. The story is told from a perspective that isn’t present in the myth, and the allowance of Alcestis’s inner monologue allows events from the myth to take on a new meaning in the retelling. 

Also unlike the original myth, Alcestis focuses on the thoughts, emotions, and desires of Alcestis. The original myth is a story of Heracles and his triumph while the novel  follows Alcestis and what she experiences. The novel gives a personality and a voice to a woman who, in myth, exists only as someone needed to be rescued.

The social conventions and gender dynamics of Ancient Greece are persistent throughout the novel, present in every interaction that Alcestis has. Alcestis’ actions when she’s not in the Underworld are driven by these conventions because if she doesn’t follow them, she could be ostracized or even killed. While in the Underworld, however, these norms don’t exist. Relationships that would be dangerous in the world above, such as sapphic relationships, are as accepted as they can be in the Underworld, considering almost everyone there is a shade, the spirit of a dead person. 

Alcestis’s gender is a factor in every part of her life because she is a woman in a society that doesn’t treat women as human. She is treated as an object to be passed between men, and none of the men ever take her opinion or thoughts into consideration when they are making her choices. 

Gods also have a large role in this book, because it is set in a time and place where they are real. This isn’t just a story where gods are acknowledged or that only contains gods, but it’s a story where interactions between mortals and gods are critical to the plot. This leads to an interesting balance between the everyday world and the world of gods because it is told through the eyes of a woman who lives in the time of these gods and knows that they are real. 

While the gods aren’t depicted as flawless, they are ethereal. Every god that appears is radiant with power, even at their most human. The relationships between gods and mortals play a large role, with both religious worship and personal relationships being a large part of the book. 

The gods don’t follow the rules or conventions that mortals do, which highlights their differences. They can’t be held to the same standards as mortals because they have different natures and codes. This also applies to relationships between gods and relationships between gods and mortals because it is difficult to judge these figures by human standards when they don’t follow them. Some actions from gods are depicted as explicitly bad, but most are told in different ways by people who aren’t always reliable, leaving it up to the reader to judge the characters and what they’ve done.

The descriptive, evocative language in this book is one of the most fascinating parts. The tone is heavily affected by the descriptions of the settings and the other characters, which becomes especially clear once Alcestis enters the Underworld. Alcestis’s feelings are reflected through the language choices and the tone of each scene, and they come across clearly while still feeling realistic. Her emotions and inner monologue are what make this story so compelling, because they turn a blank slate into an interesting, complicated woman. Alcestis is given a personality beyond “woman who sacrificed herself for her husband,” and she becomes someone who knows what she wants, even if she can’t have it. 

The pressures of gender and society are omnipresent throughout the story, along with the idea that no one, god or mortal, can truly be simplified to all bad or all good. In a time where women were almost exclusively treated as property, Beutner’s retelling allows Alcestis to be treated as a human being.