David Clark Lysistrata Analysis

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Recently in class we have been reviewing the play Lysistrata a modern translation by David Clark. This story takes place in 411 B.C. and Athens is in the middle of a war with Sparta. Although the war has been going on for years, Athens is recovering from the Defeat they had just two years prior. The men have no issue with the war continuing but let’s see who will go to extreme measures to get a peace treaty signed and confirmed to end the war.
Lysistrata is a middle class housewife from Athens. The play begins on the day of a meeting organized by Lysistrata. In attendance at the meeting are women from Athens and other cities, including Sparta. At the meeting, Lysistrata announces her plan; she announces that the women should all refuse to have sex with their husbands until their husbands end the war. To make sure the sex-strike is effective, they will doll themselves up with makeup and put on their most inappropriate clothes, to drive there husbands wild with lust. Lysistrata also explains that she's sent a group of women to occupy the Acropolis (the government center) of …show more content…

In this part of the play all of the men have full erections and absolutely can’t handle the refusal anymore. Lysistrata comes out of the Akropolis with her naked handmaid, Peace. While the men are fully distracted by her handmade Peace, Lysistrata lectures them on the need for peace between the two city-states. Lysistrata states that because both Athens and Sparta are of a common heritage and because they have previously helped one another and owe a debt to one another, the two sides should not be fighting. The Spartan and Athenian leaders decide land rights that will end the war. After both sides agree, Lysistrata gives the women back to the men and a great celebration ensues. The woman went back to their normal sexual lives and the husbands are pleased with the

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