Feminism In Lysistrata

The play was considered comic by the ancient Athenians because of its rhyming lyricism, its song and dance, its bawdy puns, but most of all because the notion and methods of female empowerment conceived in the play were perfectly ridiculous. Yet, as is the case in a number of Aristophanes’ plays, he has presented an intricate vision of genuine human crisis. In true, comic form Aristophanes superficially resolves the play’s conflicts celebrating the absurdity of dramatic communication. It is these loose threads that are most rife with tragedy for modern reader. By exploring an ancient perspective on female domesticity, male political and military power, rape, and efforts to maintain the integrity of the female body, we can liberate our modern dialogue.
“Lysistrata,” written following the trouncing of Athenian forces in Sicily in 413 BC, harkens back to this time of war. As is traditional in Athenian theater, males in drag played all of the female parts. This ritual increases the play’s absurdity. The play begins with the streets empty as the men are at war. The women speak to each other of both emotional and sexual starvation. They both

Feminists from various eras have shown moments of resignation, wondering whether they have become masculine in their struggle against male oppression. This struggle does not have an easy answer. One feminist retaliation to Lysistrata’s approach is that the marriage of beauty and submissiveness is a totalitarian quality invented by males to make women feel dependent or incomplete without male affection. At the same time, Lysistrata makes clear that militancy is a decisively male quality, as throughout history men have been the ones to initiate battles. During the Gulf War, it was common to find bumper stickers that said: “If Women Rule the World, There Would Be No