How Does Aristophanes Present Women In Lysistrata

Title because I can’t think of aNYTHING In the plays Lysistrata and Medea, women influence events because they have been pushed too far and feel that they have no choice but to act. Many women throughout history have seen the need for change and decided to be that change. Examples of this need are women’s marches for reproductive rights, the struggle for women to gain the right to vote, and fighting for other human rights. In the ancient Greek Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Euripides’ Medea, women are driven by the poor choices of men to act in dramatic ways, Medea murdering and Lysistrata using sexuality. These playwrights portray women as powerful. Aristophanes uses the idea that while some men consider women the inferior sex, women are

Female characters in Lysistrata are treated significantly better than the few present in Medea. Jason treats Medea as though her emotions aren’t valid, and she is treated by others as if she is overreacting to his decision to marry the princess. Euripides writes Medea as a woman scorned; she is justifiably angry with her husband when he abandons her and their children. As she continues her descent into madness she loses the audience’s sympathy. Her nurse begins the story by lamenting on how heartbroken Medea is. “[Medea] was in everything Jason’s perfect foil, being in marriage that saving a thing: a wife does not go against her man” (Euripides 1). This passage essentially portrays Medea as a good wife because she is obedient. The women in Lysistrata are eventually taken seriously and treated as a threat, especially the chorus of older women. Jason is portrayed as a reasonable character when Medea berates him, saying that he is marrying the princess to help gain riches for his family. He also offers to send her provisions, but she refuses in anger. This is a patriarchal element to the story because it contrasts Medea and Jason, which makes him seem like a victim of her undeserved