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Role of women in ancient greek and roman societies
Feminism in Lysistrata
Women's role in ancient societies
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Recommended: Role of women in ancient greek and roman societies
Battle of the sexes in Lysistrata and in modern society between women and men
Diamond Bond
Professor Watkins
World Literature
English 240
Lysistrata has arranged a gathering between the greater numbers of the women of Greece to talk about the plan to end the Peloponnesian War. As Lysistrata sits tight for the women of
Thebes, Sparta, and different regions to reach her she reviles the shortcoming of women.
Lysistrata arrangements to ask the women to decline sex with their spouses until a bargain for peace has agreed. Lysistrata proceeds to mention in the play “I'm on fire to the bone. I'm positively ashamed to be a woman- a member of a sex which can't even live up to male slanders!
To hear our husbands talk, we're sly, deceitful, always plotting, monsters of intrigue..." she says, leading up to her climatic decision to withhold sex. Almost all of her dialogue is a pro-feminist diatribe about the need for more female involvement in society Lysistrata has likewise made arrangements with the more seasoned women of Athens also known as the Chorus of Old
Women to grasp the Akropolis later on that day. Those women from the different districts at last gather and Lysistrata persuades them to make a solemn vow that they will withhold sex from their spouses until both sides sign an arrangement of peace. As the women relinquish a jug of wine to the Gods in a festival of their vow, they hear the resonances of the more established women taking the Akropolis, the fortification that houses the treasury of Athens.
Lysistrata is recognized by most researchers to be Aristophanes' best work, as the predominant and fitting now as it was the point at which it was composed. Aristophanes’ intent was to show women doing things that w...
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...lly turn into enchanting and cunning people as their husbands had imagined them to be. There is a chance that Lysistrata was sincerely intended to be feminist, then why did she stretch a significant purpose behind halting the war is the way that such a variety of ladies is left without men to wed? It might bode well since both the women and the men are demonstrated in an unflattering light that Aristophanes implied in his play to show the craziness of war. The feminist qualities we distinguish today were perhaps just comedic
Battle of the sexes in Lysistrata and in modern society between women and men
Sources:
-"Lysistrata: Feminist or War Comic?" Yahoo Contributor Network. N.p., Nov.-Dec.
2008. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
-Shaw, Jack. "LYSISTRATA: Entertaining Battle of the Sexes." Stage Magazine. N.p.,
16 Oct. 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. instruments and incidents.
In her essay on, “Athenian Women,” Sarah Ruden points out that Aristophanes in Lysistrata portray women as supportive of Athenian institutions and eager to save them. But she cautions, “To do this now they must flout law, religion, and every notion of public decency – and this is definitely no reflection on women’s attitudes, but mere satirical farce and fantasy” (Ruden 107). An important element of “satirical farce” in this spirit would be a heavy use of repetition to make people laugh at the weakness being satirized. One example would not be enough, and the audience might not be amused by less than three or four examples. So in important episodes that fill out the action of the play, we have 4 examples of women beating guards,
...relabeling them as “pigs”! I’m not saying women should not criticise each other but the binary that she constructs to restore unity is in itself divisive, if she considers sex positive feminists as ‘selling out’.
Lysistrata is portrayed as a typical commander of war that gives orders and does not take part in the war. While being the mastermind behind the sex strike, she is able to separate her self from the other women in her ability to resist her attraction for men. The women are used as pawns by this cunning and powerful, Lysistrata, who is victorious in establishing peace in Greece.
The debate between Unjust and Just Speech in Aristophanes’ Clouds draws the reader’s attention to the theme of natural pleasure versus lawful justice. The debate begins with the two Speeches representing
Aristophanes, although he wrote in 420 BC, parallels much of Greek society with that of today's. He disrupts the audiences' comfort thro...
Hellenistic views of marriage are very different from modern views in many ways, and because of these differences, it can be easy to dismiss archaic and Athenian marriages as loveless or purely functional. However, it should be noted that there are definite examples of these marriages being mutually supportive and loving. One can see these characteristics especially well in two works, Oeconomicus by Xenophon, and Alcestis by Euripides. Although different, these two stories demonstrate both the mutual support and love that can be found in Hellenistic marriages.
Despite the contrast in the characters of Euripedes' Medea and Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the two playwrights depicted how gender inequality can start a fire. As with Medea and Jason, the battle between the two lead to former's madness, leading to the death of the enemies she considered, and, unfortunately, leading as well to the death of her own children. Medea felt betrayed and left behind by her husband Jason, as well as continuously aggravated by Creon despite the fact that i...
During that whole time men were only written about riding and taming these creatures, not women. Ancient Greece was a civilization where men did all the rough tasks while women stayed home caring for kids and cleaning. In a world characterized by male dominance, one woman stood out. Kyniska of Sparta was the most important visionary for women’s’ rights because of her understanding of class structure through participating in the Olympic Games. She became the first woman ever to win the four-horse chariot race with her own bred and tamed horses.
of the book. USA: Simon and Schuster, Inc. 2000. The.. Print. The.. Blundell, Sue. Women in Ancient Greece.
Aristophanes stereotypes women as bickering, self-centered, unintelligent people in the beginning. They are sex driven and selfish. Lysistrata is upset that the women are late for the very important meeting "Here I've called a meeting to discuss a very important matter, and they're all still fast asleep" (180). Calonice sums up what women are thought to do all day, and also what they represent to their households; "The women! What could they ever do that was any use? Sitting at home putting flowers in their hair, putting on cosmetics and saffron gowns and Cimberian see-through shifts, with slippers on our feet?" (181). It is in fact these very frivolous ideas that are used to bring peace to the two cities. Throughout the play Aristophanes begins to knock down ...
In Greek classics, it is common knowledge that in that era women and men were considered unequal. Men were superior, and in most cases women were not even fit for citizenship. It is in this atmosphere and time period that Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata. The play itself is supposed to be a comedy, although the actions of the women do not seem amusing. Instead, the women’s actions, especially the main character Lysistrata, seem incredibly brave. Lysistrata rounds up her “troop” of all the women in Athens and a Spartan woman. They take charge of the acropolis and refuse to settle for anything less than a peace treaty to end the war. The only problem with this is, in ending the war, they will be bringing back the men from their duty and end up in the same social caste system as they were from the beginning. Aristophanes seems to make the point that – the only power women hold is their sexuality (Rex Par. 7). The Athenian women can withdraw from their husbands for however long they like, they still end up givi...
Imagine Cleomedes, son of Lycomedes, general of the famed forces of the lustrous Athenian Empire, waiting for a trio of representatives to return from The Melian Dialogue. “Well?” he demands impatiently as they arrive, “What did they say?”
With Lampito returning to Sparta to secure the agreement of the Spartan women, Lysistrata and the other women remain with her to make plans to join the w...
In the first part of the play Egeus has asked the Duke of Athens, Theseus, to rule in favor of his parental rights to have his daughter Hermia marry the suitor he has chosen, Demetrius, or for her to be punished. Lysander, who is desperately in love with Hermia, pleads with Egeus and Theseus for the maiden’s hand, but Theseus’, who obviously believes that women do not have a choice in the matter of their own marriage, sides with Egeus, and tells Hermia she must either consent to marrying Demetrius, be killed, or enter a nunnery. In order to escape from the tragic dilemma facing Hermia, Lysander devises a plan for him and his love to meet the next evening and run-off to Lysander’s aunt’s home and be wed, and Hermia agrees to the plan. It is at this point in the story that the plot becomes intriguing, as the reader becomes somewhat emotionally “attached’’ to the young lovers and sympathetic of their plight. However, when the couple enters the forest, en route to Lysander’s aunt’s, it is other mischievous characters that take the story into a whole new realm of humorous entertainment...
First, Lysistrata is clearly identifiable as a leader for Athenian women. In the beginning of the play, Lysistrata secretly organizes a meeting between all the women of Greece to discuss a strategy to end the Peloponnesian War "if the women will meet here - the Spartans, the Boeotians, and we Athenians - then all together we will save Greece" (Page 468, 40-42). During the meeting, which Lysistrata leads, Lysistrata suggests to the women of Greece to withhold sex from their husbands. The women are hesitant and some refuse "I won't do it! Let the war go on" states Myrrhine, an Athenian woman (Page 470, 132). However, with Lysistrata' encouragement, the women swear an oath to withhold sex from their husbands until a treaty of peace is signed. Also, throughout the play, Lysistrata continuously directs, instructs and coaches the women of Athens on how to behave. Furthermore, the men call upon Lysistrata to make the treaty between Sparta and Athens "Only Lysistrata can arrange things for us; shall we summon her?" (Page 494, 1...