Lysistrata :: essays research papers

Lysistrata&8220There is no beast as shameless as a womanAristophanes was a imposture comedy poet in the fourth century B.C. during the time of the Peloponnesian War. Aristophanes&8217 usual style was to be satirical, and suggesting the eccentric. The most absurd and humorous of Aristophanes&8217 comedies are those in which the master(prenominal) characters, the heroes of the story, are women. Smart women. One of the most famous of Aristophanes&8217 comedies portraying powerfully capable women is Lysistrata, named after the female lead character of the play. It depicts Athenian Lysistrata and the women of Athens teaming up with the women of Sparta to force their husbands to conclude the Peloponnesian War. The play is a comedy, which appears to be write for the amusement of men. The play can be seen as a historical address to ancient Greece, but it seems highly unlikely that women would talk with such a crude sexual tone. Instead Lysistrata is strictly a satirical play written may be even to make men doubt the innocence of a woman.If women were such beasts as Euripides stated then would women have managed to seize the Acropolis, and prevented the men from squander them further on the fight. Euripides might have referred to the vulgarity of the women&8217s thoughts and language&8220It&8217s a sair thing, the dear knows, for a womantae sleep alone wi&8217oot a prick &8211 but we maun doit, for the sake of peaceThe language of the women is, as mentioned earlier, strictly for the humor. For Euripides to make such a quote seems rather incorrect. It is to a certain consummation the men who are the shameless beasts who beat their wives and fight senseless wars. Lysistrata, on the contrary shows women acting bravely and even aggressively against men who seem unyielding on ruining the city- state by prolonging a pointless and excessively expending reserves stored in the Acropolis. The men being away at war would come home when they could, sexually relieve them sel ves and then leave again to precede a meaningless war. The women challenge the masculine role model to save up traditional way of life in the community. When the women become challenged themselves they take on the masculine characteristics and defeat the men physically, mentally but primarily strategically. Proving that neither spot benefits from it, just that one side loses more than the other. It gives the impression that the women are heroes and the men are ignorant, which contradicts what Euripides said but is chiefly written to entertain.