Untitled Essay, Research Paper
By: April Gibbs
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
I think the story of Lysistrata is both interesting and surprising. I did
not expect a story that was written in 411 BC to have much of anything I
could relate to our world today. Aristophanes deals with very real, every
day issues in this story. Although he is actually poking fun at them by making
the situations as absurd as possible, there are still many very real topics
discussed in this work. I think the most prevalent theme is that of gender
roles and how they are viewed. It is obvious that Athenian men think that
the women are inferior and the women seem to have accepted this as their
position in society. Even Aristophanes himself must have thought this to
write such lines as “What could women do that’s clever or distinguished?
We just sit around all dolled up in silk robes, looking pretty in our sheer
gowns and evening slippers.” (468). It seems unlike women of this time to
say such things as Calonice did, but to get across the point of women’s tolerance
of such behaviors it proves very effective.
I was also surprised by the candor of the character’s dialogs. As much as
the women are portrayed inferior and not to have voice on such issues as
war and politics, it seems unlikely they would be prepared to speak so easily
to the men they are subservient to. Aristophanes makes it clear, that even
though the women to not have a voice on these subjects, they are continually
thinking. They listen to their fathers, brothers, and husbands talk and learn
from them. They are able to form their own opinions about the subjects, but
at the same time they never share their thoughts. Lysistrata says, “Formerly
we endured the war for a good long time with our usual restrain, no matter
what you men did. You wouldn’t let us say ‘boo,’ although nothing you did
suited us.” (480). All this time, the women remained silent, afraid to say
anything about their affairs to their own husbands in the privacy of their
own homes. Yet, now they are able to speak freely that of which they have
thought about for so long. Why did these women not speak up before? Aristophanes
portrays the women as strong and pretty independent. If this is true, were
they waiting for someone like Lysistrata to bind them together so they could
speak up? Maybe. It says that even police officers were afraid of them, just
due to their harsh words. It seems to me that if the women were strong enough
to take Acropolis, withhold sex from their husbands, and forcefully voice
their opinions about the war, they would have been doing it, at least to
their husbands, a long time ago.
At the same time, I understand that Aristophanes did not intend this story
to be very realistic. After all, the very basis that women could withhold
sex from the men in order to end a war, and have it work, is absurd in itself.
Aristophanes intended this work to show the uselessness of Greeks fighting
among themselves. It is evident that he was against the war, and this was
his way of showing that opposition and looking for a way to end it, no matter
how ridiculous. On the surface, it would seem that Aristophanes is a great
supporter of women and that he thinks very highly of them by implying that
they could accomplish a feat such as ending a war during that time. But in
reality, I think Aristophanes was just writing the women that way to get
a point across to the men of that day. To think women of all people, especially
at that time in the world, could end a war just implies to those involved
in the war that it is silly and a waste of time.
Some other things I found interesting about this story were the extent to
which the women had to be devious and teasing toward their men, and the ease
at which the men crumbled without their women. The women were almost ruthless
in their teasing and trickery. The oath that they take at the beginning,
“I will remain at home unmated, wearing my sheerest gown and carefully adorned,
that my husband may burn with desire for me.” (472), shows the extent to
which they intend to go to carry out their plan. The scene where Cinesias
comes to visit his wife Myrrhine and she taunts him mercilessly with her
constant running back to get things is quite humorous.
Lysistrata is portrayed as a very strong willed, brave, and aggressive women
in the story. Her convictions against war are resolute and there is no ulterior
motive for thisplan she initiates. For some women, it seems possible that
they are doing this more for the revenge on their husbands for being gone
all the time, than any real objection about the war itself. Lysistrata begins
her proposal to the women by saying, “Tell me: don’t you yearn for the fathers
of your children, who are away at the wars?” (470). Several of them answer
that they do miss their husbands and even when they do come home it is only
for a short time and then they are gone again. Lysistrata is a very smart
women. She knows this is the only reason most of the women would even want
to end the war, to bring their husbands home. But there is never a mention
of Lysistrata’s husband or lover in this story. Her reasons evidently lie
distinctly with stopping this war and she has figured out how to lure others
into helping her. All through the story she has to remind the women of their
pact and the end they are working toward because the others are weak and
would give up. Those women are just as miserable in Acropolis without their
husbands as the husbands are without them. But Lysistrata urges them on.
She uses these women to fight her own battles, and in a very clever way,
without them even knowing it. Aristophanes had to have at least some respect
for women to write a character like Lysistrata, a woman, as smart, as
charismatic, and as complex as she is. Most writers of his day probably
would not have even thought a woman was capable of such a feat as organizing
people, lining them up for the fight, motivating them, and all without the
knowledge of her true intentions. The other women thought she just wanted
the men home, just as they did.
I found this story to be the most interesting and captivating out of any
we read during this semester. I actually enjoyed picking apart the different
levels of the work and trying to figure out Aristophanes motivations behind
them. That usually doesn’t happen with most things I am assigned to read.
I think it came from my expectations of what the story would be like, based
on the Greek background and the time it was written. It was nothing like
what I had thought, and that was certainly a surprise. Lysistrata is
a play showing the strength and impact women can make, the dedication of
one women, her cleverness in order to accomplish a goal, and the senselessness
of war, all rolled up in one entertaining 32 page story. Seems an impossible
feat to include all that plus humor in such a short work, but Aristophanes
does a creative and beautiful job of just that.