Lysistrata 8E

Everyone has been talking about the brains versus brawn debate so I figured I would give my two cents. The only person that actually has any brains in this would be Lysistrata, although perhaps her lack of contact with her husband has strengthened her more intellectual side. The rest of the Greeks are not able to actually resist temptation throughout the entirety of the novel, at least not against there own will. The men had to deal with their uncontrollable erections on their own because the women were being housed in the Akropolis, but I was still fairly disappointed that one of the women even went so far as to actually stick the helmet of the goddess Athena under her dress in the pretense of being with child just to sneak off and have sex with her husband. Also, the reasoning of the other women in that the chickens were going to get loose out of their area and the looming being unwoven just strengthened the idea that it was all women cared about. Putting this under a feminist lens, th;e women did not necessarily come out as the more brainy of the two sexes in this play.

Lysistrata 7

A resounding theme in Lysistrata is the power of united nations. This is a timeless truth and can be applied to today's conflicts as well. In the book the Athenians and Spartans are actually in conflict over an undisclosed issue, and it is only when the two come to a truce that they are able to resolve the conflict. Lysistrata realizes that she must get women from other regions of the country in order to achieve her ends, and that meant her Spartan enemies. It's funny though, because it seems as though there have never been harsh sentiment about the Spartan women from the Athenians, and vice versa. It is the brawny men that find things to war over. A a matter of fact, the women gush over each other's appearances with a genuine sense of respect and awe towards each other, which I can respect. Can this play actually be a commentary on the attitudes of men versus women? Of course, but the power of the united nations is undeniable as yet another important theme. It was only when Lysistrata was able to ensure the cooperation of the other 'nation-states' in which the effort was a true success. If only we would be this way with our enemies today. It is necessary that we respect each other, as we might not like their ideals or attitudes, but in order to resolve conflicts it's necessary to cooperate as a united front.

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I would like to comment on the scene between the elder gentleman and lady. I use those terms loosely, however, in that the man and woman act unbefitting of a distinguished nature.Not to say in the least that it wasn't hilarious. I find it intriguing that it was the older women and men that were willing to actually resort to personal blows of violence over the conflict between the fighters and the pacifiers. I believe it's absolutely genius that Aristophanes actually manages to incorporate sexual elements into this fight as well, in that the man and woman exchange verbal blows over the appearance of each other's genitalia, even characterizing the woman's vagina(yes, I said vagina) as a 'mantrap.' I choose to focus on this part in particular in that it has been determined the men and women of the book are indeed sexual beings, and the restriction of access to the woman for the man is like cutting off access to the mantrap. By the old man saying this, in fact, he gives away the point that the mean are at the will of the woman's sexual nature, not their own, strengthening the effect the women's plan could potentially have upon the men.

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Enough of this book already. I get it, the women are abstaining from sex. I'm just afraid it doesn't have enough conflict. For a revolution, and I consider this a revolution in the sense that it strives to change a mindframe of a society, there has been one group of people that has initiated the feud and one that has refuted the argument. I disagree, however, that there has been a significant amount of argument on the part of the women that are trying to change the mindset. I really don't think any of the women besides Lysistrata understands the symbolic meaning of abstinence in that it means changing a familiar pattern in society. It is not relayed to the men the meaning of the act for women versus the physical pleasure of the act for themselves. In the end, the revolution is indeed incomplete and I believe only one of the more minor goals of the women's pact was achieved, the end of the Athenian-Spartan conflict.

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I don't get the whole chorus thing that is featured in the book. Actually, I'm pretty sure the book could do without talk of weaving as a song. I realize that in theater there are choruses that often push the storyline along, but in the case of Lysistrata, they are merely background knowledge that does not help further the storyline at all. I understand they may serve for entertainment purposes, but I honestly just skim through the parts instead of analyzing them like the dialogue between the women in the Akropolis and the men. The chorus scenes are pretty funny, I must say, but the first scene is quite dull and I wanted to shift through it as quickly as possible until we actually discussed it in class. When we did, metaphors for the qualities of men and women were discovered, the fire pots of the men signifying the passion that was burning for the women, and the women's buckets of water that put out the fires and doused the passion of their men. The contrast of the two was impeccable, especially since the women were trying to stay pure as water and resist temptation (fire.) Past that example, I see no reason why the choruses are even relevant.

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Where is the world is Lysistrata's husband? This really intrigues me, as we see no mention of any interaction between Lysistrata and him, whomever he may be, in the play. You would think that Lysistrata would have told the women when first using the plan that it would work citing her own vow for abstinence as an example. We are given no clue as to his occupation, his part in the war, or even his siding of the war. I can assume that Lysistrata is Athenian, and therefore so is her husband; however, when the other women are complaining about missing their husbands during the day when they are fighting in the war, Lysistrata says nothing about missing her husband, which leads me to believe she could care less about having him at home with her again, and would merely like to see one of her master plans succeed. Lysistrata is not even characterized as her colleague housewives that care about their weavings getting unwoven and changing the babies. Come to think of it, Lysistrata doesn't have any kids from we we see. Isn't it a bit wrong for her to urge these women with far more obligations than herself to give up their lives to stop a war? Hmm, Lysistrata just became my least favorite character.

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Okay, Lysistrata's plan has me thinking about it's feasibility. It struck me first that the women were planning to abstain from sex, meaning that they are currently having sex with their husbands. I haven't heard of conjugal visits on battlefields, so it's my impression that the men return home periodically, or quite possibly every night from the battle zone. The writing of the play confuses me on this point because one of the women says that he husband has been posted in a far away region for seven months and she misses him very much. Yet, they also speak as if they see them everyday. I love Lysistrata for trying to make a woman's worth known, but I think that just by focusing off sex is degrading towards the women themselves. The men, in my opinion, will think the women just don't care about anything but their sex lives, and the ideology degrades the men by placing them no higher than those that can't live without sex, not that intercourse is a bad thing. I just believe that the women should have reiterated to the men the fact that they kept the homes in order, fed the the children and the rest of the family along with providing a healthy sex life. This play is supposed to be humorous, but I don't think it clearly shows the true value of a woman's worth.