Lysistrata by Aristophanes

Lysistrata by Aristophanes is a play of war, peace, power, and sex. Lysistrata is both the name of a woman and the name of one of the most famous comedies of ancient Greece. The name of Lysistrata has become a catchphrase for feminists to look upon on. This play demonstrates the cultures of the Greeks and Athenians.

The time of the play is the fifth century B.C. in Athens, at the time of the Second Peloponnesian War. It takes place at the gates of Akropolis. The women seize the Acropolis and it’s where the money is held. Lysistrata is an Athenian woman who is tired of men battling at war. She proposes a method where the men end war and make peace. That method was that the women refuse to have sex with their husbands until peace is restored. In the beginning the ladies refused to take her proposal and they stated, “On with the War!” (Aristophanes, 25) “Try something else. Try anything. If you say so, I’m willing to walk through fire barefoot.” (Aristophanes, 26) After discussing it back and forth the women gave into the proposal. The play shows the physical power and assertiveness of the women in Lysistrata and their ultimate ability to change the economic status in Greece.

The main theme of Lysistrata is ultimately to make peace and not war. The author’s writing style is effective because after the women took a stand to what they believed in the end result was peace. The men were taught that if there was no peace the consequence was no sex. The women knew that nothing else besides the abstinence of sex would change the men’s mind. Lysistrata mentioned, “We can force our husbands to negotiate peace, ladies by exercising steadfast self-control by total abstinence from sex!” (Aristophanes, 24) “We’ll paint, powder, and pluck ourselves to the last detail, and stay inside, wearing those filmy tunics that set off everything we have and then slink up to the men. They’ll snap to attention, go absolutely mad to love us but we won’t let them. We’ll abstain, I imagine they’ll conclude a treaty rather quickly.” (Aristophanes, 27) In this play the author was biased because he states prejudiced statements, which we can accept since it showed the views of both men and women. “The most unnerving work of nature, the pride of applied immorality, is the common female human. No fire can match, no beast can best her. O unsurmountability, thy name worse luck is woman.” (Aristophanes, 94) The play shows that woman want to be included in important decisions too and make laws, not just men.

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