Diction In Lysistrata

In whose hands does power lie? One might say that power is given to the one who takes it. Others claim that it is something that must be given by one person to another. Most classical Greek plays put this power in the hands of men; however, that is not the case for Aeschylus, which is exemplified through the play Agamemnon, and Aristophanes, as seen within the play Lysistrata. Clytaemnestra and Lysisitrata, the main female characters of these plays, use their femininity as a tool in order to attain power. The chosen passages from Agamemnon, lines 1032-1045, and Lysistrata, pages 4-5, use diction, different kinds of figurative language, and each play’s genre to represent females as having the capability of using power in political and social

Early in the play, Lysistrata invites the women to a meeting and becomes flustered when there is no one in sight. Using sexist diction, Lysistrata explains, “If they’d been summoned to worship the God of Wine, or Pan, or to visit the Queen of Love, why, you couldn’t have pushed their way through the streets for all the timbrels….” (Aristophanes 4). She, like Clytaemnestra, sees herself as if she’s separate from the ranks of typical women and seems frustrated that she in not stronger. Later, Lysistrata leads the examination and comments on a Spartan woman, named Lampito, by saying, “Greetings, my dear Spartan friend. How pretty you look, my dear. What a smooth completion and well-developed figure! You could throttle an ox” (Aristophanes 4). By doing this, Lysistrata is able to win over Lampito to her side. This quotation also contains a metaphor. Lysistrata explains that Lampito looks as if her strength could kill an ox. Overall, we see that Lysistrata used her gender as a distraction in a much different way. She uses her status as a female to convince the women to help her out in ending the war, while Clytaemnestra uses her power as queen to seek

Agememnon is a tragedy and Lysistrata is a comedy. Tragedies and comedies differ greatly in characters’ emotions, tones and actions. In a tragedy, heroes tend to respond with strong emotions. On the other hand, in comedies, heroes are often ironic and disengaged from the situation. Agamemnon tends to have a formal and more serious tone. Clytaemnestra says, “our victims waiting for the fire and the knife and,/ you,…” (Aeschylus 1056-1058). Clytaemnestra has a very stern tone. We also get the idea of death, which is usually the basis of a tragedy. Clytaemnestra is a character that has deep hatred and she is motivated by the idea of revenge. On the other hand, Lysistrata, which is a comedy, has an informal and more sarcastic approach within the dialogue. Lysistrata complements a woman’s body by saying, “Oh yes, a Boeotian, and blooming like a garden too” (Aristophanes 5). Through this we can see that the play was written with a sense of humor. Lysistrata wants peace and enables Aristophanes to make the play more humorous. Clytaemnestra and Lysistrata are motivated by two very different things. Even though comedy and tragedy are two different types of genres, Clytaemnestra and Lysistrata are very similar in their power. Their motivations and heroism come from two different sides of the spectrum, but their masculinity is what brings them