Lysistrata Play Analysis

Lysistrata would be considered a feminist play but, on the contrary, the use of a woman as leader and a female-controlled society is used as an element of comedy. In current time, this play would not be considered funny as opposed to ancient Greek times.Women were only associated to the Oikos meaning home. The notion that women actually had the power for change was comedic to the greeks, thus making Lysistrata anti-feminist play.Throughout the play, women are used as props for comic effect to entertain.There is not much use for women in the play except for Aristophanes message that the was is so absurd that women had to take a stand and do something about it. In the play, Lysistrata plans a meeting with the women of Greece to put an end to the Peloponnesian war.She plans on doing so by instating a sex strike, the women of Greece will refuse to have sex with their husbands until a peace treaty will be signed ending the war. Aristophanes uses sex strike against men as a way to make the situation unbelievable making the play funny.

Women had one role in society to please their husband, take care of the children and handle the financial assets of the home and to think otherwise was ridiculous. Not only are women looked down upon they are treated horribly. We see this though the character Calonice in Lysistrata when she says "Suppose they grab us, drag us into bed" (159) Calonice was scared to stand up to her husband fearing he would rape her. Women we were seen as sex objects and we obliged to do whatever is told to them. In Lysistrata, the roles of women are reversed. Woman standing up for their rights, having a voice and actually doing something about what was bothering them was considered comical during the time because it was the