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Lysistrata Gender Roles

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The challenges women have been struggling with for centuries has been the aspect of social reality, that once a woman gets married she is to be housewives and take care of the children and the necessity of the house whole as well as her husband’s needs. In addition, a woman does not get involve in social and political affairs, this isn’t there place. This is how society as well as men have perceive women to be for over centuries. In the excerpt above taken from “Lysistrata”, the author sheds light on the way men view women as socially inferior to themselves. For example, the author uses the phase “shiver me timber”, here the author uses words of surprise and annoyance in order to emphasize the way men felt about women when they deviated from the morn of society. For in the time the play “Lysistrata” was written, men only saw women as objects of their pleasure. Men believed that women didn’t consist the ability to contribute much to society because of their lack of intelligence, at least this was what men thought. Men objectify women as nothing but a body to get pleasure from. We see this expressed many times in …show more content…

The men fighting the war no longer knew what they were fighting for but they continue the fight because that’s all they have known for generations. By seizing Athena’s statue and occupying the sacred hill, men were afraid and confuse by the actions the women took because they never expected it. The women seized Athena’s statute because that’s where the money used in funding the war is kept, so the women seized it. The women also made a pact, both Spartan women and Athena women, the pact was they wouldn’t have sex with their husbands until they made peace and ended the war. The fact that women of this time could invent a scheme on this scale was surprising because men didn’t think they were intelligent enough to think

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For many decades the issue on men and the way they treat their wife’s can be thought of as an interesting topic. Something in particular is the story of “Euphiletus, A Husband Speaks in His Own Defense”, and “North Slope of the Areopagus” which symbolizes the way Ancient Athenian men acted towards their wife. To add, in a way, how much women can have a major impact on men’s lives. Taking place around 400 B.C.E, the ancient Athenian murder trial rationalizes around the speculations of marriage, the roles women took part in ancient Greece, and the fears a husband faces after failing to closely monitor his wife.

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Lysistrata, the main character, is able to form this assembly of women because each of the women, including Lysistrata, share a common purpose. In fact, as we see in the definition, a common purpose or goal is the main basis for forming an assembly. A common goal is what changes individual refusals into assembly. So the

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Her response here shows that Spartan women were brought up to be tough like their male counterparts. Spartan women had more freedoms than the Athenians. For example, unlike the “housebound life of the Athenian matron” , Spartan women were able to go out in public and even interact with other men. Despite both being Greek, women had very different roles to play in their societies. These differences

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In Homer's epic poem,The Odyssey, women are a major part of the story. In ancient times, women were very limited to their rights. They were expected to stay at home all day every day. When men would cheat on their wives it was fine, but when woman cheated they were shamed. When their husbands would leave, they would have to feel lonely while the Husband could go off and cheat.

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Her grace, power, and overall determination gained the respect from all the women. Close to the beginning of the poem Lysistrata states "But if the women gather together here—the Boeotian women, the Peloponnesian women, and ourselves—together we'll be able to rescue Greece." (I. 39). She uses the word rescue to show how detrimental this war is and Lysistrata knew if everyone came together the war would end. She knew what the war was all about and ultimately she knew it was wrong.

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In Greek epics, tragedies, and mythology women are portrayed in various ways. Women are mainly considered to be weak and less important than men, but there are some women who are shown to be strong and heroic, despite the reputation that was placed onto them in Ancient Greek civilizations. There were two particular women that were strong and took the roles of their husbands while the men left to fight in the Trojan War. These two women were Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. These two women were different in how they chose to rule while their husbands were at war and how they acted once they got back.

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The respectable male characters such as Odysseus treat women well, but mostly for their appearance and marriage potential. Near the beginning, after washing up on the island of the Pheaecians, he meets a girl and says, “Mistress: please: are you divine, or mortal? If one of those who dwell in the wide heaven, you are the most near to Artemis, I should say,” (8). To

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She invited the women of Athens and Sparta. The women of Athens and Sparta attended the meeting, after listening to the idea that they had to refuse their husbands from having sex with them no matter the cost , and while at it they should also

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What is worth mentioning in Sophocles’ play is that he not only showed the weak side of women but also the strong ones. For example, Ismene is the traditional role of women in ancient Greek—coward, fear of men power and feeble. For Ismene, "we must remember we were born women, not meant to strive with men" (Antigone). She even chose to die with Antigone while hearing her sentence, for she was afraid that she would be alone, she could not be able to fight against Creon, this men-dominant society. In contrast, her sister Antigone presents the “women power”.

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Euripides forwards Medea’s revenge through her use of Rhetoric in her dialogue. Rhetoric is language used intended to persuade or influence another person’s decisions or ideology. Medea’s use of Rhetoric conveys her cunning and deceitful nature in the play: she appeals to the ethical standpoint of the all-female Chorus, she appeals to the emotion of Creon to persuade him and Aegeus for her own advantage. Jason’s use of Rhetoric against Medea is exposed by her argument on the ethics of marriage that he has tarnished. Medea uses Ethos, the persuasion through ethical arguments, to appeal to the female Chorus who live in a patriarchal land.

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Because of this separation, Spartan women had greater freedom to move around more. Permitted to own and inherit land, Spartan women had more power in the household than what was common for women elsewhere in Greece, and they could even supervise large estates. They were encouraged to exercise and remain fit to bear and raise healthy children. Like the man, Spartan women engaged in athletic exercises in the nude.

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Lysistrata tells the women that they must resist their men in order for them to stop fighting in war. These women swear on oath, by pouring wine in a bowl, to not have sex with their husbands until the war is over. They will try to seek the mens attention by dressing vulgarly and wearing a lot of makeup but they will not have sex. Once the war is over the Spartans and Athens get together with Lysistrata and the goddess Reconciliation. In this scene Lysistrata tells them what to do so they could make peace, she explains to them how they have both done many good things for each other so this is why they should not be going to war.

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A woman knows her place and she knows no matter how hard she tries she is going to be looked down upon. At the end of the play, audience no longer hears from Lysistrata. She disappears because her role is over and no longer relevant. Lysistrata fought for what she wanted, she got what she wanted, therefore she lost the power to control. It is a way for the men to prove they have the utmost amount of power and control.

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Introduction The purpose of this essay is to investigate the women’s role in Classical Greece society and literature (5th/4th century b.C.). Therefore, I decided to discuss and analyse one of the most controversial comedies of that time, “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes. This text shows how women, sick of their submissive and powerless position in the political scenario of Athens and Sparta, come on the scene and, through a smart stratagem, achieve their expected result.

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The men of Athens feel threatened when women show agency because their whole patriarchal system depends on female complacency. Although Athenian society

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