ipl-logo

Lysistrata Play Essay

479 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women's role in ancient greek society

One of the most significant themes of the play is sex. The women in Lysistrata use sex as a means of controlling the men in their lives. The women withhold sex from them so long as the men are at war. The title character, Lysistrata, uses this late in the play as a means of trying to negotiate peace. When that doesn't work, she gets the men drunk and it is then that they are seduced into calling a truce. If we think about the new title, Make Love, Not War, one could see how the women are enticing the men to do just that. The message they are sending to the men is that if they stop the war, they will again be allowed to make love. So how does this theme or main idea connect to our world today? The argument could be made that sex can and is …show more content…

Why is it they are withholding sex? Is their cause noble? Is it justified? Keep in mind that the women in this play are the ones left behind during this war. They are raising the children, they are abandoned for the most part by their husbands and fathers, and the young women have no young men left to even marry because they are off at war dying. As a result of their extreme solution to ending the war, critics have often described the women in this play as strong and brave. You might think about whether or not you agree with this. Consider how the men in the story are portrayed as you craft your own response to the theme. If you must connect your response to the world today, the reasons why the women in the play withhold sex will probably be very different than real-world examples you may find in 2016, so your opinion might be based on the theme of the play, where you see these connections in the real world, or both. Ultimately, you will need to consider the motivations of the women in the play (and they were responding to extreme circumstances) as you think about how women might use this same tactic

Show More
Related
865 Words | 4 Pages

In comparison to the movie, the play undermines male dominance by focusing on women’s efforts to solve their own problems. First of all, there aren’t even men in the cast of the play,

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

In doing so, examine the feminist lens’s interpretation of the text. How are gender roles defined? Where to women fit into the text’s plot line. What do you notice about the women in this text? Is this congruent (similar) to society’s view of women, by today’s standards?

Read More
1005 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
538 Words | 3 Pages

During the time of war, women of Greece were tired of their men being at war. Because women wanted to preserve their traditional way of life, Lysistrata gathered all the women of Greece and gives them the details of her plan to stop the war. Hoping that men will eventually end the war and bring peace, she encourages women to hold sexual favors from their husbands until the war is over. She tells women to dress in sexy clothing and hold a sexual strike against men. After some time, the sex-strike held by women of Greece begins to take effect on the men.

Read More
578 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning of this play, the men separate themselves away from the women, treating them as if they are not capable of helping. Notably, during this time it was a patriarchal society and for this reason it might indicate the two female characters motivation for covering

Read More
1454 Words | 6 Pages

Much of the preservations in the play are for men who have even denied the women their privacy. Susan Glaspell shows women as weak and only able to do weak responsibilities such as housekeeping and staying at their

Read More
862 Words | 4 Pages

Women are depicted as “trophy” to men and nothing more. Throughout the epic a sense of bravado and machoism is played out, giving off a man’s world feeling which women and little or no real reason to be wanted. To understand the epic and the roles in which women played, one may not have to look further than how the book has been put together. First and foremost, the book is being told through the eyes of a man (good luck ladies).

Read More
1085 Words | 5 Pages

The women felt that the war was causing disruption and ruining the unity between the people. Particularly, the main protagonist Lysistrata herself, gathers the power of females in hopes for peace and the reunion of Greece. Although the women initially were dubious about ending the war with a sex strike, it was Lysistrata who brought leadership to the group, encouraging all to contribute their powers for good, as she says, “Our country’s fortunes are in our hands; and whether the Spartans shall perish and the Boeotians shall be completely annihilated” (Aristophane 34-35). During this process, the women were faced with corrupted men, who believed that females should have no participation in the topic of war. Rather than succumbing to the demands of the men, Lysistrata insisted and argued for women to take charge and restore Athens.

Read More
1737 Words | 7 Pages

Although being written centuries apart, the limited expectations of women presented in ‘Othello’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ differ little from each other. The female characters are confined by society’s expectations of male dominance, female purity and virginity, and the many passive roles of women. Despite the differing legalities surrounding the position of women between the centuries in which the plays were written, both plays explore the impact of how societal conventions confine women and the ways they must comply to be safe in a patriarchal society. The behaviours and treatments of Desdemona, Blanche and Stella illustrate the attitudes enforced on and the behaviours of women throughout both periods in time and it is these attitudes and behaviours that impact the plays to the greatest extent. When characters in either plays defy their norms, or demonstrate a lack of compliance they induce negative consequences, such as the murder of Desdemona and the institutionalisation of Blanche.

Read More
1031 Words | 5 Pages

The feminist perspective challenges sexism and other beliefs and practices that result in the domination of women. When we look at Othello from feminist point of view it is important to note how the women of this play are treated and stereotyped.

Read More
1113 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1568 Words | 7 Pages

Lysistrata, a middle-class woman and wife of one of the Athenians soldiers, decides to hold a meeting with all the women within the Greek territory and discuss a way to end the terrible war afflicting

Read More
1372 Words | 6 Pages

The connections between the characters are intricate. The individuals struggle to identify who they are in a society that doesn't always recognize their worth. In the play it reads, “...We’ll see. I still like men better than women. I envy them.

Read More
986 Words | 4 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the female characters' desire to question the law of Athens and select their own husbands drives most of the conflict in the play. In a way, Hermia, Helena, and Titania are the protagonists of the play because each of their desires are being thwarted by the patriarchal structure of the society in which they live. The way the women try to overcome such hurdles does not sit well with the men. Accordingly, the men get on edge when their patriarchy is disrupted, so they make strict laws to try and keep the women under their control.

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

How are the women in viewed and treated by men in Shakespeare 's Measure for Measure? Female characters in Shakespeare ’s play Measure for Measure are objectified and are expected to be submissive to the male characters wishes.  The women are expected to be innocent and pure but as soon as they lose their virginity they are labeled as sluts and whores.

Read More

More about Lysistrata Play Essay

Related Topics

Open Document