The Congresswomen Essay

Would you be happy to live in a place where the old and ugly are satisfied before the young and beautiful? This describes the place that The Congresswomen is set in. The Congresswomen is a play that is written by Arisophranes, it is set in Athens and is about a series of political reforms put forth by Praxagora. The reforms that she promotes are intended to create an egalitarian society that benefits all the citizens by equalizing them through communism. She rallies the other women of Athens to appeal to Congress and become leaders, which essentially renders men useless in the political world. After this she is able to put her reforms into place and address the inequalities of Athens. Aristophanes presents Praxagora's reforms somewhat satirically,

He demonstrates this through the lines in the play that compliment women and their abilities. He wrote a line that Praxagora delivers about how they will, “run the city, run it right and proper and well”(14). He additionally identifies that there is a “superior nature of the female’s behavior pattern,”(21). Although he uplifts women through moving lines like those, he unfortunately decides to portray the changes to Athens as having a distinctly feminine feel. He describes the reforms that Praxagora is attempting to implement as transforming “the city into one big happy household,” he makes this reference with the knowledge that the household is usually something that pertains to being run under women’s care (50). In spite of this, it appears that he has no issue with women gaining political power and even insults the previous rulers of Athens by describing a typical Congress day as the men slandering “each other like men on benders, and then the police come along and sling out the drunks,” (18). Furthermore, the husbands of the women who gain power do not seem to hold issue with them ruling and only complain about the sexual implications of it. They worry that they will struggle with their sex lives, questioning, “suppose they put the pressure on and coerce us?”(35). There is no angry outcry against the women gaining power

To me, the play seemed to be about reparations for women who have been kept out of politics for a long time. It was also humorous because Aristophanes wrote it to entertain people, however, for me, this humorous aspect made me feel worse. The play is supposed to exemplify how women can hold power as equals with men, yet, this concept is turned into a joke in order to make it easier for the audience to swallow. I can understand that perhaps it is a good way to introduce particularly radical ideas: introducing something through art so that it can be influential without being an outright proposal. I can sympathize with the type of change that Aristophanes might have been trying to invoke, however, it still does not feel right to