Man & Woman

We live in a competitive world. We attend a competitive school. Everybody is working to stay on top. There has always seemed to exist a competition between man and woman however. The girls are always striving to be just as good as the boys. It has always seemed that we lived in a male dominanted society. The big man at the topnis always exactly that...a man. There was a battle of the sexes going on in Lysistrata that occurs everyday. The women collectively decided that they would weaken the men so that they could get what they wanted. A lot of women complain about how the men hold all the power but I believe the exact oppositie. Women oftentimes possess so much power but never use it. Lysistrata is an example of how women can bring about change when the decide to. Too many times women settle. The women of Greece could have settled to have their husbands at war but they took advantage of the oportunity to improve their enviorment. Now not only will there be peace in their nation but their husbands know that if they cross the line...there will be consequences. If more women stopped crying and utilized their power we could change the world!

Lysistrata vs Hedda Gabler

All of the plays we plays we have read have had a dominant woman character that kept the plot driving. For Lysistrata and the play Hedda Gabler the main charaters are these women and the authors made that evident by entitling the play after Lysistrata and Hedda Gabler. Both of these women attempt to gain control of the men in their lives using their femininity. For Lysistrata she used her sexual power to establish peace within Greece. Hedda Gabler used her womanly traits to control the men in her life because of the lack of control over her own life. The difference between these two ladies is that Lysistrata had the ability to convince others to follow her. Lysistrata had leadership qualities necessary to hold the women together when their hormones raged and they compromised their purity during the time of abstinence. Hedda attempted to control Lovborg by giving him her gun. However, the result of Lovborg's death proved that Hedda really had no control over her situation. While Lysistrata rejoiced for her success in bringing about peace through abstinence, Hedda showed her failure and weakness when she committed suicide. So both these women had the same intentions of changing their enviorment through the control of those around them but the outcome was different because Lysistrata had control over herself when Hedda lacked control over life. The play Lysistrata better captured the theme never underestimate the power of a woman where Hedda Gabler fed into some of the stereotypes expressed about women in both of the plays.

Easy Access...

I think that the choice of clothing in this play is really important. The men and women both wore tunics. This attire points to the fact that the people of Greece were very open men and women. The tunics could not possibly provided a huge amount of coverage. It wad obvious to see when the men were feeling excited because it did not seem like they were very modest in their dress. A few different times during the play, both the men and women unclothe themselves in a very simple, easy removal of their tunic. The men as well as the women wore this type of clothing meaning that they were both usually ready to make love. Their clothing reveal the open sense of sexuality and sensuality that existed in Greece during the time.

Please Don't Fly Away Little Birdie

Lysistrata uses a very interesting metaphor to explain to the women how they need to stick together and not break the vow they have made to remain abstinent until their husbands leave the war and make peace. When the women grow weak and try to leave the Akropolis for various ridiculous excuses to go home and have sex with their husbands, Lysistrata reads to them the scroll, that describes the women as a flock of birds. When I first heard this metaphor, I pictured the birds flying together in formation. the bird in the front breaks the wind so has the most difficult job of flying against the wind and leading the other birds. This bird is Lysistrata, leading the way for the rest of the birds to follow, hopefully making the process a little more easy. The scroll reported that if a bird or woman should dissolve their flock the other women for a perch or a man, that she would be known as the most lewd, the most perverted bird. Therefore this would hopefully encourage the women to hang in there for the cause because they would not want to be the woman to break the formation and be considered the pervert or undesired woman who lacks self control.

PEACE...

There has been a lot of talk about the representation of peace at the end of the play. Peace is a young, naked girl. The men see peace and begin to almost fight over who will get peace because to them peace has become sex. The men are now lusting after peace because they realize that peace is pleasurable. But then the question is will they really remain on peaceful terms? Do the men really want peace as they fight over who gets what part of peace because they want to spread piece around back home or has peace become a sexual object? If the answer to the first question is no them most likely the answer to the second question is that peace for these men is a sexual object only used to advance their own self pleasures. On the other hand, now these men have become to adamant about obtaining peace that they are fighting over peace trying to take it home parts of peace in order to establish peace in their home towns. I wondered if peace would have been represented in another way, would the men have been less distracted by the sexuality of peace as portrayed by the naked girl. Maybe, if peace was more modest however, the men could do without. Throughout the entire play, peace for these men and women has been sex so it makes sense that peace is portrayed like an sexual object. On the other hand, it is sad that peace is not worth more to then. If peace was not as physically attractive would they be as willing to take peace with them? Probably not. The society seems to be very into surface things such as how their women look and wear. But Lysistrata tried to get everyone to see that not just making love but love in itself is so much more powerful and valuable than the people had realized. They took their love for granted and believed that it would always be available no matter what type of life they lived. Since, society was this way, Lysistrata picked to take away their physical pleasure for a while as an encouragement to dig deeper and realize the beauty and pleasure found in peace itself!

The Loveliness of Language

Aristophanes uses somevery interesting metaphors and comical puns which help the story to progress and engage the reader. There is a lot of sexual innuendo behind the language used in the play. On page sixty seven, The Koryphaios of Men used the metaphor of the women as horse back riders. "But we're really sunk if the women take up horses. Scratch the calvary: A woman is an easy rider with a natural seat . Take her over the jumps and she'll never slip her mount." He is comparing horseback riding to the women's ability to stick it out and not have sex. The women are good at love making so the men are in for it if they refuse to do so with their husbands. However, from this metaphor, you can get how the women will never come down once on top of that horse because it is natural for them to ride. So once they prepare for battle and mount, there will be a struggle to get the women down. They have made this oath and the men are realizing that this is not going to be an easy ride for them.

Make Love not War...

Make love not war is an obvious theme in the play Lysistrata. The women use abstinence as a tool in order to encourage their husbands to establish peace throughout Greece. If the men love them like they say they do and desire to be with their wives then eventually they will choose to make love instead of war because they cannot hve both at the same time. Not only will they create a sense of love and peace within their nation but also on a physical level with their wives. By refusing to have sex with their husbands, the women are showing them that they value love over war because the men eventually realize that being with their wives is more important than fighting. Sometimes people get pleasure out of figting. The feeling that develops on the inside after defeating an enemy that has caused you pain creates a high and sense of accomplishment almost. However,the amazing feeling that develops from getting to experience the fullness of someones love is second to none. The men needed to straighten ot their priorities and realize that loving is far better than warring and through practicing abstinence, their wives were able to help them understsnd that they would much rather prefer to make love not war!

The Driving Force

Lysistrata was a very strong, dominant character. This woman stood for peace and sacrificed for peace which demonstrates her unselfishness. She developed the idea of how powerful of a tool the women's abstinence would be. However, Lysistrata had doubts on rather or not the women would be able to complete the task at hand and fulfill the oath the took. Throughout the play, she refers to the women as sluts and weak almost as if they are good for nothing. She is a wise woman and while most people of this time probably thought that women were weak, she did not underestimate the power of a woman. They don't have very many weapons but Lysistrata encourages the ladies to work with what they have. She serves as the leader that holds the women together when they grow weak. Some ladies attempt to sneak out and leave the akropolis to go home and have sex with their husbands. However, Lysistrata becomes almost like a mother to these ladies as she puts them back into their place and works to keep order amongst the ladies. Oftentimes she serves as the spokesperson for the women and addresses the men firmly. Lysistrata is an essential character and Aristophanes develops her into a very round, dynamic character throughout the play.

Sorry Sucka..!

One of the rising action events of the play was when Myrrhine led Kinesias on the left high and dry. I think this is an important scene in the plot development because Kinesias is a representation of the pain the other men are experiencing. Kinesias was screaming for God because he needed to have sex to ease the pain. I was reminded by Talor when we were working on our project that the play occurred over the course of one day. Laughter immediately arose within me because how in the world was it so difficult to practice abstinence for one day. Lysistrata picked the perfect weapon...refraining from sex to get their husbands to come together on peaceful terms because obviously sex plays a big role in their everyday lives. Myrrhine is informed to torture her husband by making him think that they are going to have sex but as soon as things get really intense, simply leave. Myrrhine does exactly this. She teases her husband by running back and forth to "get ready". While this scene demonstrates the men's weakness it also portrays the women's strength and how the strong women kept the others motivated and abstinent. Myrrhine had not had sex for a while either so of course to actually have sex was probably her desire but she was able to keep focus on the goal and task at hand and not be side tracked by her own lusts and pleasures. This incident showed the men that the women meant business and expected them to establish peace in their nation if they wanted to make love to their wives.

Abstinence is the KEY...

In the beginning of Lysistrata, the story really took off. Lysistrata sets up the plot of the play when she announces her plan to the ladies of Greece about how they will be able to end the war between their husbands. The women travel from all over Greece to gather at this meeting Lysistrata has called. However, all of the women were late and definitely were not enthusiastic about attending this meeting. Aristrophanes foreshadows the women's attitudes towards abstinence in their their late arrival and rushing Lysistrata to reveal her reasoning for summoning them. On the other hand, Kleonike, on of the women who would emerge as a leader during the abstinence movement was the first to arrive. When Lysistrata announces that she has a plan that will end the war, the women are excited . One mentions that she will cut herself in half but when they learn the method which will be used to achieve peace they all complain. Anything but sex would have been acceptable even walking over burning hot coals, but refraining from sex was asking a little too much of these ladies.