"lysistrata"
(Aristophanes)
Aristophanes' comedy "Lysistrata" is the last of his
War and Peace trilogy. The play focuses on one woman, Lysistrata, who
manages to end the Pelopennesian War almost single-handedly. She
convinces the women of the Greek provinces to band together in order to
end the war.
Lysistrata's group of women seize the Acropolis,
Athens' treasury. Perhaps more important to the male characters of the
play is the fact that they also refuse to have sex with their husbands
until the peace is returned.
The plot of the play is relatively simple, the women
are beseiged by a group of old men whom they ridicule. They break the
siege effortlessly, and also restore peace to Athens.
The manner of comedy used by Aristophanes, however,
is relatively complicated. Although at its heart it is a surprisingly
raunchy sex play, one of the most important comedic devices that
Aristophanes uses is that of inversion. The men throughout the play are
seen as weak, stupid warmongers who run around with erections the
entire play. The women, on the other hand, are truly in control. They
posess all the qualities that were attributed to men at the time:
resolution, strength of character, intelligence, the ability to
strategize. What's more, they are they only thing holding the men's
households together. With their abstinence from the house, all the
domestic affairs fall to pieces. One man shows up to the Acropolis with
a baby who hasn't been bathed in a week.
In addition to painting the men as complete
imbeciles, the Spartans too are looked down upon. They are ridiculed
for their lack of a "dignified civilization" like Athens was famous
for. This is reflective of the time of the piece, as Athens had just
reached its pinnacle before it became entangled in the Pelopennesian
War, which it would lose to Sparta about seven years after the play.
Despite our tendency to white-wash the sexuality of
the past, it is still evident here. The entire play is laced with
obvious sexual connotations and jokes (the men even run around wearing
leather phalluses). Although some of the humor has lost its touch, the
majority of the play is still good for a laugh, if you enjoy raunchy
comedy.
Resumos Relacionados
- Midsummer Night's Dream
- Medea
- ?the Troyen War Will Not Take Place"
- ?the Troyen War Will Not Take Place"
- The Merry Wives Of Windsor
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