A Summary Of The Conflict In Lysistrata

Peace and Harmony is the central theme in the play. Lysistrata is out to end the prolonged war. After consideration on how to accomplish her wishes, and idea finally arises. Lysistrata holds a meeting with all the women to become rebellious and refuse to have sexual relations with the men. During this meeting between all the women, Lysistrata states, “From now on, no more penises for you” (Line 124). The women first do not know how to react as they have not seen their husbands in months. However,

Lysistrata, visibly upset that the women have not appeared, turns to her friend Cleonice, who reassures her that everyone will come, but “it’s not easy...for women to leave the house. One is busy pottering about her husband; another is getting the servant up; a third is putting her child asleep or washing the brat or feeding it” (Lysistrata). The exposition to the drama therefore tells us everything we need to know: women are trying and failing to remove themselves from their traditional housekeeping role. This is in part forced upon them by men, but also in part by their own will: throughout the play, the women place themselves in a lesser role and act unable to control themselves.  When Lysistrata explains her plan to Cleonice, Cleonice responds that “salvation hangs on a poor thread” if women are in charge. It is therefore not only men who enforce the anti-feminist view that women cannot “perform so wise and glorious an achievement” as ending the

The women in Lysistrata are portrayed as strong and confident. This is seen in the form of the main character of the play, Lysistrata; who is the first one to propose the idea of withholding sex as a measure to stop the war. She demonstrates the qualities of a true leader as she has a well-planned strategy to get her way: “if we would compel our husbands to make peace, we must refrain”. At first this idea is instantly rejected by the women, but Lysistrata manages to convince them with her words of wisdom. This indicates how strong and perseverant Lysistrata is, and this is displayed by her idea of giving up sex. This is likely to be appreciated by the contemporary Greek audiences, as sex is described as the “most beautiful thing in the world” and Lysistrata is giving it up.

The comedy, Lysistrata, is based almost entirely around the theme of lust. The story tells of a war among the Greeks. Lysistrata, whose name means "she who dissolves armies," is the wife of one of the soldiers. She, along with the other wives, is sick and tired of her

Ultimately, she chooses to use manipulation and temptation to her advantage to sway the minds of men. “If we sat there at home in our make-up, and came into their rooms wearing our lawn shifts and nothing else and plucked down below delta-style, and our husbands got all horny…but we kept away and didn’t come to them—they’d make peace fast enough I know for sure” (Aristophanes 80) Lysistrata urges that the women avoid sex by any means, even if they must fight against physical force by their husbands (Aristophanes). By using this tactic of a sex strike applied all over mainland Greece, Lysistrata remains confident that women can persuade men to keep peace as opposed to war. Therefore, evidence suggests in Aristophanes’ play that women such as Lysistrata derives power and authority over men through sex and temptation. Women can only attempt to persuade them due to the fact that men hold too much power to be outright forced to anything.

Nevertheless, she kept putting them off by knitting a burial shroud for her husband that she had no intention of completing. Lysistrata showed great strength when she was able to gather the women together for the sex strike, this action was usual for a woman in that era yet she succeeded in getting the women to participate. Although the play starts with Medea being suicidal her strength is quickly restore as her hate for her husband surfaces. Her strength was fueled by hate and thoughts of sweet revenge, which she carries out toward the end of the play.

Lysistrata comes to the conclusion that the only way to save Athens from destruction in war comes with defiance of her husband. In her role of rebel within the family, Lysistrata decides to "...compel [her] husband to make peace" by withholding sex from him until he stops his disastrous warring behavior (Lysistrata, 7). She concludes, "...there are a thousand ways of tormenting [him]" that will lead to the ultimate safety of Athens (Lysistrata, 9). Unlike Antigone, Lysistrata realistically considers the possible consequences of her actions. She understands that the consequences of rebellion against her husband could be dire. Lysistrata recognizes that her husband might beat her or even rape her in order to get physical satisfaction, but she also realizes that her husband would, "...soon tire of the game there's no satisfaction for a man, unless a woman shares it" (Lysistrata, 9). Lysistrata acknowledges that defying her husband will have consequences, but she chooses to realistically face those possible consequences, and continues knowing that her actions will benefit Athens. Aristophanes' reveals that a woman's greatest allegiance lies with her polis through Lysistrata's role of rebel within her family to save Athens.

In Antigone and Lysistrata the tension between the polis and oikos is reflected in different ways. Antigone prioritizes oikos over polis, while Creon prioritizes polis over oikos. The men in Lysistrata favor fighting for the state over being at home while the women want their husbands with them instead of being at the war. We find ample evidence of different conflicts and similarities in both plays, but the male's prioritizing polis over oikos and the female's prioritizing oikos over polis causes the central tension in Antigone and Lysistrata.

In the excerpt Lysistrata written by Aristophanes, a flock of women gather in order to listen to Lysistrata’s speech of how to stop the war and bring peace back to Greece. “So very dainty because that the salvation of all Greece is actually in the hands of women” (76). In order for peace to be restored the women must work together. Lysistrata makes them feel useful and powerful by these statements, but she also forms doubt in their minds. “But what can women

Since the beginning of time, women have always been looked down upon mentally. During the time period of The Odyssey and Lysistrata, women were known as less powerful gender. They have never had much say about what goes on around them. Some women were recognized as a sex symbol. In The Odyssey, some women were goddesses that just wanted sex and other women had to stay at home to help raise their kids and do all of the feminine work. Compared to The Odyssey, in Lysistrata, women denied sex against their men to get what they want. In addition, they did not have many political rights and a say so on what goes on in their country. In comparing both of these stories, women show similarities toward each other.

“Lysistrata” is a tale which is centered around an Athenian woman named Lysistrata and her comrades who have taken control of the Acropolis in Athens. Lysistrata explains to the old men how the women have seized the Acropolis to keep men from using the money to make war and to keep dishonest officials from stealing the money. The opening scene of “Lysistrata” enacts the stereotypical and traditional characterization of women in Greece and also distances Lysistrata from this overused expression, housewife character. The audience is met with a woman, Lysistrata, who is furious with the other women from her country because they have not come to discuss war with her. The basic premise of the play is, Lysistrata coming up with a plan to put an

Lysistrata's role and her powers of manipulation are very similar to those of Medea. Lysistrata is an Athenian woman who is interested in ending the Peloponessian War and also is upset with the treatment of women in Athens. Lysistrata gathers the women of Sparta and Athens together to solve these problems and uses the art of manipulation to find success and power in her journey. Lysistrata develops a plan to deny sex to the men of Greece and take over the Acropolis, which is the heart of Athenian commerce until they stop the war. She is able to manipulate the women of Sparta and

Lysistrata is a play written by a man named Aristophanes around 400 B.C.E. in Athens Greece. Aristophanes, a contemporary of the Greek philosopher Socrates, was the last and greatest of the Old Attic comedians. He wrote many plays, however, only eleven of his plays have survived until today. Lysistrata, being one of these plays, is a is an extremely bawdy anti-war fantasy. Aristophanes wrote this play during a time when Athens was undergoing a crisis with its social attitudes. Therefor, this comedy shows sympathy and longing for the return of peace. Lysistrata is all about the women of Athens and Sparta, led by a woman named Lysistrata, coming together and trying to force the men at war against each other to return to peace by

In nearly every conflict between man and woman portrayed in Lysistrata, the women emerge victorious. This is especially significant since women can assert themselves and impose their will on man. Traditionally, men are the ones who possess this behavior and force women to be at their ever will. Yet, there are many instances in this play when these roles are opposite occurring, which is further evidence that Aristophanes has switched the characteristics of the genders. One instance from the text is when the men and women choruses are speaking to each other at the Acropolis. “All you fellow citizens, we’ll start to give the city good advice and rightly, since it raised us splendidly… I was born a woman, but don’t hold that against me if I introduce a plan to make our present situation better. For I make contributions to the state—I give birth to men. You miserable old farts, you contribute nothing! (Aristophanes 42-43). Furthermore, this quote portrays the control taken by the women when they take the Acropolis and fend of the chorus of old

Consistent with the textbook, The Compact Bedford Introduction to Drama, the play Lysistrata by Aristophanes contains the elements of satire with its notable humors that ridicule his contemporary time’s politicians. Simply, he used his contemporary political figures, who caused the war and unable to stop the war, and the situation in war of his time as important factors for his humors that he is famous for. Consequently, his play Lysistrata aims to mock satirically his contemporary public figures, many of whom people in modern era do not recognize but contemporary Athenians know. That is, Lysistrata actually tries to make fun of the politicians by women, who were not even humans in eyes of Athenians, win over them in the play, describing their incompetence even below women who were thought to be unable to politically rule. Yet, do the men in the play signify all men in Athene? Simply, the textbook explains, “[t]he men encountered by the heroine Lysistrata (whose name means ‘disband the army’) on the Acropolis—men who guard the national security and the national treasury—are old and decrepit. The young men are in the field” (p.81). That is, the powerless men in the play