An Analysis Of The Bow From The Odyssey And The Lysistrata

Chapter 21- Penelope gets Odysseus’s bow, to check if any suitor was capable of stringing it and shooting it through the line of 12 axes. Meanwhile, Odysseus reveals his identity to Eumaeus and Philoetius. No one can string or shoot Odysseus’s bow so Odysseus, still disguised, shoots the bow effortlessly and flawlessly.

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

Since it was originally written in the 8th century, The Odyssey by Homer has served as inspiration to many writers and artists, who tell the story of the lost king of Ithaca, Odysseus. In Book 21 of The Odyssey “The Contest with Odysseus’ Bow”, Penelope, Odysseus’ Wife, decides that her beloved Odysseus will not return and therefore sets up a contest for the suitors to decide who her future husband will be. One portrayal of this contest is in O’Grady’s poem “The Test of the Bow” where the poet describes the act of Odysseus stringing and shooting the bow. Although Book 21 of The Odyssey by Homer and O’Grady’s poem “The Test of the Bow” express similarities in characterization, they differ in diction and tone.

Penelope attempts to maintain her loyalty to Odysseus throughout the Odyssey. She would,”weave at her great and growing web” and,”would unravel all she’d done”(Homer 2.115-117) to keep the suitors busy. Penelope creates a scheme in which the suitors think they will be able to marry her, but in reality it is a way to keep them busy. Another scheme was created by Penelope in which the suitors used,”the great bow of King Odysseus”(Homer 21.85) and the man,”that shoots an arrow clean through all twelve axes”(Homer 21.87) will be her new husband. Although this challenge sounds fair to the suitors it was tilted to Penelope’s favor. She used a bow that only Odysseus could string and a challenge that only Odysseus has done. Eumaeus shows his loyalty to Odysseus by helping him. Eumaeus,”spotted him and quickly told his king”(Homer 22.170) Eumaeus shows fidelity and his loyalty to Odysseus by supporting him for all these

He pulls back the bow and aims, he shoots and with a thud and the first suitor was dead. Now it was time for the rest, so Odysseus began to fire and fight along with Telemachus till every suitor was no more. Why did Odysseus kill all the suitors, that's a good question also a good reason to read the Odyssey.     Odysseus finally returns home after a 20-year journey, only to see suitors who are trying to take his wife by doing a task and giving gifts. One big and final task Penelope gives the suitors is to try and pull back Odysseus bow and shoot an arrow through 15 axes.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus’ bow was a gift that only he would be able to bend and string for shooting. It symbolizes Odysseus’ right to be kind of Ithaca by using it to reclaim his kingdom by defeating the suitors with it. Penelope has promised to marry the suitor that could bend and string the bow and then shoot an arrow through the axe-holes. Ulysses was the only one who could, and he then turned on the suitors, killing them. The bow also represents a link between Odysseus and heroes of the Greek myths. In the Ramayana, it may, on the other hand, symbolize the dedication of Lord Shiva towards Ram-form of Lord Vishnu, as Shiva is said to be "the "strength" of this incarnation of Vishnu. So it was his way of participating in completing the task

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.

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 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

In Aristophanes’ comedic play the protagonist Lysistrata called upon the women in the surrounding areas of Greece to discuss her plans for ending the Peloponnesian war which was keeping their husbands away and causing a financial burden to the city of Athens. By withholding sex and using politics we can clearly see how Aristophanes attempted to portray Lysistrata as a strong woman who tried to reverse the roles of men as providers and guardians by reducing them to subservient and obedient subjects for their amusement. Lysistra organized a meeting with the women of the surrounding cities of Greece and attempted to lay out her plans for stopping the war which has caused their husbands to be away from home up to seven months. (Aristophanes,

Lysisitrata is a powerful play about women in Ancient Greece who are trying to find a way to get their husbands to end the Peloponnesian War and live in a time of peace. The way these women intend to get the desired outcome is by withholding any sexual activity from the husbands until the war is ended. Medea is another powerful play in which a smart and cunning woman, Medea, plans her revenge on her husband. The reason she is planning to get revenge is because her husband had been unfaithful and has intentions of marrying another woman, Creon’s daughter, which leads Medea to be distraught and outraged by this betrayal. Lysisitrata gives women more agency to act because throughout the play, more and more women are partaking in the refusal of sex with their husbands, though many of them are struggling with it and want to give in, they manage to stand strong and hold true to the oath that they had made.

“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

While not directly seen, the driving motivator behind all the actions of the characters in the story is in the major conflict of war. This conflict between rival city-states is portrayed as not simply being dangerous for the men who are fighting and dying, but it has a direct effect on the women as well. At one point it is mentioned that the women fight the war twice, “it’s we who give the hoplites life, and then we send them off, for you” (Puchner et al. 801). This occurs once when the woman has to bear the children in birth and then yet again when they send them off to war. It is the driving desire stopping this conflict that lead Lysistrata to concoct and enact her plan.

Despite the lower status of women, the plot of Lysistrata is mainly about all of the women coming together and being powerful enough to stop the men’s war. The women in Lysistrata know that the men love intimacy with them and they use that power by withholding pleasure from their men so as to stop the war, even though the women love sex as well:

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