Roles In Lysistrata, The Nun's Priest Tale, And Tartuffe

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

Respectable Athenian women seldom left their homes. Only men could purchase goods or engage in soldiering, lawmaking, and public speaking. The societies of ancient Egypt and of the Greek city-state of Sparta provided a rare contrast. Both Egyptian and Spartan women could own property and engage in business. According to Dr. Peter Picone, the author of “The Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian” states “the Egyptian women seem to have enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man”. Also he states that legal rights were on a class boundary more than a gender boundary. The Women of Sparta on the other hand were quite different from the women of their neighbor, Athens. As you well know, the women of Sparta were bold, freer, and well educated. Also with the Sparta women, everything depended up money, which would determine your rank in society. While some of the Spartan citizens have quite small properties, others have very large ones; hence the land has passed into the hands of a few. And this is due also to faulty laws; for, although the legislator rightly holds up to shame the sale or purchase of an inheritance, he allows anybody who likes to give or bequeath it. Yet both practices lead to the same result. And nearly women held two-fifths of the whole countries; this is owing to the number of heiresses and to the large dowries that are customary. The Women of Sparta on the other hand were quite

“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 wants to ask the women to not have sex with their husbands until they make peace and create a treaty. Lysistrata also had the older women of Athens to seize the Acropolis. The women from the various cities assemble and Lysistrata convinces them to swear an oath that they will not have sex with their husbands until the treaty of peace is made. The women use a bottle of wine, which I think is crazy, to the Gods. They hear the sounds of the older women taking over Acropolis, the fortress that holds the money and property of Athens.

Compared to the way Athenian women were presented in Lysistrata, Aristophanes sticks to the now known facts of their lifestyle fairly closely. In the play’s opening, Lysistrata, our female protagonist, calls women from not only her home of Athens, but as we all the Spartan enemy and other places to meet in and is upset at their untimely arrival. Her neighbor Calonice appears and reassures her they will come eventually, but they are simply delayed due to having to care for their husbands, household, and children. In contrast, Spartan women were educated, participated in sports, and had little to do with the upbringing of their children. In fact, they only had contact with their husbands for sexual relation purposes. When the women finally arrive, Lysistrata inquires how many of their husbands are gone away to war. Some of the women reply their husbands have been gone for months. Lampito, a beautiful Spartan girl, expresses she is unhappy because her husband comes home and no sooner grabs his shield and chargers off again. Though according to our textbook, Spartan women were free to remarry if her husband was gone away to war for too long. Thus begins the flaws in Lysistrata’s plan of how the women will force the men to claim peace.

Lysistrata is a play written in 411 BC by Aristophanes. At that time in Greek history, the city-states were constantly warring with one another. Consequently, the women were left at home. One woman, Lysistrata, was so fed up with the fighting that she called all of the women of Greece to a meeting. When they finally showed up, Lysistrata presented her plan for peace: no sex until the wars ceased. She eventually convinced all of the other women that this was the only way to bring peace to the land.

The most prevalent power the women in the play use is sexual in nature. Their goal is to end the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, by forcing the Athenian men to come and stop fighting. Lysistrata gathers all the Athenian women, who together swear an oath to not have sex with any of the men until they agree to stop fighting in the war. In doing this,

The female ambition to overcome their lack of agency is illustrated in Lysistrata, as the women monopolize the men by rallying their collective domestic power, in this case, in the form of “conjugal strike.” The basis for this plot stems from the pragmatic notion that “even under the strictest patriarchies resourceful women can wield considerable power within their own families and exert influence on their husbands even on public matters…” (Henderson 27). The concept that women are each the ruler of an individual “polis” is illustrated as Lysistrata argues with the Magistrate. She explains that the wives will manage the money, to which he replies with skepticism:

When comparing power levels and women’s rights, Sparta was a leader in its time. Athens and Sparta, though both Greek city-states were different in the way they operated. More specifically, Sparta was different in the way that they treated their women. Athenian woman were treated quite appallingly compared to the standards of today’s women. The stem of this difference seems to lie in how these two city-states were governed. Sparta, known for its’ militaristic ways, was an oligarchy and Athens, known for its’ philosophers and thinkers, was a democracy. Sparta’s oligarchy was ruled by a counsel of 5 men, on being a lawmaker or giver. The lawgiver’s name was Lycurgus. Lycurgus was

Sophocles’ Theban tragedy, Oedipus the King, is not sexist. The prominent play portrays both men and women justly. The events presented by Sophocles exemplifies a level of admiration and respect for women that was not ordinary in ancient Greece. This is predominantly achieved through the dialogue of Jocasta and Oedipus, illustrating a corresponding relationship. In addition, the behavior of Jocasta, analysis of other literature, as well as the bad fortune of the male characters reaffirm that the Oedipus the King is not sexist.

Women’s role in Greece can be seen when one first begins to do research on the subject. The subject of women in Greece is coupled with the subject of slaves. This is the earliest classification of women in Greek society. Although women were treated differently from city to city the basic premise of that treatment never changed. Women were only useful for establishing a bloodline that could carry on the family name and give the proper last rites to the husband. However, women did form life long bonds with their husbands and found love in arranged marriages. Women in Athenian Society Women are “defined as near slaves, or as perpetual minors” in Athenian society (The Greek World, pg. 200). For women life didn’t

In the ancient world, views of women were often derogatory, yet some viewed women as intelligent and powerful. The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata both display the complex opinions towards women of the time. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the characters Shamhat and Ishtar provide the audience with a biased view towards women, but this work also provides a more positive opinion of women through Siduri, Utnapishtim's wife, and Aruru. As paralleled in Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, Calonice and Peace represent negative perspectives of women, but this play also portrays women positively with Lysistrata and Myrrhine. The ancient texts of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata simultaneously depict women as inferior, equal to, and superior to men to represent the complex views of women that were present during ancient times.

Lysistrata was a political satire written by Aristophanes in early 400 B.C.E., and was performed in Athens. The connection between Lysistrata and the society and culture surrounding it is deeply significant. Due to the immense cultural pressure in this period, it’s difficult to pinpoint a singular theme that Aristophanes was trying to make a comment on. With the Peloponnesian War continuing to lead a seemingly endless reign of chaos over Greece and its citizens, these elements of fear and despair became very relevant in the plays of the time, most notably being Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. Within such satires, it became commonplace to see women being used as satirical devices to call attention to the craziness that had consumed society. It also contributed to the idea of women having a social or political power and, more importantly, having worth and a voice. Although it is impossible to know exactly which social aspects Aristophanes was trying to comment on, through historical documents and contexts, it is clear that statements were made condemning war through the satirical use of subverting gender norms to reinforce the foolishness in society and fighting.

Is it feasible that through the loss of one’s life and being, one would be able to gain influence and power? Does this fatal gain of power show a previous lack of it? Does forgoing one’s life for an honorable cause improve a woman’s reputation in turn giving her more power? Through our studies, we have discovered that typically women exhibit a limited amount of agency in ancient Greece. Women occasionally assert dominance in the household; although, even within the home they posses limited influence over their husbands. An interesting theme runs though Euripides theatrical tragedies Alcestis and Hippolytus. In each play the lead female character forgoes her life for the sake of love. In Alcestis, Alcestis willingly

Given just the plot of Lysistrata, one might think that Lysistrata by Aristophanes is a highly progressive comedy in which women are empowered and are given meaning beyond the household. Unfortunately, as one starts to delve deeper into the story, there are many things that point the over way, mainly the portrayal of secondary female characters, the women’s overall willingness to discount their non-physical features and the peace making scene around the end of the story.