Preview

Lysistrata Gender Roles

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
530 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Lysistrata Gender Roles
Recently I had the opportunity to attend to a Greek comedy called the lysistrata at Whatcom Community College. The show really connected to similar themes in our curicculum of IDS 161. In the opening scene of Lysistrata, it enacts the stereotypical and traditional characterization of women in Greece and also distances Lysistrata from this clichéd, housewife character. Lysistrata is not only angered because the women won't prioritize war and the peace of their country, but she is ashamed that the women won't stand up to the stereotypes and names that their husband's give them. Lysistrata tells Kleonike, "I'm positively ashamed to be a woman", and Kleonike proudly admits, "That's us!" As the play procedes and lysistrata puts her mind to work, she requests that the women use their attractiveness to make the males want them sexually, Lysistrata encourages the women to play to their stereotype and exploit the sexual, idealized female. Like a man, with her plan for a sex strike in mind, Lysistrata examines women for their sexual potential.Therefore, women not only begin to see each other with male …show more content…
Kleonike and Lysistrata look at the other women as sex objects. The women look to see how difficult it will be for a man to resist each woman. Lysistrata is ultimately the most masculine woman in the play. She, unlike the other females who attempt to escape the treasury to find their husbands, is able to fully ignore and reject her own attraction to males. In this way, Lysistrata stands outside of the action of the other females of the play and works hardest to reject the fragility and frivolity that characterizes the other women. Lysistrata's dual ability to reject her own sexuality while exploiting others enables her to create peace in Greece by keeping the men home away from war and to end
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Sue-Ellen Case's Essay 'Classic Drag'
    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sue-Ellen Case's Essay 'Classic Drag'

    Woman in Greek theatre is something you just don't see. In fact woman were put in the same category as slaves. In this time of the gods, woman were forbid to play their own part in the famous thing we call Greek theatre. Taking the place of these women were testosterone driven men portraying the woman part with their own preconceived idea of how woman really are. This act of men in drag to portray the "Woman", is absurd. In fact, who ever thought a male could act out the part of the female any better than a woman herself.…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pandora Myth Affirms The Gender Dynamics Of Ancient Greek Culture
    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Pandora Myth Affirms The Gender Dynamics Of Ancient Greek Culture

    In ancient Greece, women were virtually invisible to those outside the home and their reputation was best when there was “the least possible talk about you among men, whether in praise or blame” (Thucydides 1.45.2). There was a Greek Proverb that said “a woman knew two great moments of her life: her marriage and her death” (Powell, 40). In ancient Greek culture, women were normally seen as objects for marriage and childbearing and in literature were often depicted with an uncontrollable sexual appetite causing them to lie and scheme. The Pandora myth affirms the gender dynamics of ancient Greek culture. This is shown by the way Hesiod describes Pandora, his attitude toward women, and his opinion about women’s roles and work.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lysistrata's Boycott
    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Lysistrata's Boycott

    The Peloponnesian war has been going on for eighteen long years and the beautiful Lysistrata in common with the other wives of Athens, is tired of the absence of their warrior husbands. She decides that it is time to bring an end to this situation by boycotting their husbands from their wives love. Lysistrata gathered the women of Athens and told them about her plan of how she’s going to end this situation and some of the women argued over and over, but the beautiful Lysistrata managed to persuade the women to be on her side.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparing Medea And The Poisonwood Bible
    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparing Medea And The Poisonwood Bible

    In novels and play writes such as Barbara Kingsolver’s, The Poisonwood Bible and Euripides, Medea, the theme Role of women arises: women in many societies are subjugated and displayed as the inferior gender, when they are truly the strongest; they carry all the pain and suffering of society, the wars and the deaths; thus they are the pedestal that keeps everyone up. In order to reveal theme Kingsolver and Euripides make use of literary devices such as symbolism, imagery and diction. Using all three literary devices Kingsolver reveals that women such as Orleana believe that they are just rag dolls that are pulled, pushed and just there, even so realize how strong they really are; that if it was not for them their children would not be able to live. Medea on the other hand represents all the pains and struggles of women and is attempting to inform all women that they have the power and must stand up for themselves.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Women In The Play Lysistrata By Aristophanes
    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Women In The Play Lysistrata By Aristophanes

    In the play, Lysistrata, the women of Athens learn of Lysistrata’s plan to withhold sex in an effort to bring her husband back from war. The Athenian women decide to unite and implement Lysistrata’s plan in an effort to regain their own husbands and sons. In Aristophanes’ work he demonstrates his view of women as being cunning and resourceful beings yet at the same time comedic without even trying: The women make meeting to conspire plans, the women make themselves luscious to attract the males of the community, and the women work together as one to achieve a common goal. The Athenian women are seen by the males of the Greek society as stay at home mothers: cooking, cleaning, and offering sex. The stay at home mother is not considered to possess the…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Lysistrata and The Importance of Being Ernest comparative essay
    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Lysistrata and The Importance of Being Ernest comparative essay

    Firstly, in Lysistrata the male characters do not play a significant role, and rarely appear. But in the scenes that involves the male characters, they are either seen discussing political issues, or desperate for sex. For example: the scene of Myrrhine’s seduction. Cinesias is seen as desperate for sex as he is “stiff with desire”. The word stiff is used to describe Cinesias’s penis, which shows his sexual desires and how desperate he is for sex. This also shows that he is unable to control his sexual temptations, while Myrrhine is able to; further revealing that men were weak. The quote: “won’t you please come?” proves this as Cinesias is shown pleading for sex.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Compare And Contrast Allegory Of The Cave And Lysistrata
    • 1653 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Compare And Contrast Allegory Of The Cave And Lysistrata

    A big part of democracy is the freedom of speech and at this point in time of history, women stand in the shadows of their husbands especially when political discussions arise. In Lysistrata the main character, Lysistrata is all for democracy and the defense of democracy. The Greek culture was very focused on war and a lot of the economy was focused solely on producing resources for the war, all the revenue it would receive from the war and many even many of the Greek gods were related to war. Soldiers would pray to their gods during, before, and after and a victory was a gift from the gods and a loss was a punishment from the gods. War seemed to be the only thing that had any intention of the husbands and men of Greece, and Lysistrata along with her colleagues had enough of that. Although Aristophanes was secretly undermining the minds of high officials in Greece, he got away with it by incorporating his ideas for change with short…

    • 1653 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Lysistrata Research Paper
    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Lysistrata Research Paper

    To remedy this situation, Lysistrata told the women about her plan. “Well then, we must abstain utterly from the prick,” she tells them (Aristophanes 193, ln.121). In other words, she is telling the women to follow her and have a sex strike because, of how much it would impact the women’s husbands. Lysistrata tells them that she knows that the men will eventually give up when she says, “If we should sit around, rouged with skins well creamed, with nothing on but a transparent negligee, and come up to them with our deltas plucked quite smooth, and, once our men get stiff and want to come to grips, we do not yield to them at all but just hold off, they’ll make a truce in no time. There’s no doubt of that,” (193, ln. 148- 152). This mean that if they weren’t gettin sex, then would surely follow their wives orders in order to have sex again. In addition, the women would also go take over the Acropolis so, these soldiers wouldn’t be receiving any more money to continue fighting. Lysistrata tells Lampito not to worry about the…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    An Analysis of Women at the Thesmophoria
    • 857 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An Analysis of Women at the Thesmophoria

    In Women At The Thesmophoria Aristophanes Mockery Of Effeminate Men And Of Foreigners Is As Harsh As His Mockery Of Women…

    • 857 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    How Does Euripide Present Gender In Athenian Society
    • 1750 Words
    • 7 Pages

    How Does Euripide Present Gender In Athenian Society

    This means we have a slightly skewed view on gender coming from upper class male citizens. This must be taken into account when discussing how characters conform to these views, as they may not give us the full picture. Women and men in Classical Athens had vastly different expectations and purposes placed upon them. The ideal woman was modest, chaste, willingly submissive to the male…

    • 1750 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Lysistrata Gender Roles
    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Lysistrata Gender Roles

    Athens terrible war with Sparta has been going on for years and Lysistrata, a middle-class housewife from Athens, organized a meeting with women from Athens and other cities, including Sparta, that the women should all refuse to have sex with their husbands until their husbands end the ridiculous war. After convincing the women, Lysistrata also explains that she's sent women to occupy the Acropolis, the government center of Athens, therefor hoping to gain control of the treasury, and be able to cut off the money supply for the war. The women swear an oath that they will follow Lysistratas’ plan, and the women join together at the Acropolis. The Chorus of Men met them there from Athenian, chorus referring to “a group” in the play who advise one another, they have come with fire to smoke the women out of the Acropolis; however, the Chorus of Women shows up carrying buckets of water. After the Women's Leader drenches the Men's Leader, the group of men leave embarrassed, showing the first bit of power that the woman obtained over the men. Lysistrata then emerges from the Acropolis to complain that she is worried that the women are all going against the oath, and trying to have sex with their husbands. This is a huge conflict because the women need to stick together, and fight together against the men if they wanted any change. An…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Role of Women in Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days
    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Role of Women in Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days

    In most Greek mythology there is a general hostility towards the female sex, which relays that most poets and writers themselves were sexist. Throughout Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days, women are portrayed in a very subservient manner, placing them far below men and are almost despised. However, in more than one instance, manipulation, women’s true power, is shown. They are constantly described as beautiful temptresses, which could be thought of as the weakness of many men. When Theogony and Works and Days are looked at as a whole it is obvious that Hesiod’s opinion of women, most likely shared by the Greeks themselves, is that they are inferior and subordinate to men.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Antigone Research Paper
    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Antigone Research Paper

    When U2’s Bono sings “women of the future hold the big revelations” (Bono “Get On Your Boots”), he is referencing the rise of women’s roles in Africa in the twenty-first century. Yet, this phrase can also apply to women in other time periods such as in ancient Greece seen in the Sophocles’ play entitled Antigone. In Antigone, the protagonist, Antigone, is a daughter of the house of Lauis, which is a noble, ruling family that has been through much affliction from deaths in the family. When a law forbids Antigone to honor her traitorous (to the state) brother in a proper burial, Antigone disobeys it to honor the gods’ instructions. This act eventually leads to the deaths of Antigone and other main characters. For the twenty-first century reader, it is important to understand how gender roles and relationships vary from time period to time period in order to fully appreciate the equal status of women in today’s society. The authors of the feminist play, Antigone, portrays the society’s perspective of women as vindictive people, the limitations of women, and the growing strong-willed quality of some women that start to rise in the respective time period.…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Madea and Marriage
    • 2052 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Madea and Marriage

    “We women are the most unfortunate creatures” (Euripides 695). This worn-out grievance has poured through the vocal chords of all women since the first pains of childbirth, but more importantly the atrocious day men began to pervert the customs of marriage. Prominence and provocation clothe the declaration as Medea, a forlorn woman abandoned by her husband, explains the status and circumstances women of ancient Greece were subject to desolately endure. Scholars are blinded by the era of great philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, but the institutions and governments built by these “great men” denied the admittance of women into their institutions and therefore closed the door to potentially incredibly intelligent minds. All women, even those leading satisfactory lives, were subject to the unfair laws and barriers men created. Although women have been cast into the depths of submission through out the course of history, Medea daringly broke the ideal perception of weak and ignorant women in the Greek tragedy, Medea, where she made an aggressive speech by mournfully proclaiming,…

    • 2052 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Odyssey - Gender Roles
    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Odyssey - Gender Roles

    The literature of this sort of masculine society, of which the Iliad and Odyssey are examples, aptly illustrates these social conventions. The themes of these works are subjects which are of interest to men; warfare, hunting, the problems of the warrior and ruler, and so forth. That which would concern women, such as domestic affairs, is not involved in this literature, or is dealt with only casually. Keeping in mind this important attribute of epic poetry, which is the direct result of its social and intellectual environment, one cannot help noting the great difference between the Odyssey and all other epic poems. No other literary work of this period, or of a similar cultural background, gives such a prominent position to women. No reader of the Odyssey can help having vivid memories of the poem’s outstanding female characters. There are many women in the Odyssey and all of them contribute in mean-ingful ways to the development of the action. Furthermore, they are treated seriously and with respect by the poet, as if there were no difference between his attitude toward them and his feelings toward the chieftains for whom his epic was composed. Among the memorable women in the poem are Nausicaa, the innocent young maiden; Arete, the wise and benevolent queen and mother; Circe and Calypso, the sultry and mysterious temptresses; Penelope, the ideal of marital devotion and fidelity; Helen, the respectable middle-class matron…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics