Aristophanes Lysistrata begins with Lysistrata planning and calling a meeting for the women in Greece. The agenda of the meeting is to discuss plans to end the war. The women, however, seem not to be showing up, which leads to Thebes cursing the weakness of women. Calonice explains the lateness of the women by saying, “we have got to fuss about our husbands, wake up the servants, calm and wash the babies, then give them food.” The Women’s life artwork, on the other hand, is done portraying the Greek woman who is controlled by men at every stage of their lives. These two pieces of literature depict the Greek ideologies. Lysistrata challenges the role of the woman, while Women’s life sheds light on the role of the Greek woman as this will be depicted throughout the paper.
The Lysistrata play encompasses humor while dealing with the desire and the life of the women in the Athenian society, including their ability to have some effect on society. Lysistrata convinces the women to withhold sexual privileges and eventually take control of the city’s finances to end the war. “All right, Lampito, let’s swear an oath as quickly as we can. That way, we’ll be united.” Through this oath, the women unite towards the same goal. The oath is to ensure that every woman follows through. The women are capable of taking back the power from the men, and they are very determined. They are unsatisfied with how the men are handling the war, and this is what prompts them to take over. The fact that they can come together towards a common goal shows the intelligence of women as depicted by Aristophanes.
The women are tired of the war, which has been going on for years and still keeps the city in turmoil. The reason for them taking over seems to be that the war separates them from their husbands, preventing them from enjoying time together. Since the women are meant to wear pretty dresses and bend to their husbands’ will, Lysistrata compels the women to prance around in their most beautiful outfits while denying sex to their spouses until the war ends.
The Greek society believes that the place of women is in the house doing household chores and pleasing their husbands. The same is depicted in Women’s life, which explains that the paramount duties for a city-dwelling woman are to bear children and to run the household. Greek women have no political rights and their opinions in the same do not matter. The men spend most of their time away from their houses making their houses solely dominated by the women. Similarly, in Lysistrata the men are kept away from their homes but this play explains the main reason behind this being the war. This is seen when Calonice says, “My dear, it’s five full months my man’s been gone off in Thrace taking care of Eucrates.” These men, while away, expect the women to run the household and take care of the children.
Given how women are held in low regard when the women stand up against the men, the men become more aggressive towards them. This concern is first seen when women are planning to stand up and take a stand. Calonice asks, “And if they beat us?” which shows their worry that defying what is expected of them could lead to violence.
Women rising against the stereotype that they should not be involved in the war or politics seems to be a taboo in Greece. The actions of the women shock men, and they seem offended. “O Strymodorous, who’d ever think they’d hear such news about our women – the ones we fed in our homes are truly bad.” The men are willing to set the women on fire because they dared to rise and take a stand. This is a very extreme decision, but the men feel that women should be punished for their actions. This goes to show how low the men think of the women. The men do not like to feel mocked, and they feel obliged to take back the control they have on the women. The men are used to be in control hence the extreme measures that they resort to when the women challenge the norms. The author depicts, although through humor, how the Greek society had built roles for the women and roles for the men.
Still, while the men are set on setting the women on fire, the women carry jars of water to pour on the fire. They are still brave enough to go out and face the same men who want to burn them. The men underestimate the bravery of the women, and they are shocked when they see the women with jars of water. Eventually, the women are to be arrested, when the magistrate finds them at Akropolis.
The commissioner takes the opportunity to inform the men that they have been too generous and allowed the women to have too much freedom. The magistrate ends up in an argument with Lysistrata, who then takes the opportunity to air her thoughts on how the city should be run. According to Lysistrata, women have made a great sacrifice for the war since they have given their husbands and sons to it. The play challenges the notion that women should only be in the house. The fact that Lysistrata has opinions on how the city should be run is evidence enough that given a chance, women are capable of a lot more.
The fact that women were able to have an uprising and stand their ground makes Lysistrata comment that it is now difficult for a woman to find a husband. This shows that men would be intimidated by a woman who has an opinion or a woman who can stand up for herself. The women can get the men to negotiate peace for their lands, which also ends the war. Even though the style or the actions taken by the women are not common or involve violence, the women can stand up and advocate for peace of the land. This stand that challenges what the Greek believe to be the norm or the expectations of the society.
The two pieces of literature contrast each other. While one significantly challenges the Greek ideologies on how women should behave, the other one seems to express the role of the woman or the women’s life. This is assists in learning the history of the Greeks and the ideologies that were practiced at the time. Art and literature speak to the audience and depicts a particular message. Aristophanes Lysistrata would, therefore, be termed as feminist literature.