Joseph
Ucci
Blog
Post 4: 3/28/2016
At the conclusion of the play,
Lysistrata truly redefines the role of women. Many women of the time would keep
their own ideas to themselves and never go forward with action to execute what
they wanted. Lysistrata not only wishes for the war to come to peace, but ends
up making it happen through scandalous, tricky, and rebellious movements.
Lysistrata uses Peace to her advantage by making her the final talisman that
convinces the men to end the war. Peace is unclothed and very beautiful,
holding the men’s attention to Lysistrata and her handmaid. Lysistrata acts as
the mediator among the Spartans and Athenians because she is the main reason
they are calling truce. Upon drawing a mutual agreement among the Spartans and
Athenians, Lysistrata pleads her role in the community and her role as a woman.
Lysistrata acting as the “judge” of the “court-case” among both Greek communities
shows that Lysistrata now holds the power. Spartan even says “Hain’t never seed
no higher type of woman.” (103) Lysistrata, after hearing pleads of both sides
and helping to correct what upsets both, states “Conclude the treaty and the
simple life is yours” (105). Once both sides agree to a treaty, Lysistrata
claims that the sex-strike will now be terminated—“every man of you will take
his wife and depart for home” (106). Both the women and men conclude the play
with what they wanted: the women have their husbands’ peace and the men have
their wives’ bodies.
The following quote by Albert
Einstein supports Lysistrata’s actions. She brings the different problems among
both communities to attention in order to give them an understanding of why
they are fighting one another. After seeing that many of the “reasons” they had
were invalid and very minor, they realized peace would be the best outcome.
The women get what they want for now. When manipulating the men all they used was their sex appeal. The women continue to do this again when using Peace to make peace. This allows the men to continue to objectify the women. So, does Lysistrata truly redefine the role of women?
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ReplyDeleteI like how you connected this Albert Einstein quote to your post. Einstein points out peace can only be achieved by understanding, which is what happens in the play. Lysistrata leads the men to peace through her unique form of domestic disobedience, thus helping the men realize their faults. Unfortunately, by the end of the agreement, the men are once again back in their old ways. They completely forget why the truce comes about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post about how the womens efforts showed the men that their fighting was for a bad reason. I thought the quote really related to how the women decided to fight the battle. The women are using a more peaceful strategy rather than brute force.
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