Lysistrata begins her feminist influenced quest to end the mighty war that ravages Greece. She asserts to end it by using abstinence from sex. Because Lysistrata believes the Athenian men will not be able to function without the intimacy of their wives and mistresses she predicts they will eventually be forced to cease the war. "We can force our husbands to negotiate Peace, Ladies, by exercising steadfast Self-Control-- By Total Abstinence." (24) Lysistrata plans to use a woman's greatest weapon against men in order to receive what they want. To quench their insatiable desire for their husbands' presence, the women decide to do what any intelligent army would do: strike their enemy where it'll hurt them the most.
Like most far-fetched war schemes the women are first reluctant to follow Lysistrata's orders. They fear the "the men will just leave [them] flat" or "drag [them] off to the bedroom by against [their] wills." (27) However, they all eventually agree to follow Lysistrata's orders because. Unlike traditional men's war rituals, the women have no attacking to do in order to get what they want; they only have defense. This makes the women much more likely to succeed in their efforts. The women do not have to coerce the male soldiers into creating peace but simply they have resist them until the men reach utter despair.
I completely agree with you, Lysistrata's "army" was in fact going to hit the opposing side where it hurt them the most. The women have realized their role as an overly sexualized object, and used that to try and get what they wanted. The women had agreed to free themselves from sex, their greatest desire, to gain peace and recognition. The women would be known as peacemakers. The women are a team and their greatest weapon is keeping sex off the table, the men are in for a battle, hopefully they don't cave to quickly.
ReplyDeleteI think this also reinforces the status of women in Grecian society. Men will not listen to them if they use reason and statistics to prove the purposelessness of the war, so they have to resort to using their bodies. It is ridiculous that men would only stop killing each other if their wives decide to stop having sex with them. The power of the female body against men, however, also proves female intelligence. This plan is definitely more cunning than the men will anticipate.
ReplyDeleteBeing a comedy, the play Lysistrata over exaggerates a lot of topics. However, there is truth in what Lysistrata says and does. The men tend to resort to violence as a way to settle problems while the women want to use logic and reason to end the war. In an ideal society, you need both strength and knowledge to get along with others. Otherwise an imbalance would create an assured self-destruction in war like the men in the play are doing.
ReplyDeleteLysistrata is doing the right thing by taking away the mans' desires. By taking themselves away from their husbands should give them a great amount of power over decisions the men have. The results should lead to war being brought to peace throughout Greece.
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