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ARISTOPHANES’
LYSISTRATA
Danielle Bradley
Julia Carey
Kevin Wong
Heather Garleb
Aristophanes the Comic Dramatist
The Basics
•born 5th century BC in Athens
•wealthy family – well educated
•may have served an apprenticeship for older dramatists
•lived during a period of extreme political turmoil
•Athens was famous and powerful but democracy began to sour
•Peloponnesian War demoralized citizens and brought deceitful
politicians to power (Cleon)
•Aristophanes was prosecuted by Cleon several times for defaming
Athens in his work which satirized the citizens’ behavior
•Sparta seized and obtained a base near Athens, which formed the
background for Lysistrata
•not in love with democracy but was careful never to openly
express opposition
•makes fun of gods, but never mocks religious observances
A Call for Peace
•achieved numerous victories at the City Dionysia and the Lenaea
•appears in Plato’s Symposium – humorous account of Love (of course related to sex!)
•Aristophanic criticism – “Aristophanes’ immense, kaleidoscopic artistry and inventiveness
in word and image, theme and structure, sound and sound, but denies him any serious
aims in the political and social fields”
•always afraid of not being taken seriously
•wrote a total of 40 plays, but only 11 exist today
•only writer of “Old Comedy” to remain
•Other works include: The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, Peace, Thesmophoriazusae
•probably died sometime between 386 and 380
First Production of Lysistrata
•produced in 411 BC
•probably at the Lenaea, a small festival of Dionysus, Theatre of Dionysus south of the
Acropolis
•the competition was between choruses
•competition rule limited the number of actors with speaking parts – 4 was the limit for comedy
•Aristophanes’ scripts strongly suggest that he did not follow this rule
•person-situation-idea
•painted panels and skene to represent setting
One Last Interesting Thing!
•actors wore close-fitting bodysuits & short tunics that left uncovered a large
leather phallus!
•could be made unobtrusive by being curled into a look and tied up to itself or
“left to hang loose” or shown erect!
•certain male characters wore full-length garments to appear to be a woman
without changing his clothes – ex. Magistrate
Athens At The Time…
• 431- Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War
• 430-426- The Great Plague of Athens
• 429- Death of Pericles
• 423- Truce of one year (begins day after Dionysia)
• 422- Truce expires, fighting resumed (in Thracian region only). Cleon killed at
Amphipolis (summer); peace negotiations follow.
• 421- Peace of Nicias (takes effect twelve days after City Dionysia).
• 415- Sicilian expedition sets out.
• 413- Total destruction of Sicilian expedition
• 411- Lysistrata / Oligarchic coup of Four Hundred, who rule for four months
(summer).
Aristotelian Thoughts
The extended analysis of comedy was lost!
The following is what we know:
Comedy does not involve pain or
destruction.
Comedy is better if it links jokes as if in a
connected sequence.
A moral badness is inherent in characters.
Central figures are lowly (like peasants,
or in this case, women), as
opposed to tragedy.
Lack of Pain and Destruction
Connected Jokes
Although the play focuses on
dismantling the Peloponnesian
War, it is removed from the text.
The violence that occurs (the men
trying to take back the Acropolis) is
comedic.
(188) Athenian slips and says Legs,
which is itself funny. Then Lysistrata
makes the same “mistake” and
connects the jokes in a sequence.
Moral Badness
Inferior Central Figure(s)
As a woman, Lysistrata should not be
making any act against men. In the
context of Grecian culture circa 411
BC (bread crumbs), she was morally
badass.
The central figures are all women;
how much more inferior can you
get?
Under the Reverse Scope of Tragedy
Inherent Badness:
Women do not act inferior.
Inappropriateness:
The women take off their clothing, lash out against
men, withhold sex against the wishes of men.
Un-likeness:
The characters are not reflections of the women
of that time.
Inconsistency:
Actually consistent, especially sequentially.
Bravery and Cruelty:
(As opposed to fear and pity) Storming the
Acropolis, deny their husbands intercourse.
Comedic Hero:
Lysistrata, ultimately stopped the war.
The Chorus
•Comedy
•Old/past their peak sexual age
•Women = smart/Men = dumb
•Parallel the action of the story
•Rhyme/ Very lyrical (light-hearted & humorous)/ Represents unity
•Create the setting (not so much visual, but more in relation to at what
period of time in Greek history this is happening in)
Old horny people… you gotta love em
Memorable Moments
Lysistrata: How? Well, just imagine. We’re at home, beautifully made up, and we walk around the house
wearing sheer lawn shifts and nothing else; the men are all horny and can’t wait to leap on us; and we
keep our distance and refuse to come to them—then they’ll make pace soon enough, you’ll see.
Lampito: Didn’t Menelaus drop his sword, I’m thinking, when he got be a wee glimpse of Helen’s twa wee
apples?
"That we should not be allowed to make the least little suggestion to you, no matter how much you
mismanage your affairs? But NOW every time two men meet in the street, what do they say? 'Isn't there
a MAN in the country?' And the answer comes, 'Not one.' That's why we women got together and
decided to unite and save Greece. What was the point of waiting any longer? So let's make a deal. You
listen to us-and it'll be good advice we give-listen to us and keep quiet, like you made us do, and we'll set
you to rights." (p 161)
“Still the saying’s true – We can’t live with you, we can’t live without you! Let us make peace, that’s
what we ought to do; If you don’t hurt us, we will never flout you. Let our division now be dead and
done: Let us unite and sing our songs as one.” (p 183)
“I’m going to get a gown dyed saffron, by the Holy Twain!” (p 143)
When Calonice is juxtaposed against Lysistrata’s masculinity, it becomes clear that all types of women
must come together to bring peace to Greece.
Questions….
1. Even though the women of the time were considered to be inferior, do you think Aristophanes is
trying to say otherwise? That perhaps women are intelligent and should be listened to?
2. Although many feminists see Lysistrata as a champion over the oppression she faces by men, it is also
possible to see femininity as being represented in the play as completely deceptive, because "she" is
not real at all - the woman must be given shape and existence by a male actor. Did Aristophanes choose
to make women the "comic figure" of the play or is he attempting to suggest their power?
3. In Lysistrata, women from Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth come together to protest against the
men at war. Lysistrata often uses the word “country” as a substitute for “city” (in reference to Athens)
as a way of uniting the people of Greece, even though at this time Greece was still not a united nation.
Aside from Aristophanes’ desire for peace, do you see this call for a united Greece as an underlying
message of the play?
4. Although Lysistrata is a comedy, do you find Aristophanes’ satirical criticism of the Athenian
citizens as a form of rebellion against the wars and the way government is run during his lifetime,
or simply just as a comedy?
5. Though the women in the play utilized their sexuality to achieve their desired ends, they also
physically held the Acropolis, denying the men the funds needed to continue the war. Yet, this defiance
seems to play second fiddle to the act of abstinence. Why is this? Is sex just so much more interesting
that we’d rather focus on that than on the boring concept of holding the acropolis? Perhaps not all of us
were focused primarily on the sex? (I was.) Would the audience in Aristophanes day have responded
much as we do today?