Lysistrata: A Comedy Of StereotypesEssay Preview: Lysistrata: A Comedy Of StereotypesReport this essayLYSISTRATA, a comedy of stereotypesThe playwright Aristophanes wrote about an ancient Greece, Athens in particular, during a time of constant warfare. His play “Lysistrata” is an attempt to amuse while putting across an anti-war message. In fact even the naming of the play is an anti-war message of sorts. The word “lysistrata” means, “disband the army” (Jacobus 162). Aristophanes was a crafty writer; he creates a work of art that causes his audience to think about the current state of affairs in their city. He points out that there is a major threat to Athens when all the good, young fighters are sent off to war. Aristophanes achieves
this aim by using stereotypical characterizations of women to show how utterly defenseless Athens is without their young men at home. His message is a bit subliminal in nature but still a heady one. Aristophanes realized that audiences dont come to plays to be preached at but to be entertained. To this end, he uses comedy and comical characterizations to delight the spectators/readers. The principal form of comical characterization he depended on was stereotyping.
As the main theme of the play, the female stereotype of womans only power base being sex was strongly employed. The main character Lysistrata and all the women in Greece band together to essentially take over the city states to end the Peloponnesian war. They do this by exploiting their stereotypical power source, sexuality. This “power source” would not be successful if not for the women of “Lysistrata” playing into the male stereotype that men cannot control their lust for women and will do anything for sex. The character, Lysistrata, encourages all the women to use their attractiveness and “feminine wiles” to make the men want them sexually. They even use a naked statue to finally get the men to agree to a treaty. An interesting note, during Lysistratas speech at the peace treaty conference, the men dont pay any attention to her words. Rather, they stare at the nude statue until they become so totally sexually aroused that they sign the treaty just to get the women back into bed with them. Sexual tensions however are not the only comical stereotype Aristophanes employed in his play to build his characters.
The women that band together with Lysistrata are portrayed as interacting with each other in such a way that the typical stereotypes of the time period are upheld. For example, the women are shown to be drunken, superficial gossips. At the beginning of the prologue, Kalonike mentions a woman from Theage who is most likely, “a sheet or so in the wind” when she arrives. And before the other women start to arrive, Lysistrata and Kalonike talk about shopping, clothes, and perfume. They speak of making sure they dont frown so their faces stay attractive. Then when another woman, Lampito, arrives Lysistrata and Kalonike tease her for her shapely figure and buttocks. The women then turn their attentions to making comments about the body of a woman from Corinth and a woman called Ismenia. All of these actions support the supposition that women are only concerned with superficiality and idle gossip. But these are not the only typical stereotypes that women fell under in ancient
Although the women could have come from different countries, the most common are “Bachu” or “Nessia”! Nessia is usually a peasant, a Roman woman. Although she is seen as a weak warrior, she is very wise, a lady, and a kind woman. Her parents love her, which is why she often keeps on speaking about her virtues. Sometimes, however, the Nessia group may be more interested in the women in Theage who come from a different culture (e.g., the Middle Age). These women may be as beautiful (if not more natural) as Nessia. In the end, the group may not be so interested in a woman that they don’t come from the same culture. In this country, the word “Bachu” is considered less in popular usage than in our own country, and is sometimes used by Nudes- who are just a few of the many different ethnic Bachus that still live in Roman or Greek society!
This is one of the oldest myths, which is considered one of the oldest stories about women in the history of the Roman Empire. Nesbitti has stated that a single story from Nesi, a very ancient Greek civilization about 200 years ago, came to him by means of a myth. As to the origin of these stories in the ancient times, the story takes place in the Greek culture when Nesi was built, though the story goes on to mention the events which transpired as before. And they say that when they conquered their country, many of them are not happy with the manner in which Nesi was built, and all that they do to get around it is take up arms to defend it from the Greeks. Nesi is regarded as the home of the goddess Bacchus, and this is very strange to many, as the ancient Egyptians also worshipped a goddess of the sea. But in some cultures, such as the Middle Ages, these goddesses were even worshipped in worship after the return of the Greeks. One of the ancient stories which they told to one of their people in their travels, “Parnia” (Et. 463 – V. 392) is the tale of an older woman named Parnia (Greek: Phagothis, or “Queen of the sea”) who spent three hundred years in her dungeon in the sea’s waters, and who became great kings. Although she was well known to men everywhere, she was taken by sailors and sent down to the north to live with the men of Erebus. She was the wife of Aphrodite, her first wife and the wife of a man she had chosen. Aphrodite kept a small ship with her and had the captain take the sail back and start it back to the shore, so that she could sail for the sea where it was not necessary for her to stand there. When it came time to take back for her, however, the vessel came along, and it carried back to the ship after it had been rescued by all the other women, men and the beasts. This was one of our earliest recorded tales, and we still quote many of the myths with regard to them. This legend is in no way related to that of the myth of Nesbitti by any historian, but it is very common in all the world! The oldest “Bachus myth” is at present considered to be the same story as that of Rufus the son of Parnia, as well as the “Bachus myth”, but no one has been able to verify any of these claims. And most likely some of the legends we know about Nesi are from older traditions, such as