Analysis of Lysistrata

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Analysis of Lysistrata

Introduction

Lysistrata is a comedy by Aristophanes that was originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BCE as a humorous account of woman’s mission to end the Peloponnesian War by denying all the men sex which they consider the only true desire of a man. In the play, Aristophanes combines two styles making Lysistrata both a sharp political satire and a comedic mayhem.  Aristophanes attempts to convey different themes in the play such as women and femininity, sex, men and masculinity, and warfare.  This paper analyses the historical background of the play and how the play relates to gender relationships in the Greek culture.

Historical background

The historical setting for the Aristophanes’ Lysistrata is the Ancient Greek city of Athens. The play takes place in the same year that it was written in 411 BCE. During this time there was the Peloponnesian War. This was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League that was led by Sparta. The play was written at a time when the thing was going sideways in the war especially for the Athenians after a massive fleet got massacred in Sicily two year before 411 BCE.

Due to the massive loss of life during the massacre, most people would have seen the perceived the war as a complete disaster and would have deemed peace as the best solution to end the war. In Aristophanes’ play, the women are the leading advocates for peace to end the war and they decided to take action to ensure that their men stop the war by denying them their conjugal rights. The desire for peace might have been Aristophanes’ inspiration for the play. However, this was not sufficient to stop inspire the men and women of Athens to have the desire for peace due to a high number of lives lost during the war. The war continued, and in the long run, the Athenians lost. However, the play still provides an understanding of how the people felt during this time and provides insight of gender relationship in Athenian society during the period.

Gender relationship

Despite the fact that the Athens was democratic, all the political power was held by the male citizens with the women enjoying relatively fewer rights and privileges. It was not possible for an Athenian woman to hold a political office or participate in the democratic processes such as voting or debates. The women were also denied a place in the judiciary system, and the economic activities of Athenian women were very limited. Limitations were also impacted on the freedom of movement of women. Their education and responsibilities were focused on domestic activities such as raising children and weaving cloths. Only a few women were deemed as powerful in Athens, and they included the priestess of the goddess of wisdom Athena, hetairai, courtesans or prostitutes who in most cases were considered as have a lower social status than other citizen’s wives but were significantly compensated by having more privileges.