Lysistrata and the Peloponesian War Essay -- essays papers

Lysistrata and the Peloponesian War Many comedies of this time period explore issues that were of importance to those people. Lysistrata is no different. It explores issues relevant to the time period in which it was written. Aristophanes uses the Peloponnesian War to illustrate the differences between the men and women of the time period. As Lysistrata begins, the women are gathering for their meeting with Lysistrata. They gripe and complain about how late the others are for the meeting, while Lysistrata begins to clue them in on her plan. Once all have arrived who will be arriving, she gives them the details of her plan to stop the war. That plan being that they with hold sexual favors from their husbands or lovers until the war is over. For the most part, only one other woman, Lampito, is in agreement with her. The others cannot fathom doing such a thing. After all, they cannot go without sexual pleasures, could they? Eventually, Lysistrata and Lampito convince the others to go along with the plan. Finally, the women who did not give up and go home manage to seize the acropolis. The elders and magistrates try their best to smoke the women out, but to no avail. The women dump water on the men and stand their ground. Eventually the men of both sides had enough of being denied sexual pleasures and came together to si gn the treaty. They were reluctant at first, but they gave way to the women’s wishes and signed the treaty ending the war between Athens and Sparta. The references to the war in the text are actually quite blatant. The war is openly referred to during the course of the story. The women do what they do because they are sick of their men being gone at war. The women did not like the idea at first. They ... ...superior to the women, and that the women believe themselves to be subservient to men. The Peloponnesian War was important in Lysistrata in that it enabled Aristophanes to have a context within which to describe the attitudes and personalities of men and women of this time period. People are not always as they seem. The men of Athens and Sparta knew their women were bothers at home, but they found out that their actions at home were nothing compared to what could happen when a whole group got together and decided to accomplish something. Lysistrata show’s us all the value of working together as a team to accomplish a goal. As it was put by Magill Book Reviews, â€Å"LYSISTRATA is high comedy, as popular and timely today as it was when it was written. The humor is broad and bawdy. Like much good comedy, the play holds up to ridicule contemporary conditions and situations.†