Lysistrata: Feminist or War Comic?

Lysistrata is considered by most scholars to be Aristophanes' greatest work, as prevailing and appropriate now as it was when it was written. Many readers today can easily relate to the play's blatant feminism. But, in context, Aristophanes may have intended for it to be more M*A*S*H than a distant relative to Sex and the City. Historically, could the play have been more a war comedy than feminist war cry?

Taking place in early 400 BC, Lysistrata follows the tale of a woman by the same name that's determined to end the Second Peloponnesian War and secure peace. Lysistrata enlists the help of women from Corinth, Sparta and Boeotia. She convinces them that the best way to obtain peace would be to withhold sex from their husbands. First horrified by her suggestion, the women are finally persuaded. Lysistrata and a few of her supporters, despite the complaining chorus of old men, keep their vigil in the Acropolis, waiting for their husbands.

The old men of Athens, those unable to fight in war, build fires around the Acropolis, attempting to smoke the women out. This does little but anger the women, who retaliate by dowsing them with water. Long debates take place between the men and women, young and old, both asserting themselves in society.

Eventually the husbands return from war after hearing of what their wives are doing. They arrive with large erections, desperate for sexual release. Lysistrata furthers their hardship by flaunting a nude handmaiden in front of them. Unable to resist the temptation much longer, the leaders of Athens and Sparta reconcile. The women are returned to the men and celebration ensues, the kind of which can easily be imagined.

Feminist issues, like the oppression of women and the inequality of the sexes, are more than obvious when reading Lysistrata. Lysistrata herself addresses these issues and curses the ignorance of women for allowing them to take place. "I'm on fire to the bone. I'm positively ashamed to be a woman- a member of a sex which can't even live up to male slanders! To hear our husbands talk, we're sly, deceitful, always plotting, monsters of intrigue..." (Aristophanes 11-15) she says, leading up to her climatic decision to withhold sex. Almost all of her dialogue is a pro-feminist diatribe about the need for more female involvement in society. Even though the other female characters do not portray as much courage and conviction as Lysistrata does, they are still inspired enough to follow her lead.

Sex, as it does in many Greek comedies, plays a major part. The penis, in literal and metaphoric phallic forms, is always present for comic relief, something else the Greeks were famous for. And as the only tool to their disposal, sexual intercourse proves to be the women's most powerful weapon. The concept is a little hard to believe, men finding peace simply for sex, but as a satire it points out contemporary conditions that can be seen as ridiculous. Women were obviously meant to serve two purposes, sexual relief and child bearing. It was an insult to men, portraying them as dumb-headed beasts that strove for only one thing and perceived their wives as nothing more "than a home-grown bother" (Aristophanes 282-285).

The feminist movement is a centuries old struggle. Many pieces of great literature have been dedicated to the cause and many writers have dedicated their careers to the movement. This long list would include Christine de Pisan, Jane Anger, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Fuller, George Elliot and many, many others. Other Greek playwrights, such as Euripides, and even William Shakespeare were known to write on the suffrage of women. Some works, like John Fletcher's The Woman's' Prize, "...immediately (invite) comparison with Aristophanes' Lysistrata, where women likewise overrule their husbands by withholding their favors" (Meyers 4).

This idea of women as strong sexual creatures who are more than a means to an end is very present in modern day media. The popular television show Sex and the City almost instantly comes to mind. The four main characters, all women, constantly fight their female stereotypes. Their personal as well as professional lives become battlefields. Equality as well as understanding is all they ask for and in the end is exactly what they get.

The drive to be Cinderella is no longer something young girls are raised to become. Instead, they are raised with the belief that they can be what ever they want, foregoing marriage and children if necessary.

Another interpretation, though not quite as popular as the feminist one, is the idea that Lysistrata is simply a comedy of war, using the feminist qualities for satirical relief. The scholar James Weigel put it best:

...(T)he play deals openly with sex, feminism, and pacifism- all major preoccupations of the late twentieth century... (It) seems rather thin in imagination. Undoubtedly the basic assumption of the comedy- that women could achieve peace and government reform through sexual abstinence- was an ancient idea even in Aristophanes' time....Sex- particularly the battle of the sexes- is a traditional subject for comedy, and Greek comedy in fact evolved in part from phallic farce. The play's central idea- that women take over the affairs of state- would have seemed irresistibly comic to Aristophanes and his audience. The slapstick and banter between chorus of old men and the chorus of women simply restate the age- old contest between male and female.

Weigel also goes on to sum up that:

Lysistrata carries a more important theme than sexuality, which is merely used as a weapon to bring about peace...(even though) the dramatist clearly regards Lysistrata as a heroine and not as a butt for humor.

The use of comedy to ridicule war is as popular as the feminist comedy. Aristophanes, the father of the war comedy genre, actually wrote four war comedies. The list of the influenced includes prolific writers as Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Oliver swift, Voltaire, Virginia Woolf and many others. The 1964 film Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a modern satire many of us are familiar with (Maddocks, 29).

The debate whether Lysistrata is a feminist comedy or war comedy can be evaluated in historical context. When it was written, Aristophanes may very well have intended the play to be a female empowering piece, showing the necessity of women in society. But, the women in the play end up becoming the deceitful and conniving creatures the husbands had conceived them to be. Is Lysistrata then a warning to men to keep their women under control? If Lysistrata was truly meant to be feminist, then why did she stress a major reason for stopping the war is the fact that so many women are left without men to marry? It would make more sense, since both the women and the men are shown in an unflattering light, that Aristophanes meant for his play to display the absurdity of war. The feminist qualities we identify today were very possibly nothing more than comedic mechanisms and coincidences.

In the 1960's, during the Vietnam War, the slogan "Make Love, Not War" most likely was inspired by the core message behind Lysistrata. In 2002, more than forties years later, an organization called The Lysistrata Project was formed in response to the September 11^th attacks on the World Trade Center in New

York City. Their slogan is a simple one, "Peace in the world is attainable." It's main objective was to prevent the war on Iraq. But despite it's best efforts, the attack still took place. Regardless, the organization still holds worldwide readings of their namesake in an attempt to inspire and influence. They continue carrying out a message of peace, "dedicated to bridging the spiritual, social activist and women's communities, and through ...(their) combined economic and creative power...(humanize) the global agenda" (www.lysistrataproject.org).

Aristophanes believed if men were busy making love, they wouldn't have had had time for war. He also debatably believed that if men were busy with war, then women would take over the public. In today's society, that is an idea we can believably imagine. But in his time, it was more than likely a ridiculous notion. Agree or disagree with his belief that women are best kept at home and entertained, one thing is for certain, men and women alike would be much happier with out the existence of war. That is the important part.

Works Cited

Aristophanes. "Lysistrata" (translated by Douglass Parker)

The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Volume A.

Second Edition. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: Norton, 2002.

727-778

Maddocks, Melvin. "Comedy and War"

Sewanee Review. Vol. 112, Issue 1. University of the South: 2004. 22-34

Meyers, Walter E. "The Woman's Prize Essay."

Masterplots, Definitive Revised Edition. Salem Press, Inc.: 1976

Weigel, James. "Lysistrata" (Work Analysis)

Masterplots, Revised Second Edition. Salem Press, Inc.: 1996

The Lysistrata Project. (March 2006) www.lysistrataproject.org/aboutus.htm