Lysistrata
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- When did Aristophanes live?
- 450 - 385 BC approx., in Greece
- What kind of cultural events happened in the 5th century?
- tragedy and comedies at winter festivals of Dionysus
- What elements constituted Greek theater?
- chorus, dancers, actors wearing masks
- What were the tones of Greek plays?
- burlesque and parodic, and an implicit serious theme
- What does Aristophanic mean?
- that criticizes instutions and personalities, poetry along with obscenity, face and wit.
-
What are the main characteristics?
humor, wit, quality - Excellent fooling, sexually and scatologically explicit, coarse humor and exquisite wit combined with lyric poetry of a high quality and comic plots of starling audacity.
- Difficult words
-
Andromache (ke)
Aristophanes
Lysistrata
Myrrhine ('ree) - Why is Lysistrata a twin-plot play?
- Women gain peace, and withold sex (humorous)
- Why is this play still relevant nowadays?
-
411 BC
sex is universal
politics
the urban center
establishment of peace
lost/death - What characteristics of old comedy does it have?
-
exotic and fantastic plot (to make it
more competitive in festivals) - What specific aspects of that time can you notice?
-
No participation (women) end up taking
over as expression
Old women taking over Acropolis (symbol
of power) - inversion - Protofeminism
- Play wasn't feminist. Women only wanted to have parties and sex.
- What historical fact is shown?
-
Sicily-Italy bet Athenians
"You've emptied our city of our men" -
What does the play imply about the
Sparthans? -
As the Sparthans had won the war, the
author uses coded lgge to make fun of
them. Lysistrata examines spartan woman
like a horse (dehumanizing) - What was the reaction to the play?
- It was not received well. Its explicit/obscene lgge, it provoked and exposed hypocrasy, used chocking aspects
- What is the inversion in Lysistrata?
- Women controlling the city. Function of making a point (such as Animal Farm and Planet Ape). Inversion works as an archetype
- What male characteristics can we find in Lysistrata?
-
rational, leader, not part of the sex thing, voyer side (away from sexuality), doesn't express sexual
desire, only feminine charact. is to want men to recover power. - How did Lysistrata treat other women?
-
She treated them as sexual objects
(another male characteristic)