Discussion Topic

Themes and Contemporary Relevance of Aristophanes' Lysistrata

Summary:

Aristophanes' Lysistrata explores themes of war, obedience, and the power of sex. The women in the play, tired of the ongoing Peloponnesian War, unite to withhold sex from their husbands as a means to force peace, thus challenging traditional gender roles and demonstrating female agency. The comedic treatment of love underscores the absurdity of war and gender dynamics. Contemporary relevance is found in the way sex is used as a tool for negotiation, reflecting ongoing gender power struggles. Potential alternative titles like "Make Love, Not War" or "Sex and Politics" highlight these central themes.

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What are the themes in Lysistrata?

Another theme is war or violence.  The women rebel against the men and get together (from both sides) to plan how to end the war their men are fighting.  The women withhold sex on both sides of the war in order to end the fighting.  So, ultimately, the men are fighting against one another and the women are uniting to fight against the men to end the war/violence.  Very ironic, and extremely amusing.

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One of the themes in Lysistrata is obedience. The women are no longer willing to be subservient to the men. This shocks the men when the women are vocal about their discontent, and willing to fight about it if necessary. They are giving up the usual, traditional roles of wife and mother to fight.

Another theme is that of sex. The women are using sex as a weapon to fight the men....

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They band together and withhold sex in an attempt to weaken the men and have them give in. It is one of the few true weapons that these women have in their arsenal.

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How does Aristophanes incorporate the theme of love in Lysistrata?

Lysistrata is more a comedy about married sex than about married love, and this observation in and of itself may contain some ideas about how Aristophanes treats the theme of love in this play.

In this play, wives withhold sex from their husbands as a way of protesting their husbands' participation in the Peloponnesian War; they insist that the men stop fighting and killing each other. The theme of love is easy to trace in this description, as the play focuses on the relationships between husbands and wives. As the wives do not want their husbands to get hurt or get killed, that must be some proof of affection, attachment, and even love. Aristophanes does not treat love as a clearcut romantic emotion between wives and husbands, however; it is not loving, for example, to use sex as a means of manipulation (even though the manipulation is meant to be life-saving).

Love is not treated very seriously in Lysistrata, which plays on traditional and historical views of sex and gender roles: the men are more interested in sex than the women, and the women use this to get what they want from the men.

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What new title would you suggest for Lysistrata that reflects its main themes, and how do these themes relate to contemporary issues?

This is an interesting prompt and while you need to write 500 words for this, my response is a bit shorter, but should provide you with a good start.

In the 1960s in America there was a popular anti-war saying that might make a strong alternative title for Lysistrata: Make Love, Not War.

One of the most significant themes of the play is sex. The women in Lysistrata use sex as a means of controlling the men in their lives. The women withhold sex from them so long as the men are at war. The title character, Lysistrata, uses this late in the play as a means of trying to negotiate peace. When that doesn't work, she gets the men drunk and it is then that they are seduced into calling a truce. If we think about the new title, Make Love, Not War, one could see how the women are enticing the men to do just that. The message they are sending to the men is that if they stop the war, they will again be allowed to make love.

So how does this theme or main idea connect to our world today? The argument could be made that sex can and is still used by women as a bargaining chip, whether it be to convince men not to go to war or simply to do something else the woman wants or needs. One other theme of the play is that men viewed women of the time as powerless, yet the one thing that men did value women for (sex) was so powerful that without it, the men were powerless. That carnal need has not changed. Men still desire sex and women can still withhold it from them in order to get their way.

In terms of your personal response to the theme or main idea, you should probably think about the motivations of Lysistrata and the other women in the play. Why is it they are withholding sex? Is their cause noble? Is it justified? Keep in mind that the women in this play are the ones left behind during this war. They are raising the children, they are abandoned for the most part by their husbands and fathers, and the young women have no young men left to even marry because they are off at war dying. As a result of their extreme solution to ending the war, critics have often described the women in this play as strong and brave. You might think about whether or not you agree with this. Consider how the men in the story are portrayed as you craft your own response to the theme. If you must connect your response to the world today, the reasons why the women in the play withhold sex will probably be very different than real-world examples you may find in 2016, so your opinion might be based on the theme of the play, where you see these connections in the real world, or both. Ultimately, you will need to consider the motivations of the women in the play (and they were responding to extreme circumstances) as you think about how women might use this same tactic today.

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What could be an alternative title for Lysistrata reflecting its theme?

The first thing you need to do in order to complete this assignment successfully is to think about the major ideas of Aristophanes's Lysistrata. Although some modern critics think about the play in terms of female empowerment, that is probably anachronistic. For Aristophanes, the idea of females acting in unison to affect affairs of state was inherently comic, rather like the idea of a man flying to Olympus on a dung beetle or birds and humans allying together against the gods. Much of Aristophanes's literary technique involves portraying the fantastic or absurd for comic effect while nevertheless making an important political or social point.

The central point of the play, as of many other plays by Aristophanes, was to oppose the Peloponnesian wars. An important aspect of this opposition, and again something consistent across several works by Aristophanes, was that war tended to harm ordinary citizens, especially farmers and people who were not members of the political elite. 

While you are the only person who can determine your own personal response to the play, the key issue you might look at is the effect of constant war on the citizens of countries in which the fighting is occurring. For example, you might look at news reports about daily life in Somalia, Libya, or Syria. You might also look at Lysistrata's actions and think about what sort of actions private citizens can take to oppose wars. 

While actually writing a title for you would be a form of academic dishonesty, I would suggest that you think about something related to this major theme of war and what ordinary women (or average citizens in general) can do to prevent or end wars.

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Lysistrata is an appropriately named play. It is titled after the play's main protagonist, and this is something that is quite common. John Wick, Rocky, Donnie Brasco, Jerry Maguire, and Annie Hall are all movies that have been named after the title character. Choosing a title that is reflective of themes is less common, because themes tend to be more obscure than title characters or even main plot points or conflicts, such as The Hunger Games.

Lysistrata has a lot of potential themes to work with, but most of them are focused on sex, the power of sex, power struggles between men and women, and how sex and politics can influence each other. Generally speaking, a title also serves as a hook. Boring titles don't create audience interest, and a title can create interest by being somewhat vague. For this play, a potential title that reflects present themes could be "Sex and Politics." The play most definitely deals with the power of sex, absence of sex, and political fallout from sexual frustrations. "Sex and Politics" could work quite well, and there is precedent that using the word "sex" in the title is an effective hook. Take Sex and the City as an example. Sex Tape, Sex Education, and Sex & Drugs, & Rock & Roll also work as examples. The list of book titles that use the word "sex" as a hook is massive, so I think that word should definitely be in your title. "Sex and Politics" is a title that reflects Lysistrata's actions within the play. She wants the war to stop, and she is willing to use sex to make it happen. The twist is that she and the other women use the absence of sex to control the political climate. Maybe an alternative title could be "The Power of Abstinence" or "Abstinence and Politics."

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