Comparing Gilgamesh's Lysistrata, Calonice And Peace

In the ancient world, views of women were often derogatory, yet some viewed women as intelligent and powerful. The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata both display the complex opinions towards women of the time. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the characters Shamhat and Ishtar provide the audience with a biased view towards women, but this work also provides a more positive opinion of women through Siduri, Utnapishtim's wife, and Aruru. As paralleled in Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, Calonice and Peace represent negative perspectives of women, but this play also portrays women positively with Lysistrata and Myrrhine. The ancient texts of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata simultaneously depict women as inferior and equal to men to represent the complex …show more content…
When Lysistrata tells Calonice her plan to convince the Athenian and Spartan men to stop fighting, Calonice exuberantly supports the plan because she wants to use femininity to mislead men; Calonice asks Lysistrata, “What thoughtful thing could women ever do? What vivid venture? We just sit decked out in saffron gowns, makeup about this thick, Cimberian lingerie and platform shoes” (827). Calonice’s first questions reveal her doubts about women’s intelligence. This self-doubt reflects the societal norms of how women’s intelligence is often overlooked or dismissed. This passage also demonstrates Calonice’s interest in material goods, which take priority over the peace Lysistrata is trying to create. Calonice’s materialism and dismissal of women’s intelligence reflect her society’s negative views of women. These views are demonstrated throughout the play, and the audience sees the culmination of society’s opinion of women in the scene with Peace. In one of the final scenes of the play, Lysistrata brings out a naked woman, named Peace, to taunt the sex-deprived Athenian and Spartan men, and the objectification and sexualization of Peace persuades them to end the Peloponnesian War (857-858). Lysistrata’s plan was very successful in bringing about peace between the two cities, but a truce could only materialize through the objectification of Peace, and …show more content…
The action of the play is centered around Lysistrata’s organization of the sex strike of Athenian and Spartan women, and this carefully constructed plan reveals Lysistrata’s intelligence, which can be applied to other women as well. At the beginning of the play, Lysistrata tells Calonice, “In women’s hands is the salvation of the whole of Greece” (826). This statement asserts women’s power and the importance of women’s actions in the political realm. Lysistrata’s cunning ability to bring about the end of the Peloponnesian War speaks volumes about women’s wisdom in affairs outside of the household. As the men of the town realized the women’s plan, Lysistrata confronts the Councilor and asks him, “But what were you expecting? Facing troops? Or herding slaves? Apparently you don’t think we have guts” (839). Lysistrata’s confrontation of the Councilor demonstrates that she is an empowered woman, and believes that all other women are powerful. Lysistrata’s active defense of her empowerment is echoed in Myrrhine’s interactions with her husband, Cinesias. As a result of the women’s sex strike, all of the men were impatient and demanding of their wives; however, Myrrhine resists her husband’s demands and stays loyal to her commitment to the rest of the Athenian and Spartan women. When Cinesias tries to get Myrrhine to have sex with him, she tells him, “Your hand can