A Woman’s Worth
As I read Aristophanes’ Lyristrata, I wondered if he wrote this to unveil his true feelings about the Peloponnese war that was taking place. It would be easy to mask his feelings about ending the war behind a comedic satire about women and power. It would take the burden off of him as coming off too soft or not masculine enough because he wanted the ear to end.
Lyristata is about the Peloponnese war and the effect it has on both the men and women of Greece. Lyristrata is the heroine in the story that decided she wanted the war to end. The war was taking the men of Greece away. The women miss their husbands for several reasons: security, sex, reproduction, and love. The war was going on for about 20 years and most of the women were of child bearing age as Lyristrata pointed out, “A man, an absolute antique, comes back from the war/and he’s barely/doddered into town before he’s married the veriest/nymphet/.But a woman’s season is brief; it slips, and she’ll have/no husband, but sit out her life groping at omens—/and finding no men” so with the men being scarce then the women would have less opportunity to produce an heir. The war had an impact on …show more content…
Lyristrata knows that her femininity is a blessing and a curse. She knows that the men see the women merely as objects and therefore she uses that against them but by the same token she wants to be identified as a woman with a brain and intelligent enough to make the same decisions as a man. Several times throughout the play she distances herself from the other women as far as their lack of intelligence or their weaknesses. She also argues with the Magistrate several times about decision making and weaknesses. Lyristrata wants to prove that she is more than just a pretty face and her advice and wisdom is worth
As I read Aristophanes’ Lyristrata, I wondered if he wrote this to unveil his true feelings about the Peloponnese war that was taking place. It would be easy to mask his feelings about ending the war behind a comedic satire about women and power. It would take the burden off of him as coming off too soft or not masculine enough because he wanted the ear to end.
Lyristata is about the Peloponnese war and the effect it has on both the men and women of Greece. Lyristrata is the heroine in the story that decided she wanted the war to end. The war was taking the men of Greece away. The women miss their husbands for several reasons: security, sex, reproduction, and love. The war was going on for about 20 years and most of the women were of child bearing age as Lyristrata pointed out, “A man, an absolute antique, comes back from the war/and he’s barely/doddered into town before he’s married the veriest/nymphet/.But a woman’s season is brief; it slips, and she’ll have/no husband, but sit out her life groping at omens—/and finding no men” so with the men being scarce then the women would have less opportunity to produce an heir. The war had an impact on …show more content…
Lyristrata knows that her femininity is a blessing and a curse. She knows that the men see the women merely as objects and therefore she uses that against them but by the same token she wants to be identified as a woman with a brain and intelligent enough to make the same decisions as a man. Several times throughout the play she distances herself from the other women as far as their lack of intelligence or their weaknesses. She also argues with the Magistrate several times about decision making and weaknesses. Lyristrata wants to prove that she is more than just a pretty face and her advice and wisdom is worth