Lysistrata Learner Pack-Task 5

Task 5

Michaela Spinks-Task 5

Themes	Evidence in the play
Power	The men in the City want to hang on to the power they have, and the women (led by Lysistrata) want to increase their own power. For the men, power is all about political authority and decision making, however for the women, power is not an end in itself. They particularly want to make a change and bring an end to the Peloponnesian War.
War	All the women are left to fend for themselves and their children (if they have any), which gives them their own independence and maturity. Most women seem lonely, and miss male company, or it could just be they don’t know what to do with themselves, however Lysistrata takes it as an opportunity to show the empowerment of women and their capability to look after themselves.
Relationships	Relationships are apparent through characters such as Myrhinne, whom seems very resistant to give up sex, but also to closeness she has with her husband. It hits her hard when he comes back and she has to resist him, and this forms a further contrast between her and Lysistrata who seems to have no difficulty restraining from sex. Calenice expresses her horror with renouncing sex, which is apparent in the first scene when she becomes over dramatic and persistent with the slapstick sex comments.
Gender Divide	Gender divide is visable from Lysistrata and the magistrate arguing about the capeability of women being involved in politics. This allows readers to be aware of the social stature of women in the Greek Athenian times, because women were see as unintelligent, and even Calenice expresses the difficulty of women taking control in Greece when stating that Greece would have no luck if politics were places in women’s hands.
Women and Femininity	Aristophanes portrays the women in the play as sex mad e.g. in the first scene, Calenice tantalizes Lysistrata by playfully mocking her words about being “big and meaty” and “Then how come we’re not all here?” which highlights the main topics on their minds.  However, the women keep a sense of pride and self-respect when they are able to keep it together and withhold themselves from sleeping with their husbands to put an end to the war.
Sex	Sex is very much made to look comedic in the play, with Calenice stating in the first scene “After all that tossing it must be limp by now”, with various jokes and slapstick humour revolving around sex. This is made visible by the men walking around with erections to get their wives attention.
Politics	Back in the Athens of Lysistrata, women were not included as people, especially when it came to political-decision making and government management. However, that is exactly what Lysistrata and her fellow women are trying to change. Lysistrata claims that those men who make the decisions are working from a perspective that’s too limited, as they refuse to listen to their wives sensible advice. Furthermore, she claims that Athenian politics has simply gotten too corrupt, and is in need of a serious clean up.