Some people say that men are born to rule, while women must stay at home and raise children. Even nowadays, this idea is very popular with a lot of people, mostly men, but some women as well. However, women’s role in the society has been well discussed and grounded enough since the times of Ancient Greece.
The Greek comedy Lysistrata is a masterpiece of ancient literature. It describes in a vivid and colorful way the customs and traditions of Ancient Greece, and it gives a deep insight on human nature in general and the relations between people in particular.
The very plot of the comedy is quite unusual and, dare I say, revolutionary for ancient Greek culture. Can you imagine women intruding in the men’s business, namely, in the war? Heaven forbid! Women are made for love and family and the house chores and bringing up the babies, but not for dealing with such manly issues as war or fighting.
But Lysistrata does not think so. She might be weak, but she is cunning enough to figure out how to make the entire army together with its commander and the Greek emperor himself obey her orders. So off she goes and gets all women together so that they do not … perform their, er, conjugal duties. Now that was a piece of thing to laugh at! No wonder that both feuding armies were in haste to sign up a peace treaty.
“Never will I give myself voluntarily…” (Clinton, 117)
The play is very funny and amusing; still it gives certain food for thought. The Greek civilization managed to go that far to allow the thought of a woman intruding typically on men’s business. That was something that would not be taken in Medieval times. A witty and sharp piece of literature it is, just as refined as the modern wits.
Aristophanes tried to make it as humorous as he could. The women are depicted in a comic and amusing way, however, just like their husbands are.
On the other side of the sword there is Medea. The tragedy as it is, it shows how dreadful misconceptions can be and what results they can drag. Here, everything depends not only on the lead hero, Jason, but also on his wife, Medea, the daughter of a king and the most cunning character in the drama.
The question is how she manages to take over the people she lives with. “With her husband and her children – well-loved”, as she is captured by the grief of her husband’s betrayal, she tries to invent the way to take revenge on Jason. And she quickly draws a plan.
It has always been a question to me whether what Medea has done was a matter of her aching pride or intense cruelty. However, it is impossible to apply the today standards to the ancient world, and what seems a violent murder now was a typical vendetta then.
Still, murdering her own children, she is trying to seize the power over her husband and make him feel the same sorrow she had.
She is seized by emotions like mad, and her striving to get hold of Jason is blind, it is the fury of a woman who has been robbed and humiliated. Despite the rest of the women say that this is so typical for a man to be untrue, Medea listens only to what her self-esteem says, or, I should say better, cries out.
However, the turning point of the story is not the only evidence of Medea’s decisiveness and the will to behold the power. She also helps Jason to kill the bulls and the dragon as he was about to get the Golden Fleece.
It is her who kills her own brother and cuts him to pieces to hold the ships of her father back until Jason and his crew together with her reach the safe place:
As a character, she makes the impression of a woman more typical of the modern world (Ludovici 38), the very type that knows what she wants and is not afraid to use any means that she can find. However, she is passionate and wild, which makes her such fantastic and unbelievable character. (Gould, 112)
A comedy next to a tragedy, do these women have anything in common, except their decisiveness?
They do. The authors found different ways to express the idea as old as the hills. It says, “A man is the head, but a woman is a neck. And the head turns where the neck does.”
However, I would not say that they differ much about their emotions and feelings. As a tragedy, Medea claims for deeper context and better understanding of a human nature, but the same can go for Lysistrata as well, the only but is that those simple truths about people are told in a humorous way…
And, considering the words of triumph that Lysistrata and Medea cry out as they achieve their final goal, they are not of very big difference. This is what Lysistrata says as she wins the battle with her opponents:
“It’s what I was telling you; the women have just occupied the Acropolis!” (Clinton 58)
As for me, I can clearly see this woman, her face burning with excitement, and her voice ringing with joy. She did what she was planning and now it is time to taste the sweet victory.
Next to these words, here is the Medea’s last replica:
“No. Your words are wasted.” (Clinton, 179)
This might not sound like a cry of joy, but it if filled with secret pleasure mixed with sorrow. She has been betrayed, but she won in the end, in spite of her cruel ways. Well, as they say, in war as in war. There are no fair or unfair things, and Medea was forced to fight the way she could. Still she proved it right to be the one to take power over Jason.
Now there is one thing I know for sure. And, as Medea asks,
“Do you think that insult to a woman is something insignificant?” (Clinton,156),
I answer: “No. Now, I don’t think so.”
Works Cited
Clinton Jerome V., F. Abiola Irele, James Heather. The Norton Anthology of the World’s Literature, Vol. 2. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co, 2009. Print.
Gould, Michael J. Medea and Alcestis of Euripides. Whitstable: Wave Crest Classics, 2003. Print.
Ludovici Anthony M. Woman’s Future or Future Woman. New York, NY: Gordon Press Publishing, 1973. Print.