Almost every joke contains a hint of truth. For this reason, comedy can be the perfect medium to effect social reform. Clearly, Aristophanes understood this concept quite well when he penned his farcical-humored play Lysistrata. Lysistrata focuses on the story of a young woman of the same name who attempted to better her community by stopping a war. Essentially, Lysistrata gathered the women of the town together and had them make a pact to withhold sex from the men of their community until the men agreed to stop fighting and find another means to end the Peloponnesian War. To accomplish this amazing accord, Lysistrata knew she first had to unionize all the women of Athens and then convince the women of Sparta to do the same. As an extra measure of protection against the male suitors, Lysistrata even persuaded the women to seal themselves into the Acropolis, which is also where the State Treasury is kept. Inside the Acropolis, the women held the treasury, as well as their own bodies, away from the men until peace was declared. Lysistrata turned the tables on the men of her time period, taking away their power in a comedic way in order to evoke social reform. Aristophanes, through his heroine, obviously wanted to make a statement about the role of women in society, and much like his heroine, used comedy to do so.
Throughout the play, Lysistrata refused to accept her status as a ‘mere’ woman. This is particularly true as the war continued to drag on. She realized the degree to which the people at home were suffering as a result of the lack of young men and the inattention given to other important aspects of life that the men were involved in. As she acted within her community, Lysistrata continued to insist that women were at least as smart and wise as the men are if not smarter. As a result, she insisted that they were equally as able to make important and necessary political decisions by cleverly finding a way of trivializing the men’s activities to match the activities of the women, which were commonly considered trivial. As she pointed out to others, even the means through which she acquired her education is similar to the way in which the men of the town gained their education. “I am but a woman; but I have good common sense; Nature has endowed me with discriminating judgment, which I have yet further developed, thanks to the wise teachings of my father and the elders of the city” (Aristophanes 279). Just like all the male members of her society, Lysistrata pointed out how she learned her lessons in the same traditional ways as the others did, by listening to the words of the older men. In my opinion, there is very little difference between the way in which she learned her lessons and the way in which the boys of Athens learned their lessons. Her arguments that she is equal to the men are therefore very convincing even though she neglects to refer to the content of the lessons learned. This only becomes more convincing as Lysistrata listed out the various ways in which she is qualified to make her stance as she argued with the men toward the end of the play. Far from what I would expect of a comedy, Lysistrata’s reasoning seemed logical, coherent, ordered and inarguable.
In addition to the strength shown by Lysistrata herself, the women who joined her also demonstrated a great deal of strength as a unified force. It’s true that several of the women were caught sneaking out of the Acropolis to return home during the play but this was used primarily as a device intended to increase the comic element. My personal favorite is the woman who was caught hiding a helmet under her clothing in order to pretend that she was pregnant and therefore did not qualify for the sequestering of the other women. However, the women as a group were able to produce a solid front against the men who attempted to enter the temple, both literally and figuratively. In their attempt to control the politics of the war and bring it to a speedy end, the women appropriated the men’s traditional role as the leaders of society and forced the men into the subservient role as they were forced to realize their reliance on the women for their own well-being and future happiness. This role reversal is also considered a strong element of comedy. After all, the men had failed on several occasions to bring the war to a close themselves. The women together, presented in the traditional form of the chorus, presented very logical and reasonable arguments to the citizens, who must be the older members of society as the men are fighting, the women are speaking and the only ones left would be the children, who would not normally be considered in such arguments. These women pointed out how the female gender was once considered a very important and idealized element of society. As children they were treated as important and of value as their virtue and purity were jealously guarded as a family treasure. They arrived at the very reasonable conclusion that their advice is necessary for the future of the community. “I have useful counsel to give our city, which deserves it well at my hands for the brilliant distinctions it has lavished on my girlhood … So surely I am bound to give my best advice to Athens. What matters that I was born a woman, if I can cure your misfortunes? I pay my share of tolls and taxes, by giving men to the State. But you, you miserable greybeards, you contribute nothing to the public charges; on the contrary, you have wasted the treasure of our forefathers, as it was called, the treasure amassed in the days of the Persian Wars” (Aristophanes 258). Through their ability to reason with the old men of Athens to the point where they agreed with the women, the female chorus is able to prove their own strength. Aristophanes does this brilliantly as he allowed the women to adopt the same form of expression typically used by the men as they argued in the senate, thus proving that they were equal to the highest office in the civilized world at the time even while he introduces the comic elements of role reversal and non-linear reasoning – the treasured girl was not treasured for her intelligence, but this is the impression given by the grown women.
The use of the traditional woman’s activity of weaving as a metaphor for the female ability to think logically, rationally and reasonably is brilliant. Aristophanes illustrated that women were better than men at sorting out the various messes of society because they had much more practice at it in their usual activity of weaving, which also required constant effort. As the women unraveled tangled skeins of yarn, they were capable of tracing the intricate warp and weave of society. In addition, as they employed varying shades of colors, they were able to create intricate patterns and designs, thus they were able to see the intricate patterns and designs of society and how to bring them out to their best effect. It is wonderful the way that Lysistrata combined the activity of weaving with the activity of governing in a point by point comparison. “First we wash the yarn to separate the grease and filth; do the same with all bad citizens, sort them out and drive them forth with rods – they’re the refuse of the city. Then for all such as come crowding up in search of employments and offices, we must card them thoroughly; then, to bring them all to the same standard, pitch them pell-mell into the same basket, resident aliens or no, allies, debtors to the State, all mixed up together. Then as for our Colonies, you must think of them as so many isolated hanks; find the ends of the separate threads, draw them to a centre here, wind them into one, make one great hank of the lot, out of which the public can weave itself a good, stout tunic” (Aristophanes 256). By presenting the case in this way, Lysistrata made the similarities between weaving and governing undeniable.
Considering the play as a literary text rather than as a farce, it seems clear that Aristophanes was trying to educate his contemporaries regarding his opinion on the proper role of women in society. While the women might have been commonly passed off as unimportant or incidental elements of the community in ancient Greece, Aristophanes attempted to demonstrate through his resilient main character Lysistrata, as well as the play’s insightful female chorus, that women were clearly much more important and influential to society than for which they were given credit. Women not only served an important recreational function, according to Aristophanes, but could actually affect politics in a relevant way. Taking a step further, it is also clear that Aristophanes espoused women in politics, an idea that was very radical for his time period, showing how contemplative female nature can often prevail over male aggression. While the sex elements of the play might have been intended for comedic purposes to hook his audience, Aristophanes was obviously trying to spoon feed them a healthy dose of social reform.
Works Cited
Aristophanes. “Lysistrata.” The Eleven Comedies. Vol. 1. Charleston, S.C.: BiblioBazaar, 2005.