Page 18 - GALIET THESMOPHORIAS and Euphorias IV

Galiet & Galiet
As a counter example to Thesmophoriasuzae, Aristophanes in Lysistrata, gives us an exciting, rational and well-spoken heroine, full of determination and strength fighting for a worthy cause: peace, the very peace that Dicaeopolis in Acharnians yearns for. The peace that Athenian citizens were so desperately seeking after having experienced the 1st and 2nd phases of the Great Peloponnesian War against Sparta, the Archidamian War (431-421bc) and the 2nd War (415-404 bc). The Archidamian War had already caused tremendous hardship, loss and suffering: the exodus from farming communities into Athens, the disaster of the plague, the death of Pericles superceded by Creon’s tyranny. At the time of this play, 411b.c., the devastating effects of the 2nd War were being felt: the failed and disastrous expedition to Syracuse led by Nicias, Alcibiades and Lamachus, the revolt of Abydos and the seizing of power by the despotic oligarchs. Thanks to Lysistrata, we can see how Aristophanes’ perceives the benefit of having strong women in society. Although men do reject this liberation of women in the play, perhaps, the males in the audience might have felt rewarded and stimulated by experiencing women in a different, more democratic and pro-active role. The denouement of Lysistrata shows the implicit and explicit benefit and reward that this female revolution attains: peace for Athenians and Spartans.
Lysistrata, in contrast to the Thesmophoriazusae, also celebrates the benefits that Athenian society might enjoy by having strong-willed women who, given equal opportunity as men, might express themselves assertively and freely. Plato affirms in the Republic that the only difference between males and females is reproduction and that they have aptitudes for different activities just as men have them (455e-456a). Plato does not exclude women from participating in the Guardian Class as long as they have achieved knowledge of the Good. Plato envisions a society where women have access to equal opportunity and equal liberal education so that they may participate in state affairs and attain, by merit, the highest political positions available. It is known that the healthier Spartan society reared their girls as boys and provided more equal opportunities than Athenian society ever did. Although in Lysistrata we see the tension and anxiety that women’s right to opinion and action creates in males, we also witness the Aristophanian edifying ideal: women’s volition is perfectly capable of
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