Oppression Of Women In Lysistrata By Aristophanes

By presenting readers with a strong central female character, Aristophanes is showing both sides of women—the influential and the subservient. While Lysistrata is unquestionably the ring-leader of the political movement, there are elements of her character that are more masculine than the other females we encounter, which serves to lend this tale some degree of credibility since male (and likely female) audiences of the time would have found the plot to be completely unbelievable if the main character that affected such change was a “typical” woman. Lysistrata breaks from the traditional role of a female in many ways, but the disturbing part about this separation is that she seems almost too masculine and removed from the world of the other women she encounters.

For instance, when the examination of the Spartan and other women occurs at the beginning of the play, all of the women are put under the same sexualized scrutiny that men give women (with Lysistrata leading the examination). Lysistrata gazes at the Spartan woman and remarks in one of the more important quotes from Lysistrata, “Why darling, you’re simply ravishing! Such a blemishless complexion—so clean, so out-of-doors! And look at that figure—the pink of perfection!” Lysistrata leads this examination of the breasts and buttocks and for a moment, she sounds much more like a male sizing up a future