Lysistrata As an Example of a Pre-Modern Term Paper

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 1331 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 4

Lysistrata as an example of a pre-modern display of feminism in action, the foundations of the work demonstrate scheming and interfering women. War was serious business for men and women who had both the power and the desire to interfere with it would not have been thought of kindly. Though this work by Aristophanes is clearly thought of as a comedy, being compared to bawdy works of the burlesque period it is also a depiction of the power that women had over men to guide and control them. (Seldes & Aristophanes, 1930, p. x-xi) Seldes also makes celar that the work is often interpreted in depiction, "as a propagandist work for both pacificism and the rights of women" (Seldes & Aristophanes, 1930, p. ix) In some depictions this idea is secondary to Aristophanes concept of war and its destructive nature but it is nonetheless one of two foundational themes of the work. (Seldes & Aristophanes, 1930, p. ix-x) Yet, there is an additional theme that would regard this work as evidence that the women held a place in society that was not the linear idea of the pre-progress power but a true representation of women as vital to the processes of politics, principles and morality in the realm of the home, the place where men of war and well all men hail. In the works of the Icelandic sagas, in particular Beowulf and in Lysistrata there is a clear connection between women and their power to influence men to refrain from violence.

One interesting correlation in Beowulf to the idea of the power that influential women, have over their kin and community to both protect themselves and their loved ones through the enacting of pacts can be seen in the story of Queen Wealhtheow, who asks through an agreement during a banquet that her sons be protected from the wrath of those men present. The story of another women, losing everything has been sung to those present and the Queen then asks those who would harm her sons to pledge that they will not do so at her bequest, through a drinking from her horn.

When the Finnsburg story ends with Hildeburh's brother, son, and husband now all slain, and herself being taken back to her people (1157-59), it does seem suggestive to a reader that three lines later Wealhtheow comes forth in Heorot, "negotiating the future," as George Clark phrases it,(38) with pleas for the protection of her sons. Her pleas are addressed first indirectly to Hrothulf (1180-83), then directly to Beowulf (1226-27), following which she proclaims that the men in Heorot, true to one another, will carry out her wishes after accepting a drink from her cup (1228-31).

Stuck Writing Your "Lysistrata As an Example of a Pre-Modern" Term Paper?

View All Our Example Lysistrata As an Example of a Pre-Modern Term Paper

Have A Custom Example Essay Written

(39) Her statement implies that accepting the drink obliges them to be faithful to her perception that "here each eorl is true to the other" (1228), and the effect of her words is almost like a magical apotropopaic spell, weaving protection for her sons and warding off a personal tragedy like Hildeburh's bereavement.(40) (Osborn, 1999, p. 49)

Though the demonstration of the direct influence of the Queen in this story over the men implies a more direct strategy than does the ceremonial pact between women, to influence their men similarly, no to p[protect their enemies but to preserve their own lives by refraining from fighting the theme is the same. Women are shown to have significant power over the men to refrain from violence. Preservation is the goal of these women. They wish for no harm to come to the men they love.

In both these works it is clear that women see the full breadth of the harm that violence, for vendetta causes, rather than what would seem the simplistic idea of the valor and pride a man feels following the defeat and death of one's enemies. Queen Wealhtheow, fears the bereavement that would follow the death of her sons and attempts to make clear to the other men, with much success that….....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Lysistrata As An Example Of A Pre-Modern" (2004, November 26) Retrieved June 13, 2025, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/lysistrata-example-pre-modern-59779
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example