In What Way Is Lysistrata an Attempt to Laugh at Women? Alexander Potako College

Without a doubt, Aristophanes deserves being considered as one of the most remarkable comic playwrights in the history of literature. His numerous plays still draw attention of many readers worldwide, which makes their content relevant these days. At this point, it does not come as a surprise that Aristophanes’ works are being reconsidered from various perspectives, among which a feminist one could be mentioned. Specifically, in the context of the feminist criticism, it is widely assumed that the play Lysistrata should be regarded as an attempt to laugh at women. However, to a greater extent this suggestion cannot be viewed as the valid one due to the specificity of Aristophanes’ oeuvre that is exactly aimed at exposing drawbacks of the human character and laughing at them, so it is more than expected that women are laughed at similarly as men are. What is more, Aristophanes manages to praise and celebrate female qualities compared to male ones that cover greed, lust, and proneness to conflict. Nevertheless, it should be still alleged that the playwright pays specific attention to the female side in Lysistrata while creating irony around the following fact: even though women do have a potential to change and improve the actual...