|
|
INSTRVMENTVM LITTERARVM
|
|
Aristophanes
[ca 450-385], Lysistrata [produced in 411] Against the Polis-Culture --Women Strike for Peace
Read the play and Chart it out as follows [notes in brackets stimulated by class discussion 02-10-23]: For each scene, note the main themes & motives. For
each chorus, note the main themes: how do they fit the immediate
situation. Prologue
(pages in Arrowsmith 1-211): SPEAKING? Lysistrata Kalonike, et al. Main Thrust? [no pun intended when written, but after the discussion in class, no pun can be ruled out it would seem] [Plot established: “blocking situation” which blocks normal & natural intercourse (sexual & otherwise) between the sexes to the end of achieving a higher social goal: peace (utopian in the Greek context, maybe in any context, human nature being what it is). Note was taken of When (Peloponnesian War), Where Athens before the temple of the virgin goddess (Pallas Athena), i.e. the Parthenon on the acropolis, so that performance taking place just below the temple on the slopes (topography of Athens mapped to anatomy?) in theater of Dionysus. Oath & drinking wine, suited to worship of Dionysus]
Chorus (212-329): "Forward march .."[men] Main Thrust? Scene 1 (330-574): (330-425) SPEAKING? Commissioner Lysistrata et al. Main Thrust? (426-574): SPEAKING? Commissioner
LysistrataMain Thrust? [noted that here main clash staged
between leader of women & representative authority of males; hint of
transvestitism as women veil the Commissioner (cf. Dionysus dressing King
Pentheus as a woman before leading him to death at hands of women, in Bacchae
by Euripides); also powerful metaphors of working wool, women’s
work, to be brought out of the household (oikos, cf. economy) &
applied to the working of the state.; specifically, the women thus claim to rewrite
Homer’s Iliad (book 6), where Hector ignored good strategic advice
from his wife, Andromache, & ordered to return inside the house &
manage the working of wool) Chorus (575-654: parabasis): "Sons of Liberty" [men] "Oh insolence" [men] "Tangle with
me" [women] Scene 2 (655-725): SPEAKING? Lysistrata et al. ORACLE -- Main Thrust? [against the blocking
circumstances imposed by the OATH, natural urges in women assert themselves,
requiring strenuous & comical efforts by Lysistrata to keep the plot on
track] Chorus (726-765): "I know a little story" [men] Scene
3 (766-889): SPEAKING? Kinesias
Myrrhine Main Thrust? Conned! [class saw this scene as the climax; it carries plot to its extreme, showing the actual household undone, one household as an example of what is supposed to be happening throughout Greece; the kinetic name of the male duly remarked, also the spicy name of the female, scent; remarked too that the climax comes precisely by insisting on the unnatural refusal to proceed to climax in the relationship between husband & wife: i.e. a kind of anti-climax as the high point, so to speak] Scene 4 (890-919): SPEAKING? Spartan EmissaryMain Thrust? Hard Up
Chorus (920-972): "Oh these women / We may hard .. " [class pointed out that the chorus ordinarily would have been one, so were preternaturally divided & competitive for the space in the dancing floor, now begin to reconcile & get back together, presaging the final scene of making Peace]
Scene
5 (973-1075): SPEAKING? Spartan Ambassador, Athenian
Commissioners, Lysistrata Main Thrust? [noted that Peace represented as woman so that emissaries pick their parts, Spartans bringing up the rear, as it were; thematic reminders of good old days when Spartans & Athenians aided each other, fought off the Persian menace] Chorus (1076-1096): "Embroideries .. nothing so tightly corked .. " STUDY QUESTIONS: answer the following questions on the basis of your reading: And what do the women value? Compare these sets of values with those you have described in tragedy: In what way are the ideas similar? What differences
emerge? Hints of Daily Life
Some details of
women’s work & responsibility in daily life that you can glean from the
play: Some details of
men’s work & responsibility in daily life that you can glean from the
play: What’s Funny About This? Examples of humor that depends on specificallyATHENIAN customs & beliefs: Examples of humor that would be funny anywhere & anytime: Designed in Century fonts by JBVS, coached by LB; started 96/01/03, revised 02/02/22. |
|||||||||
|
|
|