Lysistrata: A Strong Female Character (for once)

First, some background: "Lysistrata" is an ancient Greek play written by Aristophanes, a playwright of the generation following Sophocles and Euripides. It's a comedy, littered with sexual innuendos and debauched imagery. Why? In the midst of the Peloponnesian Wars, a group of all  women from each opposing city-state (Athens and Sparta) led by Lysistrata unite to achieve peace with the ultimate weapon: sex. In a surefire manner, denying your husband sex in ancient Greece would garner interesting results, namely, their retaliation, until one side is forced to surrender.

1925 play cover

 Lysistrata, for whom the play is named, is the title character in the play, and is one of the most dynamic and determined female characters I've seen in any play. If you've read "Antigone" by Sophocles, she is reminiscent of the character that play is named after as well, albeit with more wanton behavior. From the beginning, Lysistrata does not give in. At the initial meeting between the representatives of the two opposing groups of women, they balk at Lysistrata's plan of "Total Abstinence," her neighbor and right-hand woman Kleonike proclaiming: "SEX--there's nothing like it, Lysistrata!" Angered, Lysistrata begins to scold the group: "Utter sluts, the entire sex! Will-power/nil. We're perfect raw material for Tragedy,/the stuff of heroic lays. 'Go to bed with a god/and then get ride of the baby'--that sums us up!" (33-34). Her willpower is formidable and unrelenting from that point on; after convincing the women to actually carry through with her abstinence plan, she prevents them from breaking their vow, "losing her grip on the girls--they're mad for men!" and then proceeds to physically stop women with feeble excuses from leaving their no-sex barricade at the Akropolis.

(Aubrey Beardsley, 1896)

Her ferocious will is echoed in her bold words continuously throughout the play. When the Commissioner of Athens steps forward to try and force the women out of their plan, they attack back with a vengeance, and upon his dazed response to the overwhelming of Athens' archers, she sasses him: "What did you expect? We're not slaves;/we're freeborn Women, and when we're scorned, we're/full of fury. Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman." (61). She is a brassy, comedic symbol of a time where women were thought capable of immense powers, shown through worship of goddesses living in Olympus. Lysistrata is also a religious woman, seeking strength through the goddesses of power and respect. She often swears by and prays to Artemis, the goddess of the moon, hunt, and protector of women and girls. Lysistrata is similar to Artemis,  and not just by the physical beauty that was so important at the time. Both act as protectors and bestow their wisdom on those who follow them, as well as leading attacks on men for their penchant towards violence and unadulterated misogyny. She is the ancient Greek version of Foster's Christ-figure, and that is a characteristic that adds a heap of ethos to her character.