MTA 104 ("Understanding Theatre")

Instructor: Walter Metz

Reading Notes:  Aristophanes, Lysistrata (411 B.C.)

The Structure of Lysistrata

1.  Prologue (Lysistrata convinces her friends--Kalonike, Myrrhine, and Lampito--to act)

• Kalonike criticizes Lysistrata for having such an ugly frown (98, 1)
• Sexual double entendre:  how big? (98, 2)
• The women are sexist toward women too (98, 2)
• Lysistrata unifies women across city-state boundaries (99, 1)
• Sex jokes:  his spear, his sword (99, 1)
• Myrrhine criticizes Lysistrata for being a grump (99, 1)
• Lampito has a Southern accent in Dudley Fitts' translation (99, 2)
• Lysistrata fondles Lampito's breasts (99, 2)
• Lampito the Spartan is the first to side with Lysistrata (100, 2)
• Lysistrata jokes that they'll have to resort to lesbianism if the men leave (100, 2)
• Lampito the Spartan ironically critiques the Athenians for loving war (100, 2)
• The women take the No Sex Oath (101, 1)
• The older women capture the Akropolis while the younger women take the Citadel (101, 2)

2.  Parados (the old men and old women bicker)

• The old men enter wheezing and coughing (102, 1)
• The men call the women sluts and whores (102, 1) (103, 2)
• The men, the Gods, and Euripedes hate women (102, 1) (103, 1)
• Sex jokes:  stick (103, 1), my torch (103, 2)

3.  Scene One (Lysistrata argues with the Magistrate)

• Magistrate argues that it's the men's fault for having been too soft on the women (104, 1)
• Sex joke:  "force their gates" (104, 1)
• The women fight and win (104, 2)
• Lysistrata argues that the women will not be treated like slaves (104, 2)
• The Male Chorus argues that women are just like animals (104, 2)
• Lysistrata argues that money is the cause of war (105, 1)
• Quote from The Iliad (105, 2)
• Magistrate uses a cliche:  "A man's gotta do..." (106, 1)
• Lysistrata compares war to weaving (106, 2)
• Sex joke:  men rising to the occasion (107, 1)

4.  Choral Interlude

• The Athenian men refuse to befriend the Spartan men (107, 2)
• Female Chorus argues that childbirth is their tax payment (108, 1)
• Male Chorus makes a sex joke:  Women like to ride (108, 1)

5.  Scene Two (Lysistrata tries to help keep her women troops together)

• The women's resolve wanes because they want sex too (108, 2)
  • One woman tries to sneak off to a brothel (108, 2)
  • One woman pretends to be pregnant so that she can return to her husband (109, 1)
• Sex joke:  the nights are hard (109, 2)

6.  Choral Interlude (the Male and Female Chorus swap sexist stories)

7.  Scene Three (Myrrhine teases Kinesias)

• Sex jokes:  bulding (110, 1); stiff (11, 2)
• Kinesias tries using the baby to soften up Myrrhine (111, 1)
• Kinesias blasphemes:  he saus he doesn't care if they have sex in the temple (111, 2)
• Sex jokes:  "I've been up for ages" (112, 1)
• Myrrhine keeps leaving the stage, avoiding having sex with Kinesias (112, 1)

8.  Scene Four (Spartan Herald comes to negotiate peace with the Magistrate)

• Herald wears a huge phallus:  "Are you a man or a fertility symbol? (113, 1)
• Sex joke:  Things in Sparta are hard (113, 1)

9.  Choral Interlude (Male Chorus' sexist cliche: "Can't live with 'em...")

10.  Scene Five (Spartans and Athenians make peace)

• All the men walk funny because of their erections (114, 1)
• The Athenian says he was only a few days from having sex with men (114, 2)
• The Spartan is attracted to Lysistrata (115, 1)
• Athenians and Spartans will do anything that Lysistrata wants b/c they want sex (115, 2)

11. Choral Interlude

12.  Exodos (The party)

• The Drunken Athenian and the Sentry bicker (116, 1)
• Self-Reflexive:  "This is just the sort of thing this audience appreciates" (116, 1)
• The Chorus is re-configured: it's now split into Athenians and Spartans (116, 1)
• They dance, sing, and drink to celebrate the end of war (117, 1)
• However, the objectification of women continues (117, 1)

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This page was last updated on June 16, 2001

Questions or comments?  Please phone me at (406) 994-6403 or send an e-mail to:  metz@montana.edu

Walter Metz, Department of Media and Theatre Arts, Montana State University--Bozeman