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abstract |
This essay looks at the ways in which different social groups in Aristophanes' Lysistrata
are presented, such as old men, old women, younger women, Spartans, slaves and immigrants.
It is argued that Aristophanes' portrayal of these characters is both lively and realized
in such as a way as to convey complex and radical ideas. In his portrayal of women,
for example, Aristophanes creates a thematically rich battle of the sexes in the play
and draws on comic stereotypes, exploiting the tension between women's supposed love
of sex and the decision to hold a sex strike to end the war. The way in which Spartans
are presented in a the play is noteworthy, too, since here Aristophanes appears to
paint a highly positive portrait of a city with which Athens was at war. |