Why is lysistrata funny

Well, think again. Lysistrata , a play that has oodles of bonafide Ancient Greek credentials including geezers with beards wearing tunics, yes also has something else to recommend it. That something else is filthiness. This play has more references to sex than anything capital-L Literary we've read before. And Shmooper, we've read a lot. Lolita doesn't come close. Lady Chatterly's Lover is just the tip of the sex iceberg.

I just read a Classical Greek play by Aristophenes! If we said "Hey Mom! I just read an E. James novel! Lysistrata takes the X-rated language cake.

There is more innuendo than a bawdy s comedy , and more out-and-out sex talk than the Savage Lovecast. The stage directions call for guys to walk around stage with visible erections, for Pete's sake. Sex positivity? Lysistrata has it in spades. This play is about the healing power of love. No, seriously: this play floats the premise that the only thing needed to stop freaking war is for women to go on sex-strike.

By the time that war is declared over, the entire cast of characters in Lysistrata men and women are drunk in love.

This play is an Ancient Greek testament to the fact that lust has the power to end evil, violence, and bloodshed. Make love, not war indeed. So yes, this play should be the magic pill to cure you of your phobia of Ancient Greece.

During her speech, a naked young lady, ostensibly depicting the goddess of peace, parades in front of the desperate men. While Lysistrata speaks of the cities' common past and former friendships, the men leer at the nude woman and concede that what Lysistrata says is true.

Lysistrata proposes an accord, but strife ensues because some conditions are not acceptable to both sides. To get them to agree to terms, the women arrange a feast and get the men drunk. Ready for physical pleasure, the men finally sign a treaty.

They leave the site quickly with their wives and lovers in tow, eager to be home. Images from productions. Gallery Players. IU Theatre. Negro Repertory Company. La MaMa E. BBC Fort Worth Opera. American Demi-Gods. Hudson Shakespeare Company. Big League Productions: Lysistrata Jones.

Contact Theatre The Lysistrata Project. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. L8 b. Text in Greek, commentary in English. Online from the Perseus site: Aristophanes, Lysistrata Greek ed. Hall and W. Geldart Aristophanes, Lysistrata English ed. Jack Lindsay. L8 The first new edition in almost sixty years, this volume of Aristophanes' Lysistrata brings the play completely up to date with modern scholarship, providing the first complete account of its history and containing new information about the comic theater and its social and political context.

Lysistrata not only brims with topical references to social life, religion, and politics in classical Athens; it is also one of our best sources for information on the life of women in antiquity, offering a unique glimpse of their everyday life.

Also hilarious are the secretive love entanglements surrounding himself and the other male protagonist. Finally, another example that will provoke a chuckle is the scene between Tony and Hastings. Hastings asks eagerly, where has Tony left the ladies. Why, where should I leave them, but where I found them?

Goldsmith In summary, these are but a few of the scenes and references from these two plays that may be as funny today, as they were at the time of the original productions. It is definitely true that although humor evolves through time, some elements of levity remain both timeless and universal. Need a custom Essay sample written from scratch by professional specifically for you?

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