What's the Deal with Women: Aristophanes' Nebulous Feminism
Mentor 1
Dr. Tyson Hausdoerffer
Location
Union 183
Start Date
24-4-2015 1:20 PM
Description
Gender reversal in Aristophanes’ plays of 411 BCE (Women at the Thesmophoria Festival (Thesmophoriazusae) and Lysistrata) plays a significant role in understanding the extent to which Aristophanes was or was not in support of female social mobility. While at first it appears as though Aristophanes is in favour of improving the power and flexibility of women outside of the domestic sphere, there are critics of this claim who suggest that Aristophanes really wasn’t supporting women’s rights. Others, such as Martha Nussbaum, suggest that the very nature of comedy is feminine and that Aristophanes is promoting a feminine approach to an intensely masculine political trend that dominated 5th C. Athenian politics. Returning to the text of Aristophanes’ preference for returning to a ‘golden-age’ (as suggested in many of his plays, including Peace) which would have placed women in a domestic role, women in Aristophanes’ plays (specifically Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae), regardless of their actions or roles, serve as more of a tool, than the subject of focus. Further analyses of Aristophanes’ plays and academic literature regarding Aristophanes, his comedy, and women in his comedy will continue to reveal more about Aristophanes the playwright, Greek comic theatre, and, on a broader level, Greek society in 5th Century Athens.plays, as well as synthesizing and examining current academic analyses, this project evaluates the extent to which Aristophanes’ personal opinion of gender roles influenced his plays of 411 BCE. This project’s analysis has revealed that Aristophanes did not appear to take any particular interest in the roles of women in Greek society, and that while he may harbor a personal preference for or against increase female social mobility in Greek society, women in his plays serve more as plot devices for political commentary than as representatives of proposed gender shifts.
What's the Deal with Women: Aristophanes' Nebulous Feminism
Union 183
Gender reversal in Aristophanes’ plays of 411 BCE (Women at the Thesmophoria Festival (Thesmophoriazusae) and Lysistrata) plays a significant role in understanding the extent to which Aristophanes was or was not in support of female social mobility. While at first it appears as though Aristophanes is in favour of improving the power and flexibility of women outside of the domestic sphere, there are critics of this claim who suggest that Aristophanes really wasn’t supporting women’s rights. Others, such as Martha Nussbaum, suggest that the very nature of comedy is feminine and that Aristophanes is promoting a feminine approach to an intensely masculine political trend that dominated 5th C. Athenian politics. Returning to the text of Aristophanes’ preference for returning to a ‘golden-age’ (as suggested in many of his plays, including Peace) which would have placed women in a domestic role, women in Aristophanes’ plays (specifically Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae), regardless of their actions or roles, serve as more of a tool, than the subject of focus. Further analyses of Aristophanes’ plays and academic literature regarding Aristophanes, his comedy, and women in his comedy will continue to reveal more about Aristophanes the playwright, Greek comic theatre, and, on a broader level, Greek society in 5th Century Athens.plays, as well as synthesizing and examining current academic analyses, this project evaluates the extent to which Aristophanes’ personal opinion of gender roles influenced his plays of 411 BCE. This project’s analysis has revealed that Aristophanes did not appear to take any particular interest in the roles of women in Greek society, and that while he may harbor a personal preference for or against increase female social mobility in Greek society, women in his plays serve more as plot devices for political commentary than as representatives of proposed gender shifts.
