How do the methods used by Lysistrata to accomplish her plight differ from those used by Laura?

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Max Webster

How do the methods used by Lysistrata to accomplish her plight differ from those used by Laura?

Lysistrata is a play about one woman's plan to end a war by calling on all the women of Greece to perform a sex strike. She uses this to blackmail the men into ending the war, but her method involves various tactics that enable her to win the respect of the men and ultimately resolve the conflict on her terms. It is not simply a case of persuading all the women to adopt temporary celibacy with their husbands.

The Father also involves a woman who is in conflict with her husband, but of course its most obvious difference from Lysistrata is that it is more focused, as it only involves one man and one woman, it is domestic rather than public. Both plays start with a conflict (in Lysistrata, the women's opposition to war; in The Father, a dispute over the education of their daughter) and go on to show how the female character is able to achieve dominance and get their way. Both Laura and Lysistrata use a number of methods to outwit the men in the plays and in this essay I aim to examine these and decide in what ways they are similar and different.

The main success of the Lysistrata's plan is based on exploiting the sexuality of women. She knows that by denying the men/soldiers the thing they want, they will be tempted away from war and allow her to manipulate them. At the beginning of the play she claims that all hope of ending the war lies with the women, which for many of her companions is a surprising idea as they have adapted to the female stereotype that they have been branded with. Ironically Lysistrata believes that women's ability to attract and allure men and to look beautiful is their most powerful attribute. By playing to the males stereotypical view of women, and by exploiting the women's sexuality she is able to train the other women how to act and what to say to their husbands. Lysistrata is the instigator here, as she does not take an active role in either the sex-strike or the capture of the Acropolis, she takes a back seat as she has already trained the women for what they should do. Lysistrata also manages to separate herself from the other women, which is
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Max Webster

important to the way in which male characters perceive her rank and power. She does this by not exhibiting any sexual desire, as she has no obvious lovers, and she does not purposely flirt with men as the others do. This apparent detachment seems to make the Commissioner and the delegates give her more respect as she has broken away from the stereotype, this in turn makes her appear above the other women.

This is both similar and completely different to Laura's method. Laura also uses her knowledge of what is important to the ...

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