Reference no: EM132114734

Respond to this student response 300 words MLA citation

Lysistrata is the name of the play, because she gathers the women to discuss the fact that the men of Greece haven't been home in a long time to be with their wives, because they are off fighting a war. The theme of the play is focused on peace, but the women have made a covenant together to withhold sex from their husbands, until a peace treaty has been implemented.

The name of the play does not point to the theme of the play. The opening lines of the play suggests that the theme is about sex. At first I thought it was about prostitutes, because they wording used, could possible confuse the reader. It seems that the theme is about persuading the men to get them to do whatever the women wanted them to do.

I suggest that the new title of the play be rewritten, "Sex Treaty", to better capture the theme of the play. I chose this title because, sex is used as a method of encouragement. Not only do the women resist from having intercourse, they beautify themselves even more to cause the men to be aroused. Lysistrata is so eager to make this work, she also gathers prostitutes. Prostitution was common among the ancient Greek culture.

Men would engage in extramarital relations with these prostitute, and Lysistrata knew this. She used men's sensual desires, to reach a political goal. Finding peace through abstinence seems extreme, but Lysistrata knew that this would gain the attention of the men of Greece. Most of the women are fearful that they will be left, beaten or raped if they refuse to have sex with their husbands. I think the women ultimately want their husband's home. I believe that it is not about peace, rather the women want to be with their husbands. Abstinence is only the most preferred method for persuading the men of Greece to give in to the demands of the women of Greece.

I believe that we are a very sensual society. I think on a smaller scale, some married couples manipulate their husbands through abstinence. Today, wars will not cease if women gather together to declare that they will abstain from intercourse with their husbands for peace. I think they would just divorce their husbands, and find someone else if they feel that the husbands is not home as much. A lot of service members and families experience this. The families are separated for months at a time.

The spouses are left home to take care of things (i.e. bills, raising kids, discipline of kids, maintenance). This issue is common for service members, and can't be resolved through abstinence. The distance is already an issue, once the service member returns, they would not want to be rejected by their spouse.

This would create a bigger issue. I think that it involves sacrifice, which the two individuals understand. Even though abstinence was successful in persuading the men in the play to find peace, it is not a wise tactic. I don't agree with the theme and would suggest that issues of war and peace should be handled in the most tactful way possible.