Feminist Literary Criticism and Lysistrata Essay -- Literary Analysis,

Classically, women playwrights are almost completely absent. There were virtually no women writers at all up until at least the seventeenth century. This event originally led womens rightist critics to disregard the classical period. In an article titled Classical Drag The Greek Creation of Female Parts, Sue Ellen deterrent example states that because traditional scholarship has focused on evidence related to written texts, the absence of women playwrights became central to early feminist investigations (132). Despite this absence of womanly writers, feminist critics analyze the role of women in ancient Greece in other ways. Recently, feminist writers have been able to delve further into the classical period by examining female characters from the works of male playwrights. The construction of women in male literature is extremely important. Peter Barry, in his chapter on feminist literary criticism in his defend Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, a sserts that observing the female characters in works by men is important because it provides role models which indicated to women, and men, what constituted grateful version of the feminine and legitimate feminine goals and aspirations (122). Looking into the roles of the women within the works helps us determine the kind of role women and men occupy in social intercourse to each other in addition to the personal characteristics of the women. This insight into the relations between men and women adds a new layer of knowledge for feminist critics. The picture show of women by women writers differs greatly from the depiction of women by male writers. Women, as represented by men, represent stereotypes of actual women. That is, the feminist critic may assume that the images of... ...ial and heathenish evidence of the role of women in ancient Greece. Despite the fact that he is indeed a man, Aristophanes does a good job capturing certain aspects of his female characters their repu lse to succeed, their natural coquettishness, the general desire to end war diplomatically, and their devout servitude to the gods. Aristophanes also has a very firm grasp of the social situation of women in his time. For example, he knows where the line of rebellion would be drawn if the husbands forced the wives into having sex, they must relent. He knows how the ultimately defer to their husbands judgment, particularly in political matters. Lastly, he knows that their concerns are in the main domestic. However, he generally misunderstands or misrepresents many aspects of the female character. The feminist literary critic would be quick to point these discrepancies out.