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Women of athens and sparta
Characterisation in Lysistrata
Women of athens and sparta
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Lysistrata has planned a meeting between all of the women of Greece to discuss the plan to end the Peloponnesian War. As Lysistrata waits for the women of Sparta, Thebes, and other areas to meet her she curses the weakness of women. Lysistrata plans to ask the women to refuse sex with their husbands until a treaty for peace has been signed. Lysistrata has also made plans with the older women of Athens (the Chorus of Old Women ) to seize the Akropolis later that day. The women from the various regions finally assemble and Lysistrata convinces them to swear an oath that they will withhold sex from their husbands until both sides sign a treaty of peace. As the women sacrifice a bottle of wine to the Gods in celebration of their oath, they hear the sounds of the older women taking the Akropolis, the fortress that houses the treasury of Athens.
In Lysistrata there are two choruses?the Chorus of Old Men and the Chorus of Old Women. A Koryphaios leads both choruses. The Chorus of Men is first to appear on stage carrying wood and fire to the gates of the Akropolis. The Chorus of Men is an old and bedraggled bunch of men who have great difficulty with the wood and the great earthen pots of fire they carry. The men plan to smoke the women out of the Akropolis. The Chorus of Old Women also approaches the Akropolis, carrying jugs of water to put out the men's fires. The Chorus of Old Women is victorious in the contest between the choruses and triumphantly pours the jugs of water over th...
In a modern day production of Lysistrata, a director’s role would involve the overseeing of the whole play making course and ensuring that all the cast members realize the vision of the production. This role covers all the steps of production from the interpretation of the script to the final performance. This means that the director has a say over a range of disciplines and has to have artistic vision. Lysistrata was produced in 411 B.C., at a time when Athens and Sparta had just concluded a two-decade long war and the general population was in despair. Comedies such as these were used then to communicate instructions to the people (mbc.edu). This essay will focus on the scene where Lysistrata has gathered all the women to convinces the to withhold sex from their husbands until they sign a peace treaty.
The title character first shows her dominance and desire to escape the gender roles society placed on her by developing her plan to abstain from sex to boycott the war. She expresses no fear and is willing to do whatever was necessary to get the males home, undoubtedly breaking away from the typical female mold. However, she notes that when the other women eventually show up to their meeting, they are very apprehensive and she states, “you bite your lips, and shake your heads, eh? Why these pale, sad looks? Why these tears?” (Aristophanes 7). They do not feel it was appropriate for them to be taking such a drastic action against their husbands, who most likely only married them to give birth to the children and carry on the family name. In fact, Lysistrata even goes as far as to say, “I blush for our sex. Men will have it we are tricky and sly” (Aristophanes 1). This shows that she feels the women act even more subservient than the men expect them to be and she wishes to not be defined by her gender. Generally, women do not get involved in the wars whatsoever, so she is showing her masculinity by attempting to make both sides
Lysistrata, on the contrary shows women acting bravely and even aggressively against men who seem resolved on ruining the city- state by prolonging a pointless and excessively expending reserves stored in the Acropolis. The men being away at war would come home when they could, sexually relieve them selves and then leave again to precede a meaningless war. The women challenge the masculine role model to preserve traditional way of life in the community. When the women become challenged themselves they take on the masculine characteristics and defeat the men physically, mentally but primarily strategically. Proving that neither side benefits from it, just that one side loses more than the other. It gives the impression that the women are heroes and the men are ignorant, which contradicts what Euripides said but is chiefly written to entertain.
Is sleep important for memory consolidation? Past research has found that sleep is an important factor in the consolidation of newly acquired memories; however, this consolidation often depends on the specific memory as well as when (e.g., time after learning) sleep occurs. It is important to note that sleep is not constant, throughout the night. Sleep is a cycle that is broken down into rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep (Stickgold, 2005). Non-REM consists of sleep stages 1 through 4, in which stages 3 and 4 constitute what is known as slow-wave sleep (SWS) (Rasch & Born, 2008). Moreover, the construct of memory is often divided into different types of memories, declarative (e.g., facts and events) and non-declarative (e.g., procedural skills) (Stickgold, 2005). When discussing memory consolidation, research has defined it as a progression of memory stabilization that leads memories to become resistant to interference (Stickgold, 2005). Results from past research indicate that memory consolidation occurs through the reactivation of memories during sleep, which enhances and stabilizes the memory (Diekelmann & Born, 2010).
The brain is the most important organ in the body and without it life would not exist. In a metaphorical sense, the brain can be thought of as a master computer. Functions of the brain include physical behavior, emotion, learning capability and memory. Since the beginning of scientific exploration, the brain has been a significant area of interest and its complexity still puzzles scientists today. New research methods and advances in technology have allowed humans to understand more about the brain within the past 10 years than in the preceding centuries (Brain Basics, 2013.) Research on the role of sleep in brain functionality shows surprising promise. The amount and quality of sleep an individual receives effects learning ability and the risk of developing brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Sleep is a condition of the mind and body in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes are closed, the muscles are relaxed and consciousness is practically suspended. On average a person needs between seven and nine hours of sleep, which can be hard to achieve with the stresses of life. Sleep can drastically affect how the mind functions. Studies have found that a lack of sleep can decrease motor skills and affect a persons memory. Among memory and motor skills, lack of sleep can negatively affect cognition. Cognition is the process of thinking which is needed for the writing process and other creative elements. If people increase the amount of sleep they receive, then there writing process will be better. Some studies have
Regardless of the adverse representation of women during Aristophanes time, Lysistrata uses women 's sexuality and their specific societal gender roles to bring harmony amongst Athens and Sparta (Wiederhold and Springer
“Lysistrata,” written following the trouncing of Athenian forces in Sicily in 413 BC, harkens back to this time of war. As is traditional in Athenian theater, males in drag played all of the female parts. This ritual increases the play’s absurdity. The play begins with the streets empty as the men are at war. The women speak to each other of both emotional and sexual starvation. They both
The Persian Wars (499-479 BC) put the Greeks in the difficult position of having to defend their country against a vast empire with an army that greatly outnumbered
Sleep is one of the unavoidable daily-living activities and it is one of the most important factors contributing to a person’s health. A quality sleep is essential for the physical, cognitive and psychological well-being of a person. Learning, memory processing and maintenance of the brain are among the most important functions of sleep. In addition to maintaining the brain, sleep has important roles in controlling the functions of many other body systems. Sleep-related issues are common in today’s society, especially in high school and college students’ populations. “In recent surveys, nearly 75% of university students reported occasional sleep problems such as difficulty in falling asleep, sleep disturbances, delayed sleep phase syndrome and excessive daytime sleepiness” (Altun, Insaf, et al.). These sleep
Many phases and function of sleep are still under intense research, however judging from a simple fact - all animals do sleep, it is obvious that its role is indubitable. Nonetheless, many people are still having the mind set of sleep is merely a time-wasting-activity. Even among professionals who perform crucial roles such as doctors, teachers, engineers are willing to compromise their sleep, with a simple excuse, busy. In short, they are experiencing either acute total sleep deprivation or more common, chronic partial sleep restriction[2]. Many effects of both types of sleep deprivation were investigated, in particular health, attention, decision making.
... convey deeper themes of life and death, the struggles between power and class structure and also the societal differences between men and women. Aristophanes uses humor to hook his audience into his play, and then undermines the surface humor with much bigger thematic issues. If this play had simply been about women withholding sex for other reasons such as wanting more money for shopping or other frivolous ideas it would not then be considered a satiric comedy. Satire requires more than physical humor. An issue must be raised such as the life and death theme that is seen in the war in Lysistrata, and a solution must then be made. Aristophanes created the women in the beginning to be bickering, unintelligent, and self-centered people. But in the end it was their idea and compromise that ended the war.
In the list of characters at the beginning of the play, the Chorus is stated to be a chorus of Corinthian Women. This draws the first link between them and Medea. The Chorus follows Medea on her journey through this play. They act as narrators on important occurrences in the play; however, they also act as a device Euripedes uses to influence the opinion of the audience. He does this by presenting to the audience a moral voice in the Chorus. The audience can relate to them, because the Chorus is in a neutral position in the play. They are definitely an integral part of the play, but their role is not so much to influence the actual plot of the play, but more to echo what has happened in the plot and the thoughts of the protagonists, and to suggest moral solutions the audience. The Chorus uses language which almost makes it seem that they are speaking from the perspective of the audience, and in doing this they are guiding the audience responses to what Euripedes wants it to be:
One of the effects of sleep deprivation is impairment of cognitive performance[1,2,3]. Sleep deprivation interferes with the frontal lobes of the brain causing attention lapses and momentary absent-mindedness, resulting in decreased attention and attentiveness[1,2]. Findings confirmed that subjects performed worse on vigilance tasks that were long, simple and monotonous[1]. A possible explanation on why subjects were more error prone in repetitive tasks could be due to a decline in reaction time and accuracy as prolong wakefulness continued[3]. Another important finding was that lack of sleep disrupts subjects’ reasoning ability and creativity[1]. Although some research indicates that sleep deprivation of 45 hours or less is sufficient to cause these effects on cognitive performance, some researchers argue that wakefulness of 46 hours or less is too little to exhibit a significant effect[2]. Therefore, further work is required to establish this[1,2,3].
In March, 1998, students at Colchester Sixth Form College in Britain also tested the results of sleep deprivation. Certain functions were, indeed, slowed down, like typing skills. Speech became slurred and reaction time slower. However, much to their surprise, they discovered that there was an improvement in math skills, short term memory and the ability to sort papers.