Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019
Lisistratus
Aristophanes (approx. 445-386 BC e)
The name "Lysisgrata" means "Destroyer of War". Such a name gave Aristophanes a heroine of his fantastic play about how women achieved their men's means by their means, end the great war. The war was between Athens and Sparta, it lasted for ten years, it was against Aristophanes in the comedy "Horsemen". Then there was a truce for several years, and then again the war began. Aristophanes were already desperate to allow the landowners-riders to cope with the war, and he made a comedy-a fairy tale where the world was on the verge, where women are smarter and stronger than men, where Lisistraat really destroys the war, this pernicious male intent. How? Having arranged an all-Greek women's strike. The comedies were supposed to be obscene, such is the law of the spring theatrical holiday; In "Lisistrati" there was where to play all the laid indecencies.
Every strike begins with a conspiracy. Lisistrata collects for the conspiracy of deputies from all over Greece to the square in front of the Athenian Acropolis. They are gathering slowly: who has a wash, who has cooking, who has children. Lisistra is angry: "I call you a great deal, and you have at least something! that's something else that was great, maybe you would immediately flounder! "Finally they got together. "We all miss our husbands?" - "All!" - "We all want the war to end?" - "All!" - "Are everyone ready to go for this?" - "For everything!" - "So, what you need do: while men are not humble - do not sleep with them, do not give them, do not touch them! "-" Oh! "-" Oh, so you're ready for everything! "-" Let's jump in the fire, halve ourselves, Let's give the ring-rings - just not that! "Contractions, rebukes, persuasions begin. “Do not resist a man against a woman: Menelaus wanted to deal with Elena - and when he saw, he threw himself into bed with her!” - “And if they grab him and force him?” - “Lie with a deck, and let him suffer!” Finally agreed, bring a solemn oath over a huge waterskin with wine: “I won’t give myself to either my husband or my lover <...> I’m not throwing white legs in front of the rapist <...> I don’t stand like a lioness over the gate <...> I drink water!"
The words are said, things begin. The choir of women is the Acropolis of Athens. Chorus of men - of course, the elderly, young after all in war - goes to the acropolis by an attack. The old men shake with fire torches, women are threatened with water buckets. "And I'm here with this fire, I will burn your girlfriends!" - "And I'm here with this water, the gaze of your ogonechek!" Hesitant, a fight, drowned old men run away. "Now I see: Euripides is the wisest of the poets: after all, he said about the women, that the creatures are no more shameless!" Two choruses argue with songs.
On the stage, barely moving the legs, the oldest old man, the state councilor, wails. Begins the main part of any Greek drama - a controversy. "What do you do not do in your business? - says the advisor. "War is a man's thing!" (This is a quote from Hector's farewell to Andromache in the Iliad). "No, and women," answered Lisisterta, "we lose our husbands in the war, we give birth to children for war, do we not care about peace and order!" "You, ladies, started to rule the state?" - "We, ladies , it's the right thing in home affairs, and it's not bad! "-" So how do you disassociate the state affairs? "-" And just as every day we untwist the yarn on a spinning wheel: we raise the villains, raise up good people, we will catch good threads from the side, And we will unite a solid thread, and we will nail a big tangle, / And, having fastened the foundation, we will weave from it to the people the Athenians shirt."
The advisor and the choir, of course, can not withstand such impudence, the rebellions, fights, evil songs on both sides begin again, and again women come out winners.
But triumph early! Women, too, people, too, miss people for men, only they look at how to escape from the acropolis, and Lisistratus catches them and takes them away. "Oh, my wool on a lodge has remained, you have to put down!" - "We know what your wool is: sit!" - "Oh, I have a canvas uncut, you have to roll!" - "We know, sit!" - "Oh, Now I'm raving, now I'm raving, now I'm raving! "-" Vreish, yesterday, you were not pregnant! "Again the conspiracy, again, the warning:" And to men, do you think it's easier? Whoever transmits, he will win. Yes, look: one man is already running, he has not suffered any more! Well, who is his wife here? Engage him, incense him, let him feel what is without us! "Under the wall of the acropolis there is an abandoned husband, his name is Kinesiy, which means" Pusher ". All comic actors relied on big leather phalluses, and this he is now directly gigantic. "Come to me!" - "Oh, no, No, no! "-" Please, regret it! "-" Oh, it's a pity, it's a pity, it's a pity! "-" Come along with me! "-" Make a bet on first. " - "Maybe we'll get caught up." - "Here then, maybe, and adjoining." - "I swear to you!" - "Well, now, just run off the rug". - "Come soon!" - "Now, just bring a pillow". - "There is no strength!" - "Oh, oh, just like no blanket." - "You will bring me to you!" - "I'll bring you rubbish with oil". - "And it's possible without a fatteness!" - "Horror, horror, butter of the wrong sort!" And the woman hides, and the man writhes with passion and sings, as he sings, about his torment. The choir of the old people sympathizes with him. "-" Oh, ah, how about without a blanket. " - "You will bring me to you!" - "I'll bring you rubbish with oil". - "And it's possible without a fatteness!" - "Horror, horror, butter of the wrong sort!" And the woman hides, and the man writhes with passion and sings, as he sings, about his torment. The choir of the old people sympathizes with him. "-" Oh, ah, how about without a blanket. " - "You will bring me to you!" - "I'll bring you rubbish with oil". - "And it's possible without a fatteness!" - "Horror, horror, butter of the wrong sort!" And the woman hides, and the man writhes with passion and sings, as he sings, about his torment. The choir of the old people sympathizes with him.
There is nothing to do, you need to make up your mind. The ambassadors of the Athenian and Spartan congregation are meeting, and the phalluses are of such magnitude that everyone immediately understands each other without words. Negotiations begin. Lisisterta goes back to the conversation, reminds of an old friendship and union, praises for valor, and jurors for a naughty quarrel. Everybody would like to have peace soon, and wives, and plagues, and crops, and children, and booze, and fun. Without trading, give captured ones in exchange for those captured by others. And, looking at Lisisterta, they exclaim: "What a clever!", Not forgetting to add: "what a beautiful!" "What kind of slender!" And in the background, the female choir is flirting with the old man's choir: "Here we are reconciled and we will live again with soul." ! "And the old-fashioned choir replies:" Oh, nobody told us old women about wives: "It's impossible to live with them, and without them we can not!"
The world is closed, the choirs sing; "We do not remember evil, do not forget evil! .." The Athens and Spartan husbands take their wives away, and with songs and dances they diverge from the scene.