Irony In Aristophanes' Works Of Women And An Attempt On Feminist Interpretation

The aim of this thesis is to examine Aristophanes'irony in his three works of women---Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae and Ecclesiazusae---in relation to feminism:why does he choose women as the subject of his ironic plays? How do these three irony-full plays invite a feminist reading? What kind of feminist thoughts are brought out based on the former studies?Aristophanes is the representative of ancient Greek Old Comedy; his works have a lot of innuendos to the contemporary society and are incorporated in his three plays of women:Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae(The Poet and the Women) and Ecclesiazusae (Assemblywomen), these three plays were written from the period 411 to 392 B.C. Unlike their sisters in the Greek tragedies who meet a pathetic outcome in the end such as Medea and Phedra who defy the patrilineal authority and consequently are punished by it, the female protagonists in these three Comedies enjoy the triumph gained by their effort going into the public affairs; their victory is, totally different from the reality of their contemporaneous society where women are required at home to deal with domestic affairs. This is the cornerstone of Aristophanes'irony in these plays.Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion, this MA thesis consists of three chapters. The Introduction includes Aristophanes'life experience and a brief description of the three plays as well as a short review of some critical studies on his works:it also offers explanations of the methodology and purpose of the thesis.The first chapter is devoted to an investigation of irony in Aristophanes'works. Irony in Aristophanes'works has triplex meaning:fantasy versus fact;brave heroines versus buffoonish housewives; farcical words versus seriousness. Framed by a distinct feature of irony---fantasy, in which the playwright tells a completely dissimilar womens'life from the real one---these works utilize the mode of parody, the genre of farce, and the trope of transvestism.The second chapter explores the relationship between Aristophanes'irony and the reading of feminism evoked by the irony of these texts. The reason for Aristophanes'selection of women as his subject-matter roots in his reconciliation between his misogyny and philogyny which I will elaborate later in the thesis. Aristophanes may not be a feminist:in fact, to call him a feminist is certainly anachronistic, but his plays of women invite a profound reading of feminism. These three plays revolve entirely around the activities of women, rendering the male characters peripheral. Through the use of irony, Aristophanes'plays encode feminism in the process of challenging patriarchy and male domination. This chapter also adopts Mikhail Bakhtin's "dialogism " and "carnivalesque" to discuss how the irony elevates the images of women in the plays.The third chapter focuses on my thoughts in terms of feminism toward the images of women in the plays. In this chapter, I argue that the female characters in the works are independent entity. Like their male counterparts, they are effective individuals who can fulfill civilian duty in times of a state's crises and protect their own interest as well as that of the state. Through all these actions, they exist as human beings showing different identities:national identity, sexual identity and ritual identity. These identities are embodied in the process of their identification through the ways of androgyny, autonomy and the spirit of teamwork.The conclusion indicates that Aristophanes has an ambivalent attitude toward women:on one hand, he is deeply affected by misogynism in ancient Greece, that is why he takes women as ironic subjects and the minor female characters of these plays are epitomes of women's vice and silliness. On the other hand, he views a government under women's rule a possible alternative to rescue the degenerating state; women-leaders, therefore, are equally wise, efficient, and capable as their conventional counterparts. In these three works of women, Aristophanes not only demonstrates the weakness of women, but also deconstructs male-chauvinism in the phallus-centric Athens through the rhetoric of irony. Aristophanes allows women to be another social counteractive power, and encourages equality between the sexes. In this sense, these three works of women undoubtedly have a strong practical significance.