A Study On The Eros And Politics In Aristophanes' Comedies

The sharp contrast between heterosexual love and homosexual love in Aristophanes' comedies and the reflection of comedies on politics announce the poet's ideal of eros and politics.Combining the expanding passion of the Radical Democrats in Athens in the 5th century B.C.and Athenian citizens' maladies of eros,Aristophanes believed that these passion and maladies should be guided and treated.From the perspective of Aristophanes' creation,the poet's ideal is related to both private territory and public sphere.This paper will start with the eros of the characters in Aristophanes' works,then it discusses the poet's ideal of eros and politics.The first chapter of the thesis first shows the reality of heterosexual love in ancient Greece,then it reveals the essence of heterosexual love in ancient Greece upon the unfair treatment of women,unfair love.However,as Aristophanes shows,this unfair love has the best connotation in the poet's vision,because it is the source of citizens' ordinary happiness,and this is mainly reflected in the endings of many comedies.In addition,compared with homosexual love,the advantage of heterosexual love lies in the inaction politics it refers to,although it also involves the class rule among individuals,heterosexual love is much milder than homosexual love,because the latter chooses not to develop into public politics.In the second chapter,as a phenomenon,homosexual love is much more popular than heterosexual love in ancient Greece,meanwhile it is widely praised by the admirers.But from Aristophanes' view,heterosexual love encourages the politics of villains,and almost all politicians come from catamite relation,Cleon and Pithetaerus are the most typical examples.The third chapter discusses the problems of polis,which can be seen as an object of love and a community,on the one hand,it touches upon the love for the polis,such as Lysistrata's love for Athens,Sparta and other polis.On the other hand,the polis is also constructed by eros while being loved,families,gangs and other communities are the same.So the third chapter will also look to ancient Greek society in 5th and 4th century BC,starting from Aristophanes' comedies,and reveals the eros and communities in the eyes of the ancient Greeks by discussing Greek tragedies and philosophy.Although comedies,tragedies and philosophy discuss or shape the communities in different forms,the communities themselves are not single,such as the community of polis and families in Aristophanes' works,the community of Sophocles which excludes loners and the heterogeneous community of Socrates,yet their ideals are similar to each other,that is,to build a soft community of eros.Aristophanes' view on eros emerges by depicting eros and politics,his view reveals the poet's resistance to traditional political affairs.Despite his biased political views and the danger of retreating to the pre-polis period,it is still a kind of Aristophanes' consideration and coping plan on Athens' abyss.For modern people,it is impossible for everyone to become a hermit,only by confronting eros and the relationship among individuals it represents,can we live a life which truly belongs to human.