...ENG 209-001 Greek Theater Essay Medea by Euripedes and Lysistrata by Aristophanes are two different Greek plays in which the main characters are both strong females with goals to accomplish. Medea is a tragedy written about a woman driven by revenge. Lysistrata is a comedy about a woman who wants to take a stand. Greek tragedies and comedies usually did not have too much in common, besides the general moral background instilled in the people of that time period. Although tragedies always ended in death and comedies often ended in marriage or love, the two characters from opposite genres of theater share many of the same qualities. Both main characters, Medea and Lysistrata, are very strong, smart, determined women whose main goals are to be happy. When first reading Medea you might not think that her goal is to find happiness because it is masked by her want and need for revenge as well. Medea is a very sad story because many characters dead by the end of the play, as is typical in a tragedy. Medea murders Glauce and Creon and then her own two children so that her husband, Jason, must suffer their losses. She did so to get revenge on him for leaving her for the Princess. Medea was so determined to make Jason pay for what he had done to her that she had no restrictions on her actions. She murdered her children only to seek revenge on her ex-husband and to cause him suffering as he did to her. Medea would not be happy until Jason was seeing a consequence for is actions so...
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...Lysistrat by Aristophanes 410 BC anonymous translator CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY LYSISTRATA CLEONICE MYRRHINE LAMPITO MAGISTRATES CINESIAS CHILD OF CINESIAS HERALD OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS ENVOYS OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS AN ATHENIAN CITIZEN CHORUS OF OLD MEN CHORUS OF WOMEN (SCENE:-At the base of the Orchestra are two buildings, the house of LYSISTRATA and the entrance to the Acropolis; a winding and narrow path leads up to the latter. Between the two buildings is the opening of the Cave of Pan. LYSISTRATA is pacing up and down in front of her house.) LYSISTRATA Ah! if only they had been invited to a Bacchic revelling, or a feast of Pan or Aphrodite or Genetyllis, why! the streets would have been impassable for the thronging tambourines! Now there's never a woman here-ah! except my neighbour Cleonice, whom I see approaching yonder.... Good day, Cleonice. CLEONICE Good day, Lysistrata; but pray, why this dark, forbidding face, my dear? Believe me, you don't look a bit pretty with those black lowering brows. LYSISTRATA Oh, Cleonice, my heart is on fire; I blush for our sex. Men will have it we are tricky and sly.... CLEONICE And they are quite right, upon my word! LYSISTRATA Yet, look you, when the women are summoned to meet for a matter of the greatest importance, they lie in bed instead of coming. CLEONICE Oh! they will come, my dear; but it's not easy, you know, for women to leave the house. One is busy pottering about her husband; another...
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...IRWIN PHILOSOPHY/POP CULTURE S E R I E S R Can drugs take us down the rabbit-hole? R Is Alice a feminist icon? curiouser To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit www.andphilosophy.com and WILLIAM IRWIN is a professor of philosophy at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books as coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titles, including Batman and Philosophy, House and Philosophy, and Watchmen and Philosophy. curiouser RICHARD BRIAN DAVIS is an associate professor of philosophy at Tyndale University College and the coeditor of 24 and Philosophy. R I C H A R D B R I A N D AV I S AND PHILOSOPHY Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has fascinated children and adults alike for generations. Why does Lewis Carroll introduce us to such oddities as a blue caterpillar who smokes a hookah, a cat whose grin remains after its head has faded away, and a White Queen who lives backward and remembers forward? Is it all just nonsense? Was Carroll under the influence? This book probes the deeper underlying meaning in the Alice books and reveals a world rich with philosophical life lessons. Tapping into some of the greatest philosophical minds that ever lived— Aristotle, Hume, Hobbes, and Nietzsche—Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy explores life’s ultimate questions through the eyes of perhaps the most endearing ...
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