Aristophanes (Greek: 螒蚁喂蟽蟿慰蠁维谓畏蟼; c.鈥�446 鈥� c.鈥�386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries. Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher. Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through that play's Chorus, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all."
Kocalar谋n谋n k谋yafetlerini 莽alarak meclise giden kad谋nlar谋n y枚netimi erkeklerden kad谋nlara verdi臒i "Kad谋n Mebuslar / Assembly of Women", Aristophanes'in ne kadar ileri g枚r眉艧l眉 bir komedya yazar谋 oldu臒unu kan谋tlayan 莽a臒谋n谋n 莽ok 枚tesinde bir yergi 枚rne臒i. Ataerkil y枚netim bi莽imini a臒谋r bir dille ele艧tiren yap谋s谋yla "Kad谋n Mebuslar"da kad谋nlar erkeklerin normal olarak g枚rd眉臒眉 艧eyleri kendilerine uyarlayarak e艧itsizli臒i okuyucunun g枚z眉ne sokuyor. Y枚netimi ele ge莽iren kad谋nlar谋n yeni bir yasayla cinsel ili艧kiyi serbest hale getirmesi ve bunu yaparken erkeklerin 枚ncelikli olarak ya艧l谋 kad谋nlarla yatmak zorunda kalmas谋 oyunun mizahi tonunu destekliyor. Ortaya koyulan kom眉nist d眉zenle Platon'un "Devlet"ini fazlas谋yla hat谋rlatan oyunda alttan alta bir Platon'a bir ele艧tiri hissedilse de oyunun "Devlet"ten 枚nce yaz谋lm谋艧 olmas谋 ak谋lda soru i艧areti bar谋nd谋r谋yor. Buna ek olarak m眉stehcen diliyle Hipponax'谋n 艧iirlerini hat谋rlatan oyunun mizahi d眉zeyi o kadar y眉ksek ki san谋r谋m "Kad谋n Mebuslar" Aristophanes'in en sevdi臒im oyunu olarak kalacak.
Ebbene s矛, l鈥檃bito fa il monaco. Lo sa bene Prassagora che, sottrae, nottetempo, la tunica e il mantello del marito. Non 猫 la sola, per貌, tutte le altre donne di Atene si travestono con abiti maschili e cos矛 mascherate si dirigono all鈥橝ssemblea cittadina.
Il governo non funziona come si deve: corruzione, ruberie, soprusi e tanto altro scontentano la popolazione. Cos矛 le donne decidono di prendere in mano la situazione: non si pu貌 fare altro per cambiare rotta.
Con l鈥檃rte della retorica appresa di nascosto, con l鈥檃stuzia del travestimento per aver una possibilit脿 di parlare altrimenti negata, le donne convincono la popolazione che solo loro possono avere le capacit脿 per amministrare il bene comune. Nasce una forma di governo utopica.
Come altre commedie di Aristofane, ancora una volta, il corpo delle donne 猫 strumento potente che rende forti le donne. Ancora una volta 猫 la cospirazione delle donne a smuovere una situazione deteriorata dagli uomini. La trama 猫 tuttavia, parodica.
La forma di governo 猫 un鈥檜topia ridicolizzata in una delle scene finali della commedia.
Per la legge appena approvata, infatti:
鈥澛獿e donne hanno deciso che se un giovane 芦desidera una giovane, non possa 芦goderla, se non ha prima goduta 芦la vecchia; e se non vuol suonare questa, 芦e s鈥檃ppicca alla giovane, 猫 permesso 芦alle pi煤 vecchie di ghermire il giovane 芦pel pi貌lo, e tirarlo impunemente.禄鈥�
Insomma, lo spirito e la volont脿 di cambiamento finiscono con una grassa risata. Donne vogliose e uomini che vogliono abbuffarsi ad un bel banchetto..
"Os digo que debemos entregar la ciudad a las mujeres. Despu茅s de todo ya en nuestros hogares nos servimos de ellas como administradoras y tesoreras. Yo os voy a ense帽ar que su modo de ser ellas son mejores que nosotros."
Como estudiante de literatura griega antigua, esta fue una lectura obligada. Las mujeres pudieron enga帽ar a los hombres para hacerse cargo de Atenas y arreglar todas las macanas en la democracia post-guerra.
A group of women don fakes beards and their husbands' cloaks, all to attend the male assembly and convince the Athenians to turn the city's rule over to those more competent: the women.
Ok. This play is, eh... Hmm. I'm struggling to know where I should begin. Let's start off with a different Aristophanes' play, the which is all about the women of Athens hating Euripides' misogynistic plays so much that they decide to kill him. I hoped Euripides replied with some lost Satyr play about the female Athenians reacting to The Ecclesiazusae because, ho-ly shit, is this terrible. I felt near on shellshocked after reading this, and couldn't understand how the same bloke who created the wrote this thing. Then I remember and say 'oh, right'.
Having gained their power, the women essentially create a free love commune. All wealth is put into a public fund, so now theft is impossible. Meals are served at one giant table for all, so everyone's equal (except the slaves). Sex is free and open, with the only stipulations being free folk and slaves cannot have sex with each other, and the ugliest citizens must always be erotically served first *Socrates roars approvingly*. The women are, apparently, perfectly fine with shagging the least appealing of the male sex, but Aristophanes gives us a scene from the opposite perspective, where a handsome young man tries to visit his girlfriend and is apprehended by three old women, who insist he must deal with them first, ignore his protests and drag him away to rape him. What the ever Zeus-loving fuck, Aristophanes?
I remember being very mean spirited, but this play is far worse. The humour is cruder, such as this line about a man with constipation 鈥業 really think there must be a wild pear obstructing my rectum鈥�, there's lots of talk about fondling buttocks or grabbing privates, and some terrible descriptions of the bodies of old women, with suggestions they should 'stop up their holes'.
This is one of those stories that hates everyone: men are stupid and women are devious. Wikipedia informs me this is less a play about female rule, and more an accusation against the Athenian male elite being both incompetent and effeminate. That might have been his argument, but it does nothing to excuse just how tasteless and cruel this whole mess is.
I happened to read this while drunk and, though I don't reccomend you read the play, I would suggest you get utterly pissed if you do, because it'll make it a hell of a lot easier.
Si algo demuestra Arist贸fanes con Les assembleistes es que no sabe dejar t铆tere con cabeza. Su argumento plantea una suerte de sistema comunista planteado por un grupo de mujeres, pero no hace concesiones: las mujeres son tan terribles como los hombres. Su sistema es ca贸tico y lleno de vac铆os legales, pero tambi茅n se establece que los hombres en el poder hacen estragos al interesarse antes por s铆 mismos que por el pa铆s (v茅ase Bl猫pir). Teniendo en cuenta el contexto festivo en que se enmarcaban las representaciones de la obra, casi parece l贸gico que no existan los tapujos en una obra que pretende hacer re铆r mediante la s谩tira.
El argumento en s铆 es bastante irregular. Durante la primera mitad sigue una estructura l贸gica y con un ritmo bien medido para, en la segunda, cortarlo por completo y terminar no tanto con un final abierto como con uno que casi parece incompleto por su falta absoluta de cierre. Cuando est谩n las mujeres, especialmente Prax脿gora, en escena, todo funciona bastante bien. Interacciones f谩ciles de seguir, interrupciones de di谩logo constantes para crear humor, insultos a decenas de hombres de la Asamblea... Pero cuando llegan los dos hombres (Home A y Home B), se vuelve un sinsentido sin mucha gracia y termina en un chiste que se alarga demasiadas p谩ginas. En cierto modo, la propia obra parece transmitir el magnetismo de sus mujeres y el sopor que provocan sus hombres, si bien, como he dicho, Arist贸fanes insultaba a unas y a otros sin distinciones.
Hay que reconocer que Les assembleistes es un libro bastante expl铆cito. Adem谩s de hacer veladas (y no tan veladas) referencias sexuales, hablar abiertamente de relaciones hetero y homosexuales, tratar el coito como tema central e incluso establecer un sistema sexual comunista, hay una buena dosis de humor escatol贸gico y hasta genitales mostrados en escena. Personalmente, no me ha hecho mucha gracia (lo grotesco casi nunca lo hace; se me antoja facil贸n), pero veo que en su 茅poca habr铆a sido un bombazo y casi da miedo saber que muchas de sus cr铆ticas al sistema pol铆tico de entonces pueden trasladarse a la actualidad sin apenas cambios. Ya el encargado de traducir el libro, Eduard Mayans Mevel, se encarga de ofrecer unos comentarios quiz谩 demasiado subjetivos en sus notas al pie. Se agradece el tono cercano y coloquial (que se mezcla con el acad茅mico), pero no niego que alg煤n comentario me ha hecho arquear una ceja, no por inveros铆mil, sino por no venir a cuento. Tampoco puedo destacar mucho negativo de su trabajo: la traducci贸n est谩 hecha con mimo, sus notas son muy informativas y se nota que ha habido toda una investigaci贸n detr谩s. Eso s铆, la introducci贸n es bastante desafortunada; se queda en la superficie y no explora suficientemente la lectura.
Al final, aunque no haya acabado muy satisfecho con la obra, al C茅sar lo que es del C茅sar: este Arist贸fanes estaba un poco loco y no voy a ser yo el que le lleve la contraria. Hay que tener buena mano para saber estrenar una representaci贸n ante miles de personas con el objetivo de insultarlas directamente.
"The Assembly of Women," or, "Ecclesiazusae," reminded me very strongly of my favorite Aristophanes, "Lysistrata." If you loved that play as much as I did, you will enjoy this one as well.
The first scene starts off with a group of wives in Ancient Athens stealing their husband's clothes and setting off to speak at the male-only Assembly. Their novel ideas, which concern land ownership, equality, and even sex, are met with a mixture of both outraged indignation and curious popularity.
This play was very fun, and I loved the spirited, mischievously intelligent women. I cannot leave out their husbands - exaggeratedly slow witted, they were hilarious.
Aristophanes is perhaps the world's first champion of women's rights, and he puts his ideas into comedy very well.
It really suprised me that this was written before Plato's Republic 'couse it looks like a really fitting parody of it, some ideas presented are in fact the same (shared property, everyone could be your dad so do not hit older man...) and Proxagora really reminds me of Socrates (much more than Socrates from Clouds ). It's marvelous how he mixes dealing with serious topics, satirizing more things at once, suprisingly good arguments with very funny comedy. Although response to some crisis they have back then it really interests even contemporary reader. It could have less jokes about shiting but otherwise it's just great.
Read it, especially if you read (at least part) of Republic and felt that it's odd.
Una satira donde las mujeres en Athenas logran llegar al poder y establecen una especie de sistema comunista en lo economico y en lo sexual, si uno se mete en el contexto de la epoca es inmensamente probable que lo que quizo hacer Aristofanes es una burla explicita hacia ellas y tambien explicar que pueden gobernar de una manera igual de caotica segun su obra.
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Komedinin Babas谋 olarak 莽a臒r谋lan Aristophanes bir oyununda daha d枚neminin sorunlar谋yla dalga ge莽iyor. Kitap Lysistrata gibi kad谋nlar谋n 艧ehrin y枚netimini ele ge莽irmesini konu ediniyor. Tekrardan bir kad谋n谋 ana karakter yapmas谋yla asl谋nda d枚neminde yaz谋lan di臒er t眉rden eserlerle ve yap谋s谋yla da dalga ge莽iyor Aristophanes. (Tragedya o d枚nemin pop眉ler t眉r眉 ve tragedyalarda kad谋nlar genelde yer almaz, al谋rsa da 莽ok 枚nemsiz ufak rollerde yer al谋r.)
Kitab谋n ana karakteri Praksagora di臒er kad谋nlar谋 topluyor ve erkek k谋l谋臒谋nda bir meclis olu艧turuyor. Bu meclis sayesinde kad谋nlar谋n istedi臒i b眉t眉n kararlar谋 al谋yorlar. 艦ehrin erkekleri de bu abs眉rt kararlara uymak zorunda kal谋yor. Kararlar谋n hepsinden bahsetmem m眉mk眉n de臒il fakat bu kararlar asl谋nda 莽ok 枚nemli bir 枚zellik ta艧谋yor.
Al谋nan kararlar Marksist d眉艧眉ncelere a艧谋r谋 benziyor. Tabi bu eserin 392 gibi bir y谋lda sahnelendi臒ini d眉艧眉n眉rsek Marksist d眉艧眉ncelerin asl谋nda buradan geldi臒ini kabul edebiliriz. Kararlar谋n genel 枚zelli臒i 艧u 艧ekilde; b眉t眉n yiyecek, i莽ecek, 枚nemli m眉cevherler vb. devlete verilecek ve devlet bunu uygun bir 艧ekilde herkese e艧it olarak da臒谋tacak. Bu 艧ekilde h谋rs谋zl谋k, e艧itsizlik, s谋n谋f sistemi gibi 艧eyler ortadan kalkm谋艧 olacak. Tabi ki kararlar sadece bunlardan ibaret de臒il. Kad谋nlar y枚netimi ele ge莽irdi臒i i莽in 艧枚yle kararlar da var: bir erkek gen莽 bir k谋zla yatmadan 枚nce ya艧l谋 bir kad谋n谋 tatmin etmek zorundad谋r.
Kitap iki par莽adan olu艧uyor diyebiliriz. 陌lk k谋s谋m Praksagora'n谋n kararlar谋 a莽谋klad谋臒谋 k谋s谋m, ikincisi ise bu kararlardan sonra 艧ehrin hali. Komedi k谋sm谋 asl谋nda kitab谋n ikinci k谋sm谋nda ortaya 莽谋k谋yor. Bu k谋s谋mda a艧谋r谋 zekice yaz谋lm谋艧, isimlerle yap谋lan s枚zc眉k oyunlar谋ndan tutun da cinsel 艧akalara kadar bir莽ok 艧ey yer al谋yor. (O zaman谋n Yunanistan'谋n谋 d眉艧眉n眉rsek bunlar 莽ok b眉y眉k yenilikler. Ayr谋ca bir o kadar da cesur.)
Kitab谋 莽ok be臒endim ger莽ekten. Okudu臒um en iyi 莽evirilerden olabilir. Espriler ve 艧akalar 莽eviri olmas谋na ra臒men orijinal谋 gibi tat veriyor. Kitab谋 okurken ger莽ekten g眉l眉mseyip durdum.
Aparecen en escena mujeres vestidas de hombres para participar en la asamblea y dar voz que las mujeres gobiernan la ciudad, al estar de acuerdo la mayor铆a de los 鈥渮apateros鈥�, y es lo que se hace. As铆 es, sin contexto ni fundamentos es lo que dicta la ley al tratarse de una comedia, bastante divertida la verdad, que los tres temas fundamentales que aparecen y es, pr谩cticamente, subrayado hasta no m谩s poder, es decir que ocupan varias p谩ginas, es: 鈥渃agar鈥�, 鈥渜ue gobiernan las mujeres鈥�, 鈥渏ovenes que tengan sexo con la vieja m谩s fea鈥�.
Ante la 茅poca que fue escrita y que aparecen datos que albergan en nuestro tiempo hoy en d铆a, como la paga de asistir a la asamblea aludiendo de lo que pasa ahora con los pol铆ticos; como as铆 tambi茅n el hincapi茅 hist贸rico de la 茅poca de Grecia para dar uso de conocimiento de que las mujeres eran seres p谩lidos 鈥攏o sal铆an mucho de casa como los hombres que se tostaban en el sol por trabajar y demases acciones鈥�, que solo atend铆an o administraban que haceres del hogar, crianzas de sus hijos, y la reproducci贸n sexual, aunque sin embargo si participaban much铆simo en los ritos religiosos por lo que es all铆 que obtaban 鈥攎ediante un sorteo鈥� ser sacerdoista libres, es decir que no necesitaban la presencia de un hombre en si, o sea un padre, hermano, esposo o tutor. Por lo que est谩 obra da una vuelta total de tuerca ante la sociedad, haci茅ndonos ver qu茅 tanto con el mandato con los varones como de las mujeres mucho no cambia la cosa, ambos son totalmente terribles ante la ley que imponen.
Seguramente Arist贸fanes cuando espuso la obra no esperaba m谩s all谩 de eso, es decir un cambio de verdad, por lo qued贸 como una comedia que cr铆tica varios casos de pol铆tica, defiende a las mujeres como al mismo tiempo se burla de ellas y que mucho no se pod铆a opinar sino se cumpl铆a con la ley.
Sometimes I forget history and think 鈥渨ow people are entertained by such degenerate humour nowadays.鈥� And then I read an Aristophanes play and remember 鈥渓ol nah we鈥檝e been laughing at the same things for thousands of years.鈥�
Bawdy as they may be, Aristophanes鈥� plays are also chock-full of uncomfortable political truths, and this one is no exception. The underlying premise is that democracy inevitably leads to the rule of the inferior over the superior, which degrades both. Tocqueville said the same thing millennia later, and looking at the current state of America, it鈥檚 hard to argue with.
Comme quoi les Grecs 茅taient r茅ellement plus avanc茅s que nous, puisqu鈥橝ristophane, dans une com茅die grecque, met de l鈥檃vant le f茅minisme et le droit des femmes.
C鈥櫭﹖ait dr么le et vulgaire, mon genre d鈥檋umour.
Mais comme n鈥檌mporte quelle pi猫ce de l鈥櫭﹑oque, il y avait beaucoup trop de trou dans l鈥檋istoire et des formulations 脿 se casser le ciboulot.
Je crois tout de m锚me que 莽a rentre dans les classiques et je suis contente de l鈥檃voir lu.
The Ecclesiazusae is another women-centric play by Aristophanes that focuses on women who want to change their domestic roles and experience being men... so they take their husbands' clothes and grow facial hair to become more like men. This play is a lot like Lysistrata in many senses- the plot is similar, the characters are similar, and the message being put across is similar. I think I may have liked this one a little bit more, but I think that is only marginal. Both are great, I just find it funny that this group of women would willingly start growing beards and leg hair.
I really enjoy plays like this because they feel so modern, yet so accurate for the time. In many ways, Aristophanes seemed to be very much ahead of his time, byt not to a degree which inhibited his ability to do well in competitions at the time. In short, I really see him as more than a funny comedian, but as a very scathing thinker as well. Plays that attack a patriarchy that was in place at the time only seem to come from Aristophanes most of the time, which really brings his intellectuality into light.
An interesting concept that Aristophanes brings up, being one of the oldest representations of a Communist society I've seen. And while it pokes fun at this society where everyone receives a commonwealth, it also inadvertently pokes fun at women ruling this society, which is a big weakness for Ecclesiazusae. The problem I've seen with Aristophanes' comedies involving politics and women is that you could see him supporting women's rights, but just as easily see him making fun of it. And between this play and Lysistrata, I'd have to say Lysistrata is the more clever and comedic of the two plays.