Essay of Comparison
Aristophanes and Moliere's comedies depict women who can be described as straightforward, bold-spirited, witty, and loyal. In Tartuffe and Lysistrata, the characters Dorine and Lysistrata display well-developed, independent and intelligent characters. Lysistrata is the hero of her country, as she becomes a revolutionist. Dorine is a wise servant who sees through all pretenses and while being the inferior in terms of social position, she is the superior in any contest of wits.
These two comedies use very smart women who overcome boundaries, which are set by man, to achieve the their goals.
Lysistrata insisted that women have the intelligence and judgment to make political decisions. She came by her knowledge, she says, in the traditional way, "I am a woman, but I don't lack sense; I'm of myself not badly off for brains, and often listening to my father's words and old men's talk, I've not been badly schooled."
DorineIn her culture gender had very defined roles, and there really wasn't any room for leeway. Women were property. Something to own, to gaze upon, to fulfill sexual needs and desires and to bear and raise children. Because she wanted hers and the other women of Greece husbands to come home, she set in motion a revolution by uniting the ladies from the various cities of Greece. Lysistrata's plan makes her the leader of these women by touching on their soft spots, the lack of their men in their beds. She uses her out spoken, strong female role to unite to the women and end the Peloponnesian War.
In a time when women were revered as brainless incubators, Dorine provides feminine insight, intuition, and the raw sensibility of a woman. Dorine, a low-class lady's maid to Mariane in Tartuffe, uses the true voice of reason...