How we cite our quotes: Line
Quote #1
Men's Leader: "By god, if someone had socked them in the mouth a couple of times, like Bupalus, they wouldn't be making any noise!"
Women's Leader: "Okay, here's my mouth; someone take a sock at it; I'll stand here and take it. But then I'm the last b**** that ever grabs you by the balls!"
Men's Leader: "If you don't shut up, I'll knock you right out of your old hide!"
Women's Leader: "Come over here and just touch Stratyllis with the tip of your finger."
Men's Leader: "What if I give you the one-two punch? Got anything scary to counter with?"
Women's Leader: "I'll rip out your lungs and your guts with my fangs."
Men's Leader: "No poet's wiser than Euripides: as he says, no beast exists so shameless as womankind!" (360-369)
These lines show the Leader of the Men's Chorus trying to hang onto some old-fashioned patriarchal authority. He doesn't seem to stand much of a chance, though: that Women's Leader is easily a match for him. But maybe that's exactly what's got the Men's Leader so riled up. If he weren't afraid of the women taking over, would he really have to resort to such threats of violence? Could his anger show some anxiety about his own masculine prowess?
Quote #2
Lysistrata: "Before now, and for quite some time, we maintained our decorum and suffered in silence whatever you men did, because you wouldn't let us make a sound. But you weren't exactly all we could ask for. No, we knew only too well what you were up to, and many a time we'd hear in our homes about the bad decision you'd made on some great issue of state. Then, masking the pain in our hearts, we'd put on a smile and ask you, 'How did the Assembly go today? Any decision about a rider to the peace treaty?' And my husband would say, 'What's that to you? Shut up!' And I'd shut up."
First Old Woman: "I wouldn't have shut up!" (507-515)
These lines show men desperately trying to hold onto their masculine authority. Once again, they end up revealing more anxiety than confidence. Sure, men hold all the political power in the city, and prevent women from having a voice in the assembly—but if they're so confident in their power, why do they get so ticked off when their wives point out their mistakes? Could this be because their wives' intelligent remarks reveal that the idea of male superiority is nothing more than a myth? (Answer: yes.)
Quote #3
Magistrate: "If you hadn't shut up you'd have got a beating!"
Lysistrata: "Well, that's why I did shut up—then. But later on we began to hear about even worse decisions you'd made, and then we would ask, 'Husband, how come you're handling this so stupidly?' And right away he'd glare at me and tell me to get back to my sewing if I didn't want major damage to my head: 'War shall be the business of menfolk,' unquote."
Magistrate: "He was right on the mark, I say." (516-521)
Here we see, yet again, how the men maintain their power in the city through the threats of violence against their wives. When the Magistrate approves of this behavior, he shows not only that he's unenlightened when it comes to women's rights, but also that he's just plain stupid: if the men had taken the advice of Lysistrata a long time ago, the city wouldn't find itself in the horrible mess it's currently in.