Discuss in relation to Lysistrata and Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale.

Through the texts Lysistrata, by Aristophanes, and the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, by Chaucer, there is the underlying concept of "Women Behaving Badly", the concept of women acting out of place in society.

The concept of women behaving badly is appropriated and varied to suit both texts, according to the time period, culture, authorial purpose and gender. However the 'must' in the discussion question above, is questionable, as there may be eternal and invariable standards, ideas, and expectations.

There is no such thing as women behaving badly, and rather it is women seen as behaving badly; and whether a woman is seen as behaving badly will depend on the audience, and their ideas, which are affected by factors including time period, culture, gender and authorial purpose.

Examples of this are seen in Lysistrata, and the Wife of Bath, where the concept of "women behaving badly" is appropriated to suit the audience of the times.

Lysistrata, set in 5th century BC Greek society, shows how one woman can go against the social stand

The concept is again appropriated to suit the audience of the time period. Although the society in which the play is set is still mainly male-dominated, women are different to those in ancient Greece, and the audience's views on women, and women behaving badly have changed.

This woman is seen as behaving badly in her time period, because of society then. A society who still thought women should be seen and not heard, a society which looked up to the "authorities" and did not find the Wife of Bath's ways of marriage quite appropriate. So the Wife is seen as behaving badly.

If the same story was applied to the current time period, or any other non-patriarchal era, Lysistrata's character would not be seen as behaving badly because of the change of circumstances and ways of thinking. No longer would standing up to male dominance and inadequacy be seen as behaving badly, but because of the time period Lysistrata is set in, and because of the culture of the society, she is. Because Lysistrata was a play in ancient Greek times, a patriarchal society, Lysistrata's actions are seen as bad.

As society's ideas and expectations of the position of women changes, so too will their ideas and expectations of what a woman behaving badly is.

In it, Aristophanes appropriated the concept of women behaving badly by making the character of Lysistrata, do something that would be unthinkable for woman in that time period and culture. In the time period of 5th century BC Greece, women were seen as simply sex-crazy creatures that could not do anything of importance let alone stop a war. Yet Lysistrata did this, and by doing this, became a woman behaving badly for that time period and culture.

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Approximate Word count = 1316
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)