At the roots of revenge is pain and suffering which can cause a number of reactions according to the person and situation. Retaliation is another method used to take vengeance against someone who has harmed you. Yet, how can revenge and retaliation be distinguished from each other? Euripide's Medea and Aristophane's Lysisitrata can help to answer that question. In order to find out which of the two "problem solving strategies" provides better results, the two situations need to be looked at closely. By doing so, the conclusion is clear that Medea's hateful revenge leads only to tragedy while Lysistrata's clever retaliation achieves its purpose.

The two main characters Medea and Lysistrata face two distinct problems which result in two different approaches to the problems. Medea suffers from the pain of a lost love. Not only did she lose her beloved Jason, but also he left her for another woman. On the other hand, Lysistrata battles for the return of the men from the war. The women in Lysisitrata feel abandoned and alone without their husbands and lovers. Although the two situations are different, the emotions resulting from them are passionate and strong.

f the two women feels more passionately and strongly for her "cause." Medea's pain leads her to plot the murders os Jason, Jason's wife and Jason's wife's father. With poison as her weapon, she kills Jason's wife and Kreon. It is not surprising that Medea is capable of murder since she killed her own brother. This horrible truth goes on to haunt her and the regret is also unbearable. To think she did it to escape safely with Jason and now Jason is the man who created the emotional chaos for her. Medea thinks back and cries, "Oh, my father! Oh, my country! In what dishonor I left you, killing my own brother for it." (Norton p. 673 lns. 164-165) Obviously Medea was in more pain than Lysisitrata, but the passion and effort put into the plans show that Lysistrata had better control of the situation. This leads me to conclude that her emotions run deep on a different level than Medea's.

As the reader I noticed my reactions to each of theplays. Medea's revenge made me sick while Lysistrata's strategic retaliation made me take up pride in the power of women. One example of the negativity in Medea that brought out my reactions is when she says, "By exiling e, he has given me this one day to stay here, and in this I will make dead bodies of three of my enemies . . ." (Norton p. 678 lns. 369-371) Hate could never bring any thing positive. How clear this is when you look at all the senseless death in Medea, which really cannot result in relief, only in more pain. However, the kind of pain Medea and Lysistrata feel is very different. Therefore, obviously the women will react differently. It is really difficult for a woman to heal from the emotional wound caused by deception. Especially when the deceiver is someone you love. This suffering can cause a woman to act drastically, but it does not justify murder. In Lysistrata's case, she tries to regain the attention an!

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1417
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)