Comedy and tragedy in Antigone and Lysistrata
             Horace Warpole wrote "The world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who think, a comedy to those who feel." This quote holds much truth behind its meaning. It can also be translated to mean that comedy evokes thought wereas tragedy evokes emotion. these two correlations go hand in hand. That is why comic relief in a tragedy does not seem out of place. Nevertheless, this quote may be applied to Sophacles' Antigone and Aristophanes' Lysistrata.
             In the beginning, comedy was frank, indecent, and sexual. The plots were loosely and carelessly sructured and included broad farce and bafoonery. The performers were coarse and obscene while using satire to depict important contemporary moral, social and politicalissues of Athenian life. The comedy included broad satire of well-known people of the time. Aristophanes used dramaric satire on some of the most famous philosophers and poets of the era. He added a facet of cleverness and depth in feeling to his lyrics, in an attempt to appeal to both the emotions and intellect of the audience. This can be seen in the name of his main character Lysistrata. The name Lysistrata means "disband the army." In Lysistrata we see how Aristophanes uses the fact that war is the central business of the nation during that time and uses it to evoke humor. What more clever way to disband the almighty Athenian Army. "Women! Sisters! If we really want our men to make peace, we must give up ...going to bed with them." The character of Lysistrata is a mere housewife who has listened to her husband go on and on about the war and has now put together an army of women. She is firm in her belief of her plan and mocks any man that puts forth pretense. In this play the audience must deal with the role women have taken. The women now have the upper hand over the men. The audience can see the intelligence used by Lysistrata to take over...