Lit Lesson with Yazoo (Hyde Park, Tuesday)

[geoff_chaucer]

[ooc: Locked to brothers_three.]

Geoff had met up with Yazoo at the brothers' shop first thing in the morning, his journal and a copy of Lysistrata tucked under his arm. After a breakfast at a nearby handwavey eating establishment, they'd headed over to Hyde Park, and settled on the ground under a large oak tree to being their discussion

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[brothers_three]

Yazoo had his copy of Lysistrata with him and he stretched out beneath the tree on his stomach. "I don't know, Geoff. I've never done this before. Which is better?" He shrugged and tilted his head. "And which would be fun for you?"

[geoff_chaucer]

"Either works fine for me, but maybe...let's start the way I did with my students, and that'll give us a place to jump off from."

Leaning with his back against the tree and his legs crossed at the ankles, Geoff fell easily back into the role of congenial professor.

"So...first off then...tell me what you thought of Lysistrata. Liked it, hated it, thought it made no sense at all?" He'd share his own opinions in a moment, but he wanted to give Yazoo a chance to talk first, partly so he could see how the young man thought.

[brothers_three]

"Well. I thought it was funny. And I'm assuming it was supposed to be with the men running around with hard-ons and the women denying them sex." Yazoo grinned and flipped over to lie on his back, staring at the sky.

"I felt like maybe I was missing a point though. I mean I get why the women were denying their husbands sex to get them to stop the war. I didn't get why she kept going on about spinning."

[ooc- I do know my Lysistrata...a little. I knew it was spinning and STILL typed weaving]

[geoff_chaucer]

"The spinning was being used as a metaphor. She's explaining how the role of women in what's going on Athens -- in the war, but also in the political arena in general -- is just as important as the men's role. Any number of metaphor's could have worked, but this is a play focusing on women, so Aristophanes uses a woman's craft -- spinning. In order to spin wool, the wool itself has to be cleaned and unknotted, and that's what the women are saying that they do for Athens -- they work behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly, so the men have the best material to work with when they run the country."

Geoff grinned as he looked over at Yazoo. People tended not to look past the brothers' unusual appearance, their sometimes aggressive or unsettling manner, and so didn't appreciate that the three had sharp minds as well as sharp swords.

"So...beyond the fact that it made for good humor in the play, why did Aristophanes have the women decide that withholding sex would be the best way to get what they wanted?"

[ooc: Bah, I