Lysistrata - LitChart

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Lysistrata
Sicilian Expedition (415-413 BC), a failed military intervention
INTR
INTRODUCTION
ODUCTION in which some two hundred ships and five thousand Athenian
soldiers were destroyed in one fell swoop. Aristophanes
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF ARISTOPHANES reserved his most brutal satire for the demagogue he held most
We know little of Aristophanes’ biography, and most of what we accountable for the mess, the Athenian general Cleon, whom
do know comes from his plays themselves. He was born in he condemned as a rabid warmonger. Athens went on to
Kydathenaion, a deme or subdivision of Classical Athens, some surrender to Sparta in 404 BC, and their political supremacy in
fifty years after the Athenian statesman Cleisthenes (b. 570 Greece was forever broken.
BC) implemented sweeping democratic reform in the city-
state. His father, a landowning citizen of Athens, was named RELATED LITERARY WORKS
Philippus. Aristophanes produced his first play, The Banqueters,
in 427 BC, and would go on to write some forty plays over the Aristophanes was the high prince of the Greek Old Comedy, a
course of his career in comedy, some of which we have in their genre distinctive for its scathing political and cultural satire as
entirety, many of which we have only in fragments. His plays well as for its exuberant sexual and scatological obscenity. In
were staged during Athenian drama competitions like those contrast to the Greek tragedians like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
held during the City Dionysia and Lenaia, where they garnered Euripides—all of whom were alive when he was—Aristophanes
prizes and fame for their robust, high-spirited poetry and generally treats not mythical but topical subjects in his plays,
incisive satirical wit. The most famous of Aristophanes’ and his plots are not grimly tight but rather explosively
surviving plays include The Clouds (completed in 417 BC), The carnival-like, stuffed with high fantasy and wit. The more
Birds (414 BC), Lysistrata (411 BC), and The Frogs (405 BC). modern inheritors of the Old Comedy include Rabelais in his
Aristophanes’ satire—scathing but born of a deep love for Gargantua and Pantagruel (published between c. 1532 and
Athens—targets, among other things, warmongering politicians 1564), Cervantes in his Don Quixote (published between 1605
like the demagogue Cleon, who zealously supported the and 1615), and Jonathan Swift in his Tale of a Tub (published in
Peloponnesian War effort (see The Knights), intellectual 1704) and Gulliver’s Travels (first published in 1726). It should
charlatanism, and the blustery pomposity of the tragic spirit. be noted, however, that Lysistrata represents, in part,
His most famous victim is perhaps the great philosopher Aristophanes’ turn away from some of the conventions of Old
Socrates, whom Aristophanes presents in The Clouds as a Comedy. For example, instead of having one Chorus as was
myopic dope, a mere sophist, and an obnoxious corrupter of traditional, the play has a Chorus divided into two quarrelling
Athenian values. Indeed, Socrates’s student Plato would later factions: old men versus old women. This, of course, is in
blame Aristophanes for contributing to Socrates’ trial, keeping with the play’s dramatic scenario.
conviction, and execution at the hands of the Athenian state in
399 BC. Aristophanes is remembered today as the greatest KEY FACTS
comic playwright of antiquity, and many readers would argue
• Full Title: Lysistrata
that he is the greatest comic playwright of all time, surpassing
even Shakespeare and Moliere. • When Written: Circa 411 BC
• Where Written: Athens, Greece
HISTORICAL CONTEXT • When Published: Lysistrata was first performed in 411 BC,
probably during the Lenaia, an annual Athenian festival and
Aristophanes lived and wrote during a time of grandiose greed
drama competition.
and political ambition in Classical Athens, when populism and
demagoguery held sway. It was also a time of paranoia both • Literary Period: Classical
foreign and domestic, violently punctuated by political purges • Genre: Comedy
and mass executions. Perhaps the major historical event to • Setting: Classical Athens
transpire in the Greek world during Aristophanes’ lifetime was • Climax: Lysistrata’s sex strike against the Peloponnesian
the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC)—an event that War threatens to unravel when the Greek women become
Aristophanes fiercely condemned, along with its architects and increasingly desirous for sex
supporters, throughout his dramatic career. Athens was waging • Antagonist: The Athenian men’s political corruption, greed,
bloody, costly warfare against the Peloponnesian League led by and ambition; the Peloponnesian War
the Greek city-state of Sparta; and, as part of that conflict,
Athens had also recently suffered a fatal disaster during the EXTRA CREDIT
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A New Leaf. Lysistrata is uncharacteristic of Aristophanes’ A decrepit, misogynistic Chorus of Old Men slowly enters with
work, which tends to be more outrageously overflowing. torches and pots of fire to smoke and burn the women out of
Douglass Parker explains: “The play’s technical excellences are the Acropolis. While they trudge uphill, however, griping all the
unquestionable: tight formal unity, economy of movement, way, their fires begin to smoke and go out. Somehow the men
realism in characterizations, range of feeling. They are also make it to the Acropolis door, only for the spryer Chorus of Old
rather un-Aristophanic excellences, and the specialist who Women to meet them there with pitchers of water. The Male
prefers earlier, comparatively messy pieces may perhaps be Koryphaios, or leader of the Chorus of Old Men, asks for
forgiven.” volunteers to pulverize the women for their backtalk, but no
one comes forward. Insults and threats are exchanged, and the
Adaptations and Realizations. Many stage and film directors old women, led by the Female Koryphaios, eventually douse the
have adapted Lysistrata, most recently Spike Lee, whose film old men with freezing water—an utter defeat.
Chi-Raq (2015) transposes Aristophanes’ plot to inner-city A Commissioner of Public Safety then enters with a squad of
Chicago. Instead of a sex strike against Greek-on-Greek police made up of four Scythian archers; he plans on putting an
warfare, Lee presents a sex-strike against gang-on-gang gun end to the “MORAL CHAOS” created by the women (he also
violence; and instead of Greek verse, his characters speak in plans on getting some money from the treasury to buy oars for
the rhymes and cadences of rap music. But the plot of Lysistrata the Athenian navy). He orders his officers to pry open the
has also leapt off the stage and screen and into the real world. Acropolis gate with crowbars. Lysistrata enters, and the
For example, in 2002, the Liberian Mass Action for Peace Commissioner orders a policeman to arrest Lysistrata, but she
organized a sex strike in Liberia that ultimately contributed to comically repels him a vicious jab of her spindle. Kleonike,
the peaceful resolution of the Second Liberian Civil War. Myrrhine, and Ismenia similarly repel the three remaining
officers. The Commissioner asks Lysistrata why she’s doing all
this: she responds that the women are sick and tired of their
PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY husbands’ staggering political incompetence, and that money is
the root of this evil. When the Commissioner becomes
Lysistrata begins with the Athenian woman Lysistrata pacing the
outraged, Lysistrata and her cohorts dress him up as a woman
streets of Athens, waiting for the Greek women she has and tell him to go home. The women declare that they’ll handle
summoned to arrive. Lysistrata’s neighbor Kleonike enters and Athens just as though it were yarn: they’ll clean it, rid it of
tries to calm her, but Lysistrata denigrates the women of parasites, and weave it into a suitable city-state. After all,
Greece as weak and lazy, and she announces that she has on her Lysistrata says, the women have just as much a stake in affairs
mind nothing less than a plot to end the Peloponnesian War of state as the men do, because their husbands and sons are the
between Athens and the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta). ones fighting, and because their own quality of life is diminished
The other women arrive soon enough, including the Athenian in times of war. These arguments only convince the
Myrrhine, the brawny Spartan woman Lampito, and the Commissioner to urge the Athenian men to fight all the more
Peloponnesian women Ismenia and the Corinthian girl. After vigorously, so Lysistrata and her women comically attack him
the women greet and inspect one another, Lysistrata asks them till he staggers offstage. The women themselves then reenter
what they’d be willing to do to bring about an end to the the Acropolis, while down below the Male Koryphaios wrestles,
Peloponnesian War: we’d be willing to die, they say. Lysistrata unsuccessfully, with his female counterpart, who succeeds in
then reveals that her plot simply requires that the women throwing him off balance.
abstain from sex. This, she hopes, will force their men to bring Time passes, several days at least. A distraught Lysistrata
about peace. Kleonike and Myrrhine at first refuse to reemerges from the Acropolis: the women, she says, really
participate and begin to walk away—they prefer war to sexless want to get laid, and they’re forsaking the sex strike as a result.
lives—but once Lampito voices her support for the sex strike, all She quickly reads a prophecy to them, which the women
of the women gradually come to support it. Lysistrata proceeds understand to mean that they must maintain solidarity, and
to reveal the second part of her plot: not only will the women they troop back inside the Acropolis. More trouble is on the
abstain from sex, they’ll also seize the Acropolis to prevent the horizon, however: Kinesias, Myrrhine’s husband, is approaching
Athenian men from accessing their war treasury. The women of along with a slave and the couple’s baby boy. He has a large
Greece proceed to swear an Oath of abstinence over a cup of erection and is in considerable pain. Lysistrata flatters his
wine. Meanwhile the Chorus of Old Women, on Lysistrata’s physical endowment, and Myrrhine descends to him to comfort
orders, take the Acropolis. Lysistrata orders Lampito to stir up a her dirty, unfed child. Kinesias tells her how empty the home
sex strike back in Sparta, and Lampito goes off to oblige. feels without her, how much he loves her—and then he tries to
Lysistrata and her women then hurry over to the Acropolis, and seduce his wife, sending his baby home with the slave.
the door shuts behind them. Myrrhine acts as though she’ll give in to him, but she keeps

prolonging the moment of consummation. At last, just when it than abstain from having sex. She even slanders her own sex as
seems that sex is nigh, Myrrhine asks her husband if he’s going being superficial, lazy, and unwise. That being said, once she
to support the truce. When Kinesias gives her a noncommittal joins Lysistrata’s cause Kleonike proves herself to be sharp-
response, Myrrhine runs off for good. Accompanied by the tongued and fierce: she serves as the women’s spokesperson
Male Koryphaios, Kinesias tragically laments the throbbing when they swear their Oath to abstain from sex, and she wields
pain of his erection, then exits. a chamber pot in the fight against the Athenian police.
A Spartan herald enters, as does the Commissioner, and both Myrrhine – The conventional Athenian woman Myrrhine
conceal erections under their cloaks. The herald announces arrives guiltily late to Lysistrata’s summons at the beginning of
that Lampito has sown disorder in the Peloponnesian League the play, but once there she promises to do anything to end the
through her sex strike, driving the men mad with painful lust. war, even to cut herself in half like a mackerel—but then she
The Commissioner orders the herald to have a Commission immediately cries out “On with the War!” when asked to abstain
sent to Athens empowered to conclude a truce. Both men exit from sex. Lysistrata soon persuades Myrrhine to take part in
hurriedly, and, in the meantime, the Female Koryphaios dresses the sex strike, however, and indeed Myrrhine goes on to
her naked male counterpart, thereby softening his hard heart. support the cause by fiercely wielding a blazing lamp against
A delegation of Spartans and Athenians soon enter. With the Athenian police. Toward the end of the play, the fate of
Lysistrata’s help, and motivated by the sight of the naked body Lysistrata’s plot practically rests in Myrrhine’s hands, as she
of Peace, here personified as a beautiful girl, they quickly draw takes the most active role yet in seducing her husband Kinesias
up the terms of peace. Throughout, Lysistrata pontificates and then denying him satisfaction.
about the brotherhood of the Greeks, and about their common The Chorus of Old W Women
omen – In Greek drama, a chorus is a
enemy in the Persians. Once peace is struck, the women throw homogenous, synchronized group of actors that typically
a merry feast for all. Everyone gets drunk, and the wives return comments on the action of the play and models the ideal
to their husbands. “Let’s not make the same mistakes again,” audience response in speech, song, and dance; their leader and
Lysistrata cautions, before inviting the Spartans to sing a final spokesperson is called a “Koryphaios.” It was usually traditional
song. They oblige her by singing a lively ode to dancing, to only have one Chorus in a play, but in Lysistrata there are two,
beautiful girls, and Spartan rivers, and the wisdom goddess and both Choruses directly participate in the action of the play.
Athena. Everyone exits, dancing and singing. The fierce, no-nonsense Chorus of Old Women seizes the
Acropolis—site of the Athenian war treasury—as part of
Lysistrata’s plan to end the Peloponnesian War. Using pitchers
CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS of water, the Chorus then repels the Chorus of Old Men as the
latter attempts to burn and smoke the women out.
MAJOR CHARACTERS
The Chorus of Old Men – The Chorus of Old Men is composed
Lysistr
ysistrata
ata – A grand, intelligent, alluring woman, Lysistrata of weak, shaky, doddering old men who are portrayed as
organizes a sex strike not only in her hometown of Athens but comically inept and impotent. They grouchily complain about
in Sparta as well, all in the hope that the men of Greece might women and are furious when the Chorus of Old Women seizes
peacefully end the bloody, costly Peloponnesian War. She is the Acropolis. The old men, staunch supporters of the war, haul
something of an idealist, and very witty. Scholars see in their phallic torches and firepots up to the Acropolis to burn
Lysistrata traces of two important Athenian figures: the and smoke Lysistrata and her women out, but the women’s
priestess of Athena and the courtesan (mistress or upper-class pitchers of freezing water soon repel them.
prostitute). Lysistrata is not married, is seemingly less
susceptible to erotic desire than the other Athenian women, Commissioner of Public Safety – When the Chorus of Old
and wisely works for Peace by masterfully manipulating the Men fails to secure the Acropolis, the Commissioner of Public
men around her. Indeed, Lysistrata practically directs the play Safety comes on the scene to bring Lysistrata and her women
of which she’s part: the Athenian women obey her orders, and to justice. The embodiment of patriarchal authority, law, and
the men can’t help but react to her plot in the way she wants order in Athens, the Commissioner orders his squad of four
them to. By the play’s end, of course, the men who earlier police (or rather, Scythian archers, the Athenian equivalent of
denounced Lysistrata as a rebel celebrate her as the most our police) to arrest the rebels, but Lysistrata, Kleonike,
excellent of women, a true peace-bringer. Myrrhine, and Ismenia fiercely drive them off with household
goods. Although the Commissioner is bullheaded and loathes
Kleonik
Kleonike e – The fun-loving Athenian woman Kleonike is the first what he calls the “MORAL CHAOS” brought on by the women,
to respond to her neighbor Lysistrata’s summons at the he is also intent on understanding the women’s motives.
beginning of the play. However, Kleonike conforms more to Lysistrata tries to explain, but when the Commissioner
Athenian gender stereotypes than her neighbor does. She loves becomes outraged by what he thinks is female
soft, fancy garments, and she would rather walk through fire presumptuousness, she and her cohorts shut him up by forcibly

dressing him up like a woman. Later, the Commissioner takes The Spartan Her
Herald
ald – Toward the end of the play, the Spartan
even worse: when he urges a reinvigoration of the war effort, herald enters, bearing a message of Peace from his people. He
the women attack him until he staggers offstage. By the play’s also bears a painful erection that he desperately but
end, however, even the Commissioner gets a little drunk and unsuccessfully attempts to hide under his cloak.
only plays at being an enforcer of the rules.
Kinesias – Kinesias is an Athenian citizen, Myrrhine’s husband,
and the father of her baby boy. He approaches the Acropolis
THEMES
afflicted by a nasty attack of love (read: a painful erection) and In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own color-
attempts to seduce his wife, only to be led on and then coded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes
abandoned. Toward the end of the play, Kinesias is part of the occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have
Athenian delegation that, guided by Lysistrata, brokers a peace a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in
with the Spartans. black and white.
Lampito – A brawny representative Spartan, Lampito is the
first woman to support Lysistrata’s plot for peace. While the WAR AND PEACE
Athenian women seize the Acropolis, Lampito returns to Sparta
Aristophanes’ great comedy Lysistrata was first
to organize a sex strike of her own. Per an Athenian ethnic
performed in the Greek city-state of Classical
stereotype—and like all the Spartan extras in the play—Lampito
Athens in 411 BC, when Athenian supremacy in
comes off as something of an unsophisticated, half-witted
Greece was collapsing. For two decades or so, Athens had been
bumpkin who speaks a degenerate dialect of Greek.
engaged in bloody, costly warfare against the Peloponnesian
Ismenia – Ismenia is a pretty Boiotian girl who comes from an League (led by the Greek city-state of Sparta), in what is now
aristocratic family in Thebes, an ally of Sparta in the known as the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). Moreover, as
Peloponnesian League. She accompanies Lampito to part of that conflict, Athens had also recently suffered a fatal
Lysistrata’s summons, and remains in Athens as a warmly disaster during the Sicilian Expedition (415-413 BC), a failed
welcome hostage until Athens and Sparta make peace. She military intervention in which some two hundred ships and five
never speaks, but she does repel a policeman by brandishing “a thousand Athenian soldiers were destroyed in one fell swoop.
huge pair of pincers.”
These events form the crucial historical backdrop of
The Corinthian girl – Like Ismenia, the huge Corinthian girl Lysistrata—indeed, the inciting action of the play, spearheaded
accompanies Lampito to Lysistrata’s summons, and remains in by the titular heroine, is a resolution on the part of the women
Athens as a warmly welcome hostage until Athens and Sparta of Athens and Sparta to withhold sex from their men until they
make peace. The Corinthian girl is distinguished by the fact that bring about a peaceful end to the Peloponnesian War.
she hails from a powerful family in Corinth, and even more so Lysistrata herself identifies the cause of the war to be nothing
by her comically enlarged rear end. more than political corruption, greed, and ambition. The men of
Peace – Peace is the personification of peace, and in the play Athens, entangled in their folly and paranoia, disagree. “The
she takes the form of a beautiful naked girl whom both the War Effort needs [the Treasury’s] money!” a Commissioner of
Athenian and Spartan men lust after. Peace accompanies Public Safety insists—to which Lysistrata wittily retorts, “Who
Lysistrata outside the Acropolis while the Greeks put a stop to needs the War Effort?” After all, the Peloponnesian War
the Peloponnesian War, and she is ogled all the while by brought with it not public safety but rather pain and suffering
Kinesias and a Spartan ambassador. for Athens, from military disaster abroad to ruptures in the
fabric of daily life at home, over which Lysistrata and her fellow
MINOR CHARACTERS women grieve: dead sons, a lack of marriageable men, and
women growing out of their “prime” without the chance to
The F
Female
emale K Koryphaios
oryphaios – The leader and spokesperson of the
marry.
Chorus of Old Women. The spry Female Koryphaios gives and
takes jabs and kicks from her male counterpart during the So it is that Lysistrata and the women of both Athens and
conflict at the Acropolis, but at the end of the play, the two Sparta are willing to go to great extremes in suing for peace.
Choruses are reconciled and unite as one. This is not to say that Lysistrata is an anti-war play, however, as
many readers like to think it is. Rather, the play takes a stand
The Male K Koryphaios
oryphaios –The leader and spokesperson of the
against war when it is waged for bad reasons, against
Chorus of Old Men, the Male Koryphaios is an especially foul
“staggering incompetence” when it comes to the handling of
self-proclaimed misogynist, but by the end of the play he breaks
affairs of state, and against specifically Greek-on-Greek
down and weeps at all the good the women have done him in
warfare. Both the Athenians and Spartans were Greek, after all,
brokering Peace.
and allies in the Greco-Persian Wars that ended only some

twenty years before the Peloponnesian War began. (It should treasury—thereby usurping, albeit temporarily, their men’s
be added here, however, that Aristophanes, always playing for political power. The women justify their loving plot with
laughs, nonetheless does little to improve the Athenian unanswerable simplicity: the Female Koryphaios announces, “I
perception of the Spartans in his play, as he represents them as hold stock in Athens—stock I paid for in sons.” In place of
unsophisticated, half-witted bumpkins who speak a degenerate political madness, the women propose common sense. Indeed,
dialect of Greek.) By the conclusion of the play, the women’s sex Lysistrata suggests that women’s domestic work cultivates in
strike so hotly bothers their men that the Greeks do in fact them a common sense that men tend to problematically lack,
make peace: “Dance to the gods’ glory, and thank them for the particularly in the world of the play, where the male characters
happy ending,” Lysistrata calls out in her final speech. Historical are presented as hopelessly inept. This point is eloquently
Athens, though, did not make such a happy ending for itself: made when Lysistrata compares Athens to “fleece, recently
driven to it by besiegement, starvation, and disease, the shorn,” and gives her solution to political problems by extending
Athenians surrendered to the Spartans in 404 BC, and their this metaphor of domestic work. As fleece needs to be
supremacy in Greece was forever broken. scrubbed, beaten so as to rid it of vermin, combed of its lumps
and knots and snarls, and expertly woven, so too does Athens
GENDER ROLES need to be cleansed of filth, rid of incompetent parasites, and
politically reunified if it is to properly fit the Athenian spirit.
Though Athens was a democracy, male citizens held
This is homespun political sanity at its best.
all of the political power, and women enjoyed
relatively few rights and privileges. Athenian Still, Aristophanes is no feminist, and Lysistrata is no proto-
women could not hold political office, for example, or feminist tract. The women take control only to restore their
participate in democratic elections, votes, or debates, nor could men to sanity, after which, the play suggests, the men will and
they serve on juries or bring lawsuits. Furthermore, the should once again pilot the ship of state. To complicate the
economic activity of Athenian women was also limited matter even more, only men performed on the Classical
(although they did budget the household accounts, as Lysistrata Athenian stage, a fact which Aristophanes milks by giving some
says), and so was their freedom of movement. Their education of his female characters masculine qualities, like the brawny
and responsibilities centered on domesticities like weaving Spartan Lampito as well as the take-charge and severe
cloth and raising children. The most powerful women in Athens Lysistrata herself. Moreover, scholars are not in agreement as
tended to be the priestesses of the tutelary wisdom goddess to whether or not women in Classical Athens would have
Athena, as well as the hetairai, courtesans or prostitutes who attended dramatic festivals at all—Lysistrata may well be a play
were of a lower social status than citizens’ wives but who were written by a man, performed by men, and performed for men
compensated with more privileges. alone.
We must have some understanding of these cultural features in
Classical Athens to understand what Aristophanes is up to in SEXUALITY AND THE BATTLE OF THE
Lysistrata, because it is a play that both reflects and plays with SEXES
the gender roles of its time and place. On the one hand, the While Athens wages war against enemies offstage,
women in the play, other than Lysistrata herself, tend to be Lysistrata presents warfare onstage, too: the battle
stereotypes: superficial, flighty, and coy. Even they themselves of the sexes. In a parody of warfare, the women of Greece
are skeptical about their power to effect peace in Greece: besiege their men with abstinence, and they storm the
women are lazy, they say, unwise, and talented only in Acropolis and lock it down as if with a chastity belt. They fight
glamorously painting their faces and primping. The Athenian not to the death, but to the peace, and they fight not with
men, both in and out of the play, perhaps, would agree: women swords and bows and spears, but with pitchers of water,
are unfit for rational discourse, they say, deceptive, sly, and spindles, lamps, and other domestic tools. When the Chorus of
immoral as they are. The men of Athens, however, are Old Men attempts to retake the Acropolis by means of virile
stubborn, paranoid, and so entangled in their mismanagement fire, the Chorus of Old Women douses fire with water—a
of the state that they have lost sight of basic human needs. metaphor for subduing warlike rapacity with chastity, anger
Consequently, the grand, intelligent, and alluring with clear-headedness. The women, lacking political power,
Lysistrata—whose character, scholars argue, Aristophanes must weaponize their sexuality, and they do so not out of mad
modeled after both a contemporary priestess of Athena named political ambition but out of a commonsense desire to restore
Lysimache as well as the figure of the courtesan—arrives at the peace.
conclusion that a reversal of gender roles is necessary if Athens Love, at last, necessarily gets the better of war, as is evinced by
is to be at peace. So it is that she and her women storm the the comedy’s single most iconic stage image. After the women’s
Acropolis—a great citadel that served as the political and sex strike has gone on for so long, the Greek men, Athenians
religious center of Athens, and also home to the Athenian war and Spartans alike, find themselves between a rock and a hard

place. They refuse to make peace, but in this they also condemn The Greek men, characteristically, misunderstand the women’s
themselves to waddling around the stage with painful rebellion altogether, and this misunderstanding reflects how
erections, desperately but unsuccessfully attempting to hide their idea of patriotism has been perverted. The Commissioner
them under their cloaks. Men aren’t the only casualties of the of Public Safety reasons rather badly that what is elsewhere
battle of the sexes either. The Athenian woman Kleonike, for referred to as the “MORAL CHAOS” let loose upon Athens
one, is extremely reluctant to give up sex, even if it means the arises from husbands being too incautious with their wives. We
continuation of the war. “I’m willing to walk through fire shouldn’t have left our wives alone with goldsmiths and
barefoot,” she says, “but not to give up SEX—there’s nothing like cobblers, he argues, because the ensuing “hanky-panky [is
it!” Another woman stuffs Athena’s sacred helmet in her what] what we have thank for today’s / Utter Anarchy.” Later,
clothing so that she appears pregnant, the better to sneak away the men reason, again badly, that the women’s rebellion is really
from the Acropolis and rendezvous with her lover. sponsored by the Spartans in a bid “to commandeer the City’s
As such ridiculous stage images and antics suggest, Athenians cash.” Such lame attributions of motive speak to the Athenian
“invested sex with little transcendental significance,” according men’s greed and self-absorption, as well as to their blindness as
to the esteemed Aristophanes scholar and translator Douglass to the domestic effects of needless warfare. Their cardinal
Parker. Nor is the point of Lysistrata that the love of a good error is to think that such pride and warmongering is in the
woman can save men from themselves, or that free love brings best interests of the city-state.
peace into the world. Rather, the play envisions sex as a basic This brings us to the great irony of Aristophanes’ comedy: the
human need, and, when sex is rooted in love and marriage, the women are more in line with the wellbeing and spirit of Athens
gratification of sexual desire is deeply pleasing. Not so with the than their male counterparts are, not so much rebels against as
needless pain and suffering brought on by the Peloponnesian defenders of the city-state. When the mind of Athens is mad,
War. This is all to say that Lysistrata is a somewhat hedonistic rebellion alone can restore it to sanity. Indeed, that was in part
play: whenever you can, it suggests, fulfill your needs, pursue the purpose of Aristophanes’ comedy in general: to bring the
pleasure in accordance with civic virtue, and avoid pain. When Athenians to their senses through satire, mockery, and
Peace personified makes an appearance toward the play’s purifying laughter. As the playwright himself suggests, his
resolution, it should come as no surprise at this point that the vocation involves saying much that is amusing, but also much
form she takes, as we learn in a stage direction, is that of “a that is serious. His is a comedy with a sense of civic duty.
beautiful girl without a stitch on,” that is, naked. The Greek men Lysistrata, of course, is no political tract; Aristophanes is not
ogle Peace and her “purtiest behind,” as one Spartan has it, and arguing that women should overtake the City. The play is rather
their ardor “to plow a few furrows” and “to work a few loads of a fantasy, lovingly intended to disrupt, and to liberate Athens
fertilizer in” quickly burns away all warlike thoughts. The men from, its self-destructive downward spiral. In the spirit of
of Greece seem to have forgotten about pleasure in their Lysistrata herself, Aristophanes’ comedy is not an act of
greed, ambition, and paranoia—but Lysistrata and the women rebellion, but rather a reminder of Athenian values and a satire
of Greece remind them that a pleasureless state is not worth about how far the people have drifted from what they once
living in. rightly held dear. That historical Athens did not make full use of
Aristophanes’ insights does not diminish his comedy’s power to
REBELLION, PATRIOTISM, AND THE make us laugh, thoughtfully, even now.
POLITICAL POWER OF COMEDY
Lysistrata, during the exposition of her comedy, SYMBOLS
announces that she intends to put into motion a
plot “that really deserves the name of monstrous,” a full-blown Symbols appear in blue text throughout the Summary and
rebellion. And that is exactly what she does, rebelling both Analysis sections of this LitChart.
against patriarchal authority and against the disastrous policies
of Athens itself. In addition to being the stage for the battle of
the sexes, then, the Acropolis is also a symbol for the mind of
ATHENA AND THE ACROPOLIS
the Athenian body politic, as it were—the center where all Athena was the tutelary wisdom goddess of
political decisions are made. The Greek women conclude that, Athens, and she was worshiped chiefly at her
under the control of men, this mind has gone mad, and they temple in the Acropolis, a great citadel that served as the
refuse to be obedient any longer to madness. No more will they political and religious center of Athens, home to the Athenian
tolerate and endure the men’s incompetent manhandling of war treasury. In Lysistrata, Athena is a shadowy but important
affairs of state, “masking our worry with a nervous laugh,” as presence. She symbolizes the wisdom that the Athenian men, in
Lysistrata says; no more will they endure the needless death of their greed and ambition, have forgotten. Relatedly, the
their sons in war. Acropolis symbolizes political control over Athens; it is the

mind of the Athenian body politic, where Athena’s wisdom
should reign. Under the control of the men, however, this mind other female characters.
has gone mad, and so the women under Lysistrata’s leadership
storm the Acropolis to restore sanity, wisdom, and peace. Over
the course of the play, Aristophanes cleverly modulates this I’m positively ashamed to be a woman—a member
symbol so that the Acropolis, fiercely besieged by the men and
of a sex which can’t even live up to male slanders!
even more fiercely defended by the women, also comes to be
associated with the female anatomy. When wisdom is To hear our husbands talk, we’re sly: deceitful,
forgotten, a reminder of our basic needs might be just what we always plotting, monsters of intrigue…
need to bring us to our senses. By the end of the play, Athens
and Sparta make peace, Athena as the goddess of wisdom once
Related Characters: Lysistrata (speaker)
again rules in the Acropolis, and sex and wisdom are unified
into what Douglass Parker calls “the civilizing force of love.”
Related Themes:
Page Number: 11-12

QUO
QUOTES
TES
Explanation and Analysis
Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the New
American Library edition of Four Plays by Aristophanes Lysistrata has been waiting impatiently for other women to
published in 1984. join her to discuss the sex strike. Eventually, her neighbor
Kleonike appears, and urges her to calm down. Lysistrata
replies that she's "ashamed to be a woman," because women
Lines 1 – 253 Quotes can't even live up to all the negative stereotypes that men
Announce a debauch in honor of Bacchos, use to describe them. From the examples Lysistrata gives, it
a spree for Pan, some footling fertility fieldday, is clear that she is fully implicating herself in this critique. As
she points out, men accuse women of being "sly, deceitful,
and traffic stops—the streets are absolutely clogged always plotting"––even as she herself is secretly plotting a
with frantic female banging on tambourines. No urging sex strike designed to undermine the men. This suggests
for an orgy! that negative stereotypes about women can sometimes be
But today—there’s not one woman here. accurate.
On the other hand, Lysistrata's reference to these negative
stereotypes is humorously ironic. She implies that it would
be better if all women lived up to these "slanders," rather
Related Themes: than just being frivolous and lazy. This in turn suggests that
men do misrepresent women––but do so by overestimating
Page Number: 1-4 their capabilities! Note that, although Lysistrata is
complaining about women's flightiness at this point, she
Explanation and Analysis plans to strategically utilize people's low expectations of
Lysistrata has entered the stage alone and is pacing women's political commitment in order to achieve her aim
anxiously. She laments the fact that the women she has of ending the war.
called on are not yet there, claiming that if she had
suggested hosting a party or an orgy then everyone would
have arrived without hesitation. This humorous opening to Us? Be practical. Wisdom for women? There’s nothing
the play establishes a world dominated by hedonism, in
cosmic about cosmetics—and Glamor is our only talent.
which women enjoy debauchery but are reluctant to
participate in serious matters. In many ways, this presents a All we can do is sit, primped and painted,
rather sexist view of women (one that would have been made up and dressed up.
standard in Greek culture at the time), suggesting that they
are frivolous, lustful, and flighty. It also hints at the fact that
the course of action Lysistrata is proposing––a coordinated Related Characters: Kleonike (speaker), Lysistrata
sex strike––is not going to be easy for the women. This
Related Themes:
creates comic suspense in advance of the arrival of the

Page Number: 41-43 she will reveal. When Lysistrata announces "from SEX!" this
is humorous both in its frivolity and––eventually––in how
Explanation and Analysis extremely negatively the women react to it. Indeed,
While they wait for the other women, Kleonike has asked Lysistrata's words play with the audience's expectations
Lysistrata to describe her plan. Lysistrata has explained that that sex is not a "serious" issue like war; however, the play
she wants to unite all Greek women into bringing about the suggests that it is in fact arguably more powerful.
end of the Peloponnesian War, thereby saving Greece from
itself. Kleonike responds cynically; she clearly thinks
Lysistrata's plan is ridiculous. In this passage, Kleonike I’m willing to walk through fire barefoot.
explains that women will never be able to act wisely (or even But not
effectively), because "glamor is our only talent." Clearly, to give up SEX—there’s nothing like it, Lysistrata!
Lysistrata and Kleonike have very different attitudes to
gender roles (and the possibility of subverting them).
Related Characters: Kleonike (speaker), Lysistrata
While Lysistrata laments the stereotypes women are held
against and believes it is possible for women to transcend
Related Themes:
them, Kleonike seems happy to accept the idea that all
women can do is be "made up and dressed up." Note that Page Number: 134-136
the examples she gives are in the passive tense, implying
that even this "primping" is something that is done to Explanation and Analysis
women, rather than something they choose to do The women have pleaded to know why Lysistrata has
themselves. Obviously, this does not bode well for political brought them together, and Lysistrata has told them that
action. At the same time, Lysistrata plans to use these she plans for them to collectively bring about peace.
stereotypes to her advantage; by withholding sex, the Although the women initially pledge to do anything for this
women will not have to actively do anything, but rather look cause––including die––when Lysistrata eventually reveals
enticing while denying their husbands intimacy. that she is asking them to give up sex, the women are
appalled. In this comic passage, Kleonike emphasizes that
she would "walk through fire barefoot" rather than give up
We can force our husbands to negotiate Peace, sex. Once again, the women are shown to be shallow,
frivolous, and weak-willed. Kleonike's insistence that
Ladies, by exercising steadfast Self-Control—
"there's nothing like it" suggests that she is unable to look
By Total Abstinence… beyond her immediate pleasure in order to serve the
By Total Abstinence… greater good of ending the war. The women's reaction also
from SEX! coheres with the play's crude humor, in which sex takes on
an outsized significance, while also being presented as
Related Characters: Lysistrata (speaker) something universal and essentially human (i.e., not
particularly "sacred" or idealized).
Related Themes:
Page Number: 119-125 Lines 254 – 705 Quotes

Explanation and Analysis What a catastrophe—
MATRIARCHY!
The other women have at last arrived, and are eager to
They’ve brought Athene’s statue to heel,
know why Lysistrata has summoned them together.
they’ve put the Akropolis under a seal,
Lysistrata has announced that she hopes that, together,
they’ve copped the whole damned commonweal…
they will put an end to the war, and the women
What is there left for them to steal?
enthusiastically say they will give up anything to do this. In
this passage, Lysistrata announces that she plans to force
their husbands "to negotiate Peace" by collectively Related Characters: The Chorus of Old Men (speaker)
abstaining from sex. The way she repeats "by total
abstinence" builds dramatic and comic suspense for what Related Themes:

inhumanity." The contrast between the two Choruses reveal

Related Symbols:
the men to be brutish and self-interested, hoping to use
force to gain back "supremacy" over the women. The
Page Number: 258-265
women, meanwhile, are cunning, pre-empting the men's
Explanation and Analysis attack with fire by preparing buckets of water.
The women have agreed to Lysistrata's plan of abstaining Furthermore, the women are also shown to be motivated
from sex; at the same time, the Chorus of Old Women has beyond self-interest. Rather than wanting to secure
seized the Acropolis, thereby putting the other half of "matriarchy" for its own sake, the women seek an end to the
Lysistrata's plan into action. Meanwhile, the Chorus of Old destruction caused by war and "slaughter." In this sense, the
Men has entered, complaining about their wives and how women are shown to be wiser, more caring, and even more
the group of women has managed to take over the patriotic leaders than the men.
Acropolis. The Chorus calls matriarchy "a catastrophe,"
which is ironic, considering Lysistrata's whole plan was
designed to avoid the catastrophe caused by the rule of Koryphaios of Women:
men. The words "they've put the Acropolis under a seal" I’ll crop your lungs and reap your bowels, bite by bite,
highlight the connection between the Old Women sealing and leave no balls on the body for other bitches to
off the Acropolis and the younger women sealing off their gnaw.
bodies from their husbands. At this stage, however, the Old
Men remain ignorant about the plan for abstinence, which Koryphaios of Men:
builds comic suspense. [Retreating hurriedly.]
Can’t beat Euripides for insight. And I quote:
No creature’s found
Preserve me, Athene, from gazing on any so lost to shame as Woman.
maiden or maid auto-da fé’d. Talk about realist playwrights!
Cover with grace these redeemers of Greece
from battles, insanity, Man’s inhumanity. Related Characters: The Female Koryphaios, The Male
Gold-browed goddess, hither to aid us! Koryphaios (speaker)
Fight as our ally, join in our sally
against pyromaniac slaughter— Related Themes:
Haul Water!
Related Symbols:
Related Characters: The Chorus of Old Women (speaker),
The Chorus of Old Men Page Number: 368-370

Related Themes:
The Chorus of Old Men have marched toward the
Related Symbols: Acropolis, carrying torches with which they plan to burn
down the gates. The Chorus of Old Women, meanwhile,
Page Number: 335-349 have noticed the torches and prepared water to dump on
the men. When the two choruses finally confront each
Explanation and Analysis other, they exchange threats. In this passage, the Chorus of
The Chorus of Old Men have been slowly and shakily Old Women threaten to bite the men, leaving "no balls on
making their way to the Acropolis, revealing their bumbling the body for other bitches to gnaw." The Chorus of Old
incompetence while at the same time praying to Athena to Men, alarmed, call for an immediate retreat, quoting
grant them victory over the women. The Chorus of Old Men Euripides' statement that "No creature's found / so lost to
have resolved to burn down the gates of the Acropolis, but shame as Woman." This meta-theatrical reference is
at the same time, the Chorus of Old Women are preparing humorous, and draws attention to Aristophanes'
buckets of water to put the fires out. They, too, pray to presentation of gender and how it fits into the wider
Athena to grant them victory over "battles, insanity, Man's tradition of Greek drama.

Indeed, although the Chorus of Men point out that, like they have also been characterized as more sensitive, caring,
other Greek playwrights, Aristophanes shows women to be and nonviolent than men. Thus, although women generally
"lost to shame," note the unconventional way in which have not been trusted with political responsibility, there is
women are here shown to be more fearless, aggressive, and an extent to which they have been tasked with keeping men
resolute than the men. This passage suggests that women in check, and limiting the destruction that can result from
have a unique understanding of men's vulnerabilities, which violence and war. Although Lysistrata's words seem over-
the Chorus of Old Women is not afraid to exploit. Indeed, the-top, there is a historical precedent for her argument.
the women's violent threats indicate that at this point the
Peloponnesian War has been overshadowed by another
war: the battle of the sexes. A tally of [these girls’] talents
convinces me they’re giants
of excellence. To commence:
Commissioner: there’s Beauty, Duty, Prudence, Science,
I DO NOT WANT TO BE SAVED, DAMMIT! Self-Reliance, Compliance, Defiance,
and Love of Athens in balanced alliance
Lysistrata: with Common Sense!
All the more reason.
It’s not only Sparta: now we’ll have to save you from
Related Characters: The Chorus of Old Women (speaker)
you.
Related Themes:
Related Characters: Lysistrata, Commissioner of Public
Safety (speaker) Page Number: 541-548

Related Themes:
The Commissioner has expressed skepticism over the fact
Related Symbols: that the women are even interested in war; Lysistrata
responds by explaining that the women are tired of men's
Page Number: 522-523 incompetence. She and the other women then dress the
Commissioner up as a woman, and the Chorus of Old
Explanation and Analysis Women joyfully announce their virtues: "Beauty, Duty,
The Commissioner of Public Safety has entered, and blames Prudence, Science, Self-Reliance, Compliance, Defiance and
the women not only for creating the current chaotic Love of Athens." The fact that the virtues rhyme adds a
situation but also for creating an atmosphere in which war sense of silliness to the situation, but at the same time,
could flourish in the first place. The gates of the Acropolis there does seem to be truth in the chorus's words, as
have burst open, revealing Lysistrata and the other women; throughout the play, the women have demonstrated many
the Commissioner has tried to have them arrested, but is of these virtues. On the other hand, several of the virtues
unsuccessful. Lysistrata demands that women be put in are contradictory––such as compliance and
charge of the city's budget, and offers to save the men from defiance––which could be taken to suggest that the
themselves, to which the Commissioner cries out that he women's boasts are largely meaningless.
does not want to be saved. This humorous exchange plays
on the unexpected power dynamic between the
Commissioner and Lysistrata; while we might expect the It’s rather like yarn. When a hank’s in a tangle,
Commissioner to be in firm, authoritative control, it is in fact we lift it—so—and work out the snarls by winding it up
Lysistrata who is commanding the conversation, and the on spindles, now this way, now that way.
Commissioner who is acting like a petulant child. That’s how we’ll wind up the War.
Although Lysistrata's comment that she wants to "save you
from you" is comic, it reflects a longstanding paradox within
the cultural history of gender relations. As the play shows,
women have historically been stereotyped as foolish, flighty, Related Themes:
and incapable of making serious decisions. At the same time,

Page Number: 584-591 however, the Female Koryphaios still frames her point in
terms of women's relationship to men. The experience of
Explanation and Analysis the women themselves counts less than the fact that their
The women have dressed the Commissioner up as a woman, sons died (or risked death) in battle. This logic therefore still
and explained to him their plan of action. They intend to upholds men as more important than women.
withdraw the army currently occupying Athens, telling
stories to illustrate why the military does not belong in the
city center. In this passage, Lysistrata explains that Greece is Lines 706 – 979 Quotes
"rather like yarn" that has become tangled, and that the I’ve lost my grip on the girls—they’re mad for men!
women plan to "work out the snarls." This is a significant But sly—they slip out in droves.
moment in the play, in which Lysistrata applies "feminine"
logic to the traditionally masculine domains of politics, war,
and the city-state. To some extent, her words imply that she
is naïve, as her analogy suggests that she has a rather
Related Themes:
simplistic understanding of war. On the other hand, the
women's success thus far indicates that they are perhaps
Related Symbols:
not asnaïve as they first appear, and suggests that the men
could use a healthy dose of "feminine" logic to cure them of
their current madness of war and greed.
The women are losing their resolve, and have been
I admit to being a woman— inventing suspicious excuses to leave the Acropolis.
but don’t sell my contribution short on that account. Lysistrata announces with exasperation that the women are
It’s better than the present panic. And my word is as "mad for men" and are sneakily escaping "in droves." After
good as my bond, because I hold stock in Athens— the women's early triumph, their vulnerability is revealed:
stock I paid for in sons. they, like the men they are "fighting," are not able to resist
the temptation of sex. This is a surprising twist, given the
pride of the women and the negative treatment they have
Related Characters: The Female Koryphaios (speaker)
received from the men. Indeed, it is somewhat paradoxical
Related Themes: that the women should be driven "mad" by desire for the
men who have been trying so desperately to thwart,
Page Number: 648-650 undermine, and even physically attack them. On the other
hand, throughout the play sexual desire is presented as a
Explanation and Analysis comically all-powerful force that is almost impossible to
The women have argued with the Commissioner about the resist.
war, before wrapping him in thread and emptying their
chamber pots on him; he eventually retreats. Meanwhile,
the Male Koryphaios has encouraged the men to confront Melanion is our ideal:
the women, and hits the Female Koryphaios in the jaw. In his loathing makes us free.
response, the Female Koryphaios announces defiantly that Our dearest aim is the gemlike flame
she admits to "being a woman," and claims that she holds of his misogyny.
stock in Athens, "stock I paid for in sons." This is an
important and surprisingly moving moment in the play. With
neither money of their own nor political power, women Related Characters: The Chorus of Old Men (speaker), The
were not thought to be invested––both literally and Chorus of Old Women
metaphorically––in the happenings of the city-state.
However, as the Female Koryphaios shows, women were in Related Themes:
fact fundamentally implicated in the matters of politics and
war on a very deep level. Related Symbols:
Note that even while making this rather feminist statement,

Page Number: 790-792 Lysistrata instructs Myrrhine to excite and tease Kinesias,
but to "stop where Our Oath begins"––meaning to stop just
Explanation and Analysis at the point before they have sex. Lysistrata's words evoke a
The women have confessed that they are pining for the men grotesque, almost sadistic punishment. She reduces
and wish to leave the Acropolis; Lysistrata, however, has Kinesias to a piece of meat, urging Myrrhine to "baste him,
urged them not to give in by telling them an analogy about stew him in his own juice." Indeed, her words seem to
Zeus. The women reluctantly agree. Meanwhile, the two contradict the stereotype that women are less violent (or
choruses have assembled, and the Chorus of Old Men sings objectifying of the opposite sex) than men.
about a man called Melanion, who abstained from women
permanently. The chorus claims that this is their "ideal," and
that they look up to "the gemlike flame of his misogyny." This —Life is a husk. She left our home, and happiness
is a highly silly moment, in which the Chorus of Old Men went with her. Now pain is the tenant. Oh, to enter
seem desperate to find a way of dealing with the fact that that wifeless house, to sense that awful emptiness,
the women have abandoned them, and thus unconvincingly to eat that tasteless, joyless food—it makes
pretend that they have no interest in women in the first it hard, I tell you.
place.
On the other hand, the Chorus of Old Men is also pointing Related Characters: Kinesias (speaker), Myrrhine
to a more serious phenomenon. Throughout history, women
have been portrayed as sly seducers who distract men from Related Themes:
more important matters such as war, politics, or religion.
The ability to resist the temptation of women is thus often Related Symbols:
framed as a noble masculine virtue, the sign of dignity,
discipline, and self-restraint. Although it is unusual to Page Number: 865-869
portray this in terms of "loathing" for women, there is
nonetheless a long tradition of men believing that such Explanation and Analysis
resistance to women will indeed set them free. Myrrhine's husband, Kinesias, has approached the
Acropolis. Lysistrata has asked who he is, before flattering
him by telling him that he is famous among the women of
Your duty is clear. Athens, who circulate rumors about his penis. Lysistrata
Pop him on the griddle, twist allows him to speak to Myrrhine, and in this passage
the spit, braize him, baste him, stew him in his own Kinesias laments how terrible their household is without his
juice, do him to a turn. Sear him with kisses, wife around. On one level, Kinesias' speech might provoke
coyness, caresses, everything— sympathy––he seems to miss his wife terribly, and even
but stop where Our Oath brings along their young son to stress how pitiable they are
begins. without Myrrhine around. On the other hand, the audience
knows that Kinesias is in a kind of sexual frenzy, and thus it
is difficult to take him at his word. His love for Myrrhine
Related Characters: Lysistrata (speaker), Myrrhine, seems rather instrumental––he loves her mostly for the
Kinesias services she provides to him.
Related Themes:

Lines 980 – 1323 Quotes
The most unnerving work of nature,
Explanation and Analysis the pride of applied immorality,
The Chorus of Old Men have been taunting the Chorus of is the common female human.
Old Women; one man attempts to kiss a woman, and when No fire can match, no beast can best her.
this fails he kicks her, only to reveal his pubic hair. Lysistrata, O Unsurmountability,
meanwhile, has seen Myrrhine's husband, Kinesias, thy name—worse luck—is Woman.
approaching. He looks mad with desire, and in this passage

Related Characters: The Male Koryphaios (speaker) that we are still reading this play thousands of years later)
also suggests that the battle of the sexes is as ancient as
Related Themes: humanity itself.
Explanation and Analysis Now, dear, first get those Spartans and bring them to me…
The Spartan Herald has revealed that the men of the Be a lady, be proper, do just what you’d do at home:
Peloponnesian League have been driven mad with lust. if hands are refused, conduct them by the handle…
Hearing this, the Commissioner has then ordered the And now a hand to the Athenians—it doesn’t matter
Spartan Herald to call for a truce between Spartans and where; accept any offer—and bring them over.
Athenians. Meanwhile, the Male Koryphaios describes
women as "the most unnerving work of nature." Yet even Related Characters: Lysistrata (speaker), Peace
while the Koryphaios spitefully curses women, he can't help
doing so in terms of their strength and stubbornness: "No Related Themes:
fire can match, no beast can best her. O Unsurmountability."
This shows that although the women have aroused Page Number: 1116-1124
enormous anger and resentment from the men, they have
simultaneously established themselves as fierce, influential
actors whom the men should be careful not to A group of Spartans have entered, all of whom have painful,
underestimate. Indeed, the fact that women are asserting exaggerated erections and are desperate to strike a peace
agency at all is enough to provoke rage from the men. deal. Everyone present has agreed that this is the best
course of action, but that Lysistrata must be present when it
happens. Lysistrata arrives, accompanied by Peace, who is
symbolized as a beautiful, naked young woman. In this
I can’t dispute the truth or logic of the pithy old proverb:
passage, Lysistrata instructs Peace to "be a lady, be proper"
Life with women is hell.
and help the peace treaty be signed. Lysistrata's behavior in
Life without women is hell, too.
this moment shows how much power and authority she has
And so we conclude a truce with you, on the following terms:
gained as a result of her actions. Meanwhile, her words
in future, a mutual moratorium on mischief in all its forms.
emphasize the way in which Peace is feminized, represented
as both a "proper lady" and a sexual object (who can
Related Characters: The Male Koryphaios (speaker), The conduct the men by the "handle" if they won't offer her a
Female Koryphaios hand). Indeed, the instructions Lysistrata gives humorously
resonate with the responsibilities of women within the
Related Themes: domestic sphere.
Explanation and Analysis Each man stand by his wife, each wife
The Female Koryphaios has attempted to befriend the Male by her husband. Dance to the gods’ glory, and thank
Koryphaios, who initially rejects her. However, after the them for the happy ending. And, from now on, please be
Female Koryphaios continues to show kindness, the Male careful. Let’s not make the same mistakes again.
relents, and eventually the two choruses agree to a truce.
The terms of this truce are typically cynical and humorous; Related Characters: Lysistrata (speaker)
the Male Koryphaios declares, "Life with women is hell. Life
without women is hell, too." His words emphasize the fact Related Themes:
that the women have achieved a kind of absolute control
over the men. They also illustrate the complicated nature of Page Number: 1274-1178
sexual desire, highlighting the way in which it is possible to
be mad with lust for someone you despise. The fact that the
Male Koryphaios quotes a "pithy old proverb" (and the fact The peace treaty has been signed; the war is over, the two
choruses have fused into one, and all the characters have

held a feast to celebrate. The Spartans dance and sing, There are several moments that hint at the idea that the
honoring Spartan heroes as well as the hunting goddess, battle of the sexes is ancient, cyclical, and will never be
Artemis. After this is done, Lysistrata returns both the resolved. Furthermore, even though some characters reveal
Athenian and Spartan wives to their respective husbands, themselves to be wiser or kinder than we may have initially
encouraging them to dance and be happy, as well as to be assumed, overall the play presents a farcical view of human
careful to "not make the same mistakes again." Although nature––the men are largely aggressive and lustful, while
Lysistrata herself is shown to have had a singular, positive the women are shallow, fickle, and sly. Although the end of
effect on the state of Greece, overall it does not seem likely Lysistrata takes the form of an unambiguously happy
that her plea will be fulfilled (and indeed, in real life the resolution, the rest of the play indicates that the "truce"
Athenian leaders didn't heed Aristophanes' advice, and the between the sexes (or the city-states) may not last very
war continued on to Athens' ultimate ruin). long.

SUMMARY AND ANAL

ANALYSIS
YSIS
The color-coded icons under each analysis entry make it easy to track where the themes occur most prominently throughout the
work. Each icon corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart.
LINES 1 – 253
The play opens on a street in Athens, with the Acropolis visible Lysistrata is all about fighting the patriarchy, but it isn’t exactly a
in the background. It is early morning. Lysistrata is alone, pacing proto-feminist text. The play even opens with the female characters
in furious impatience, waiting for the women she has (with the exception of Lysistrata herself) all conforming to negative
summoned to arrive. She complains that they would come right female stereotypes: laziness, flightiness, and lustfulness.
away if it was for a party in honor of the wine god Bacchus or
for some debauchery, but today “there’s not one woman here.”
Lysistrata’s neighbor Kleonike enters. “Don’t look so barbarous, Lysistrata’s distinction from the other women in the play is
baby,” she says. Lysistrata responds that she’s ashamed to be a emphasized by her impatience with them here. She is both less
woman—women can’t even live up to male slanders, she says. domestic (less stereotypically feminine, basically) and more
Husbands say their wives are sly, deceitful, always plotting, yet politically active. Kleonike, in contrast, more closely conforms to
here Lysistrata is attempting to devise a “monstrous” plot, and Athenian gender stereotypes. Here Lysistrata also brings up the idea
the women, she thinks, are all sleeping at home. Kleonike that her plan is something “monstrous”—a full-scale rebellion
attempts to soothe Lysistrata by reminding her of how hard against the status quo via unconventional means.
women have it—pleasing their husbands, taking care of their
babies—but Lysistrata thinks all this is trivial compared to her
plot.
Kleonike asks what Lysistrata’s plot is all about. Lysistrata In this opening scene, both Lysistrata and Kleonike make jokes that
responds that the hope and salvation of Greece lies with the denigrate their own gender—the women in the play must unite
women. “Now there’s a last resort,” retorts Kleonike. Lysistrata before they can be taken seriously. Kleonike demonstrates a lack of
elaborates: it is up to the woman of Greece to decide whether seriousness herself when she flip-flops on the question of war or
the Greek city-state of Athens pursues peace or annihilation in peace. As the women’s plot unfolds, however, she becomes
its war with Sparta (i.e. the Peloponnesian War). Kleonike increasingly dedicated to the latter.
thinks this sounds fun: annihilation of every last Boiotian, she
cries. (The Boiotians were allies of Sparta in the war.) On
second thought, she says, peace is best—how else would
Athenians get their hands on the delicious eels Boiotia is
famous for?
Lysistrata insists that she wants to bring together all the Greek Kleonike consistently underestimates the power of women, but
women to form an alliance and save the States of Greece. “Be Lysistrata understands better than she does how powerful the
practical,” Kleonike advises. Women are unwise, she says, and manipulation of basic human needs, like sex, can be. She sees, as
are talented only in glamorously painting their faces and Kleonike does not, that even something so superficially trivial as a
primping. Indeed, she gets so carried away by the very thought negligee is really an expression of profound human desire, and that
of primping that she begins to indulgently list the clothes she such desire goes even deeper than the greed and paranoia that
loves: “saffron rappers,” “exquisite negligees,” and so on. possess the Athenian men at war. Kleonike’s joke about Athenian
Lysistrata thinks that such sexy garments, along with rouge and lateness is probably a barb about how Athens should have ended
perfume, are precisely the way to salvation for Greece. But the war much earlier.
where are the other women? Kleonike assures her that
authentic Athenians do everything late, and that the
delegations of women from out of town are late on account of
their long trips.
©2019 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 15

At last, other women enter from the right and left, even some The women who answer Lysistrata’s summons are representative of
ragged rural women. Lysistrata’s friend Myrrhine also enters all the women of Greece. They come from diverse backgrounds and
guiltily. Soon after, the brawny Spartan woman Lampito enters, from both sides of the Peloponnesian War. The foreigners, like
along with a pretty Boiotian girl named Ismenia and a huge, big- Lampito and the Corinthian girl, conform to Athenian ethnic
butted Corinthian girl. Lysistrata welcomes all, and showers the stereotypes. (Even in a play about making peace with Sparta,
out-of-towners with compliments. Lampito demonstrates the Aristophanes can’t help making fun of Spartans.) Aristophanes’
dance that keeps her so fit, and Kleonike praises the beauty of comedy is not malicious however; rather, it emphasizes ethnic or
her bosoms. Lampito says, in her “bumpkin” Spartan dialect, national differences only to show how trivial these are when it
that she feels “like a heifer come fair-time” to be so inspected comes to solidarity in the name of basic human needs, like peace
and praised. Lysistrata and Kleonike go on to inspect the and love.
aristocratic Ismenia of Thebes, and the Corinthian girl, who
comes from an important family.
The women want to know, at last, why Lysistrata has Lysistrata is tactful: she knows that she cannot ask at once for the
summoned them. Lysistrata asks if the women would like their women to abstain from sex, but instead builds up to it, highlighting
men to come home from war—they would. Lysistrata then asks the huge potential benefits of effecting an end to the war. This also
if she’d have their support in a scheme to end the war. The further adds to the suspense, as Aristophanes holds off on giving up
women enthusiastically pledge money and hard work to the the comic conceit of his play.
cause. Myrrhine says that she’s “ready to split myself right up
the middle like a mackerel, and give you half!” Lysistrata then
reveals her plot: the women can force their husbands to
negotiate peace through “Total Abstinence.” From what? the
women ask. They’d be willing to die for peace.
To force a peaceful end to the Peloponnesian War, says Aristophanes has his women make outrageous pledges to the cause
Lysistrata, the women need only abstain totally—from sex. At of peace so that the punch line—the women at first refusing to
once, the women turn away and begin to gloomily walk off, in abstain from sex, which seems so much more trivial than dying,
tears. “On with the War!” cry Kleonike and Myrrhine. They’re anyway—hits all the harder. The fact that the women are so
willing to walk through fire barefoot, “but not to give up reluctant to abstain from sex also shows just how effective a
SEX—there nothing like it!” Lysistrata curses her sex, saying political tool this basic human desire can be. It’s also worth noting
that it’s so weak in willpower, and is material only for tragedy. that the frankness about sexuality that lies at the heart of the play’s
The tragic formula of going to bed with a god and getting rid of central conceit gives us more of an idea of Athenian society at the
the baby sums women up, Lysistrata says disgustedly. time—sex was out in the open, an important part of life but not
anything especially sacred.
Lampito, however, is on Lysistrata’s side, and the other women It is significant that Lampito is Lysistrata’s first supporter, because
gradually come around to the idea of a sex strike. They need she is also the only Spartan among the women; by siding with an
only present themselves to the men at their most Athenian, Lampito suggests that the human cost of the war is
seductive—made-up, dressed in “those filmy tunics that set off intolerable on both sides. Kleonike’s very serious concerns here
everything we have”—and then refuse to sleep with their hot remind us that this play is, first and foremost, a fantasy about
and bothered men. Lysistrata thinks the men will conclude a peace, not at all a political tract of proposal. To enjoy and be
treaty rather quickly. Kleonike worries that the men will leave enriched by the play, we must suspend our disbelief about the
the women, or force them to have sex, or beat them. Lysistrata plausibility of the male reaction to the plot.
tells her to resist nastily: “A married man wants
harmony—cooperation, not rape,” she says. The women are
persuaded, and they approve the sex strike.

Lysistrata proceeds to reveal the second part of her plot: to The Acropolis is the seat of political power in the play; whoever
prevent the Athenian men from continuing the war effort, the controls the Acropolis controls Athenian policy.
Chorus of Old Women will seize the Acropolis, where the war
treasury is located, on Lysistrata’s command.
The women feel like they can’t possibly lose, and they decide to Men of war might swear on the shield, but the women want peace,
bind their agreement with the Oath. Instead of swearing on a so the cup of wine is therefore the more suitable symbol for their
shield and animal sacrifice, however—deciding this is too oath: an image of pleasure, leisure, and peace. The cup of wine here
warlike—they swear on a huge black cup filled with fragrant foreshadows the merry, drunken celebration of peace that
wine. The women surround the cup and place their right hand concludes the play.
on it, and Lysistrata leads Kleonike through the Oath as a
spokesperson for all the women. To uphold the Oath, the
women must “withhold all rights of access or entrance” from
any man, even while they fire up their husbands’ desire by
presenting themselves at their most glamorous and seductive.
Led by Lysistrata, the women then take their turns drinking
from the cup.
Lampito then hears a “ruckus” in the distance—the Chorus of Lysistrata is canny enough to know that peace requires the will of
Old Women have taken the Acropolis, citadel of the wise both Athens and Sparta, hence Lampito’s mission. She is also canny
goddess Athena! Lysistrata tells Lampito to return to Sparta to enough to keep Ismenia and the Corinthian girl as hostages to
work on bringing about peace on her end. She also demands ensure that the peace process stays on track. Lysistrata may be
that the other women in Lampito’s group be left in Athens as something of an idealist in wanting to end the war, but she is also
hostages. Lampito exits. Lysistrata then orders the women to practical and no-nonsense. The Gates of the Acropolis here become
hurry inside the Acropolis to help the others. Kleonike worries an image of the female anatomy—closed off and inaccessible to any
that the men will send reinforcements against them, but male violations.
Lysistrata is confident that the Gates will hold. The women
hurry off, and the door to the Acropolis shuts behind them.
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The decrepit Chorus of Old Men, led by their especially The men represented in the play are mostly old, because the young
decrepit Male Koryphaios (leader of the chorus), enters shakily Athenian men are off fighting in the war. The torches, fire, and
and slowly in two groups. They carry vinewood torches and smoke are images of the male anatomy and of waning virility. One of
pots containing fire, which is always in danger of going out. Aristophanes’ persistent ironies is that, while the men moan about
They’re intent on seizing back the Acropolis. As they shuffle on, their wives being “National Disasters,” the men themselves have
they gripe about their wives (“she’s a National Disaster,” one brought disaster to Athens through their political corruption and
named Swifty moans) and about the catastrophes brought on reckless ambition. The women, far from being like Kleomenes, are
by matriarchy. The Koryphaios urges the wretchedly slow old the true Athenian patriots.
men onward. They’ll try and burn the women who organized
the rebellion, he proclaims. The men also recall how, some one
hundred years ago, they ousted the Spartan Kleomenes, a
historical figure who occupied the Acropolis in 508 BC.

As the Chorus of Old Men nears the Acropolis, the old men Just as the men’s political policies have backfired on Athens, so too
increasingly struggle to carry their torches and firepots uphill. do the Chorus’s pots of fire. Characteristic of the men’s
To prevent the fire from going out, moreover, they blow into incompetence and arrogance is their natural decision to first resort
their pots, only to send forth clouds of smoke. The men cough to violence against the women, and then to try diplomacy only after
and choke, and smoke gnaws their eyeballs. Nonetheless, they that. The men are also self-destructive in their pride: they’d rather
reach the Acropolis gate. Their first plan is to crash it down, and burn their own citadel down than listen to the call of conscience and
if that fails, they’ll ask to be admitted politely. Their last resort is reason. It’s also ironic that the men pray to Athena—a female
to “burn the damned door down.” The men get into a horrible, goddess of wisdom—for the victory of their cause (which is
confused tangle as they deposit their logs, but somehow essentially masculinity and foolishness).
manage. The Male Koryphaios then offers a prayer to Athena:
“Grant us victory, male supremacy.”
While the Chorus of Old Men prepares the torches, the Chorus The women’s pitchers of water represent sexual abstinence; the
of Old Women, led by their Female Koryphaios, suddenly women plan on putting out the fire of war by not putting out, as it
enters, wearing long cloaks and bearing pitchers of water filled were. The women’s relative spryness suggests an ethical health
earlier at the fountains in town. The women are old, but lacking in their male counterparts. The women, like the men, pray to
younger than the men, and they are quite spry. Noticing the Athena, and the goddess seems to favor their cause. This brings up
smoke, the women dash over to put out the fire before its too the broader point that the women aren’t really “rebelling” at
late, praying as they do so for Athena’s protection from “Man’s all—they’re the ones being true to the spirit of Athens, not the men.
inhumanity.”
The two Choruses at last come face to face with one another. Aristophanes’ text is loaded with plays on words and puns like “flood
The Chorus of Old Men is surprised by the “flood of reserves” of reserves.” The subplot of the male Koryphaios and his female
the Chorus of Old Women has managed to muster. The Male counterpart mirrors the main plot of the play. The obscenity of the
Koryphaios asks for volunteers to pulverize the women—“just a dialogue here is characteristic of Old Comedy; its purpose is to
few jabs” to silence the women’s backtalk—but no one comes surprise us into new ways of thinking about the world, to liberate us
forward. The Female Koryphaios then advances and offers her from sterile stereotypes and business as usual.
male counterpart a “free shot.” The two exchange threats, but
after the female Koryphaios threatens to “leave no balls on the
body for other bitches to gnaw,” the male Koryphaios hurriedly
retreats.
The Chorus of Old Men and the Chorus of Old Women fire The irrational, disturbing violence of the men’s threats is
more threats and insults back and forth. The men threaten to appropriately tempered by the more charmingly domestic threats of
barbecue the women; the women threaten to douse the men’s the women. Water is not an element of destruction here, but of
fire and to give them a bath. When the men at last ready their wakefulness, cleansing, and rebirth. The women don’t want to
torches, the women empty their pitchers over them, soaking destroy their men; they want to cultivate them in accordance with
them. The women call it “gardening.” “Perhaps you’ll bloom,” the the Athenian values they’ve forgotten.
Female Koryphaios tells the men. The men, for their part, are
“withered, frozen, shaking.” Shivering, the Chorus of Men
retreat, utterly defeated.
A Commissioner of Public Safety enters from the left, The Commissioner is more reasonable and curious as to the
reluctantly followed by a squad of police made up of four women’s motives than the old men of the Chorus; he is a
Scythian archers. He surveys the situation with disapproval. representative of Athenian values, law, and order at home. That
The Commissioner makes a speech claiming that overly being said, he does not recognize that it is the warmongering men
emotional women were in large part responsible for creating who have plunged Athens into moral chaos, not the women.
an atmosphere in which demagogues could support a military
expedition to Sicily. He then concludes that the “Gift of
Woman” is nothing but “MORAL CHAOS!”

The Male Koryphaios urges the Commissioner to bring charges The Commissioner rightly protects the women, but for the wrong
against the Chorus of Old Women, but the Commissioner says reasons. They are not being lustful and rebellious, as he claims; they
that the women are, counter-intuitively, in the right. Why? are abstaining from sex out of patriotism. His reasoning is actually
Because men taught women how to be lustful and rebellious. quite ridiculous, and characteristic of the blinding pride
We shouldn’t have left our wives alone with goldsmiths and Aristophanes is calling out in his play—a refusal to see that this
cobblers, the Commissioner argues, because the ensuing “Anarchy” is the result of male pride, not female infidelity. The
“hanky-panky [is what] what we have to thank for today’s / Commissioner’s claim also brings up ideas of male insecurity,
Utter Anarchy.” The Commissioner concludes that he needs to playing up the idea of the “cuckold” for comic effect.
access the war treasury in the Acropolis, and orders his squad
of police to pry the gate open with a crowbar.
Just then, the gate to the Acropolis bursts open, revealing The women are not trying to usurp political power in Athens; they
Lysistrata. She is perfectly composed and is holding a large are merely trying to motivate healthy political dialogue and change.
spindle, an instrument used to spin thread. She tells the This is why Lysistrata emerges from the Acropolis of her own free
Commissioner that he doesn’t need crowbars so much as will to speak with the Commissioner. Significantly, the women fight
brains. Outraged, the Commissioner sends a policeman to not with weapons but with domestic goods, which is a metaphor for
arrest Lysistrata, but she repels him with a vicious jab of her how they are leveraging basic human needs to effect political
spindle. The Commissioner orders a second policeman to do change. Such needs will always be more powerful than mere force.
the same, but Kleonike forces him to retreat by threatening to
“stomp the shit right out of [him]” with a chamber pot.
Myrrhine repels a third policeman by brandishing a blazing
lamp, and Ismenia repels the fourth by brandishing “a huge pair
of pincers.”
The Commissioner orders the policeman to regroup and Unified in their desire for peace, the women are stronger than any
charge as a unit, but a horde of women brandishing household “police” could be. The Commissioner’s men are not so much
goods pours from the Acropolis. Lysistrata urges these “ladies incompetent as overwhelmed by a superior ethical force. It is ironic
of hell” onward, these bargain hunters and “grocery that the Male Koryphaios accuses the women of being incapable of
grenadiers.” The policemen are swiftly routed. The dazed rational discourse, when he himself resorts to irrational diatribes
Commissioner mutters about his men’s incompetence, while and violence in expressing his point of view. Aristophanes comically
Lysistrata celebrates the freedom and power of women. The plays up the males’ defeat in the “battle of the sexes,” but he does so
Male Koryphaios suggests in turn that women aren’t capable of without any real criticism of the status quo of male supremacy—he’s
rational discourse. Dodging a blow from him, the Female only criticizing men acting irrationally, not the Athenian patriarchy
Koryphaios points out that striking at one’s neighbor “is itself.
scarcely civilized” either, and she swings at him with a pitcher.
He’s forced to hurriedly back away. The Chorus of Old Men
goes into a worried dance.
The Commissioner asks Lysistrata why the women are Money has created both greed and the means of doing harm in
blockading the Treasury. Lysistrata responds that money is the Athens, hence Lysistrata’s condemnation of it. The management of
cause of the war and all internal disorder in Athens. She a state should be more like the management of a household, she
proposes that women budget the city’s money, just as they do thinks, and therefore women are ideal for the work. The
already in their own households. The War Effort will wither, but Commissioner’s refusal to be saved speaks to the political
“who needs the War Effort?” as Lysistrata says. She promises to stagnation and neurosis of Athens at large.
save the men from themselves out of friendship, to which the
Commissioner responds: “I DO NOT WANT TO BE SAVED,
DAMMIT!”

Why do the women even care about War and Peace? asks the Even though the Commissioner says that he does not want to be
Commissioner. Lysistrata responds that the women have saved, he at least has the openness of mind to inquire into the
tolerated for long enough their husbands’ mismanagement of women’s motives. Lysistrata is quick to point out that it was the
affairs of state and their “staggering incompetence,” and that extremity of political mismanagement in Athens that brought about
they were told to shut up by their husbands for even such an extreme reaction from the women; the women, in other
referencing Peace. That is, until the men went too far and words, are not challenging the status quo lightly.
“fumbled the City away in the Senate.” The women knew then
that Athens didn’t need a Man, but “Peace in Greece” itself,
which only they could bring about. “We’ll straighten you and set
you right,” promises Lysistrata.
The Commissioner is outraged by Lysistrata’s The Commissioner’s transformation into a woman is a complicated
presumptuousness, but she shuts him up, winding her veil gesture. In becoming female he is silenced, as the Athenian women
around his head. Kleonike and Myrrhine join in with comb and have been historically, but he is also being invited to see things
wool-basket as well, and soon enough the Commissioner is through a woman’s (potentially more reasonable) eyes. On yet
transformed into a woman. He should stay at home for a another level, Aristophanes is here playing with the dramatic
change, Lysistrata says, while the women end the war. convention itself (as Shakespeare would later do) for some lowbrow
comic effect. The actors would have all been men, half of them
dressed and acting as women, so the Commissioner’s onstage
transformation would have seemed especially funny to the
(potentially all-male) audience.
While the Commissioner struggles to remove his new outfit, Lysistrata and Kleonike, among others, maligned women earlier in
Lysistrata tells the Chorus of Old Women to dance and sing. the play, such that this song represents a turning point in the play’s
They celebrate their willpower and the excellence of women, valuation of women generally. Lysistrata may not be a proto-
from Beauty to Common Sense. The Female Koryphaios has feminist play exactly, but it does at least affirm the value and power
words of encouragement for all, and Lysistrata anticipates that of women.
soon the men will crack under the pressure of Love, and Peace
will be restored.
The Commissioner asks how the women intend to achieve their Characteristically, the women want to remove the military from the
goal. Lysistrata responds that the women first intend to domestic sphere altogether. The funny yet troubling stories about
withdraw the Army of Occupation from downtown Athens. soldiers in the market exemplify why. Instead of having affairs of
Kleonike adds that she saw a cavalry captain buy soup on state bleed into domestic life, Lysistrata would treat affairs of state
horseback there and carry it in his helmet, and that another like the domestic craft of working with wool. This is one of the most
soldier was menacing a saleslady and stealing her figs. famous metaphors in the play—it joins together in one image
Lysistrata explains that Greece is “rather like yarn”—snarled politics and basic human needs (which the men have sundered and
yarn, to be exact, and she plans on smoothing it out by sending lost sight of), along with the “female” domestic sphere (and some
out “Special Commissions…to ravel these tense international puns).
kinks.” “Typically wooly female logic,” the Commissioner says
dismissively.
Lysistrata retorts that if the Commissioner were logical at all, The Commissioner dismisses Lysistrata’s plan out of hand, not so
he’d adopt her plan. She extends her wool metaphor: as fleece much because it is an irrational plan, but out of sexist reflex.
needs to be scrubbed, beaten to rid it of vermin, combed of its
lumps and knots and snarls, and expertly woven, so too does
Athens need to be cleansed of filth, rid of incompetent
parasites, and politically reunified if it is to properly fit the
Athenian spirit.

All this, the Commissioner complains, coming from women who The Commissioner wrongly assumes that war is men’s business
had nothing to do with the war! It’s Lysistrata’s turn to be only, but Lysistrata reminds him that affairs of state are everyone’s
outraged: the women gave up their sons to the war effort in business. The women’s quality of life falls in times of war, just as the
Sicily, and they lived the best years of their lives sleeping alone. men’s does. To make it worse, there is an outrageously sexist double
Many virgins grew out of their prime, she mourns, without the standard in Athens concerning marriageability and age. (The
chance to marry. The men who come back old from war can “nymphet” of the translation is also an allusion, whether intentional
marry “the veriest nymphet,” she goes on, but a woman who or not, to Nabokov’s Lolita.)
slips from her prime will have no husband.
The Commissioner seems genuinely persuaded by the women’s The Commissioner feels the power of Lysistrata’s arguments, but he
plight—but then only calls upon the Athenian men to fight all is so set in his bad ways that he is moved by them only to support
the more vigorously. Lysistrata bangs the Commissioner on the the war effort all the more zealously. In choosing war, the Athenians
head with her spindle and winds him in thread; Kleonike might as well destroy themselves and their homes.
empties her chamber pot over him; Myrrhine breaks her lamp
on his head. To choose war, the women suggest, is to choose
death. The Commissioner staggers off, and the women re-enter
the Acropolis.
The Male Koryphaios rouses the men. They strip down to their As the battle of the sexes intensifies, the Choruses strip off more and
short tunics and advance toward the audience: they smell more clothing. This reflects the intensification of their passion, and
radical disorder in the air, “an absolutist plot.” They think the also their return to the bare necessities of life, which politics has
Spartans must be masterminding the women’s rebellion “to obscured. The men’s paranoia is most punctuated here, and shows
commandeer the City’s cash.” The Male Koryphaios denounces to what extent they are disconnected from reality.
tyranny, bashes the Female Koryphaios “in the jaw,” and runs
cackling back to the Chorus of Old Men.
The members of the Chorus of Old Women then strip down to The women, as participants in religious life and as the mothers of
their short tunics, and they sing of their high pedigree as Athens, have just as much a stake in the city-state as their husbands
participants in Athenian religious life. The Female Koryphaios do. The Female Koryphaios’ line about losing sons is a poignant
reminds the audience, “I hold stock in Athens—stock I paid for moment in the midst of comedic chaos.
in sons.” The men, she says, are merely doddering bankrupts.
She then runs over and hits the Male Koryphaios in the jaw
with her slipper.
The members of the Chorus of Old Men have had it: they The conflict between the men and women reaches its highest pitch
remove their tunics. The Male Koryphaios reasons that the here. The Female Koryphaios’ barb about men passing an absurd
men can’t attack the women on horseback, because “a woman law is part of Aristophanes’ career-long satire of Athenian
is an easy rider with a natural seat,” and instead he attempts to litigiousness (that is, he thinks that Athens both passes too many
snare his female counterpart around the neck to stick her in the laws and hosts too many lawsuits). From this point on, the members
stocks. The Female Koryphaios works herself loose, however, of the Chorus are naked, which is part of the play’s outrageous
and chases him away. The women now remove their tunics, bawdy comedy, and also a sign that Athens is returning to the bare
angry at the birdbrained men. The Female Koryphaios isn’t necessities of human life.
afraid: she’s got friends from Sparta and Thebes, like Lampito
and Ismenia. The worst the men can do, she mocks, is pass
some absurd law. She grabs her male counterpart by the ankle
and throws him off balance. The Chorus of Old Men retires in
confusion.

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A distraught Lysistrata emerges from the Acropolis. In a lofty In parodying tragic speech here, Aristophanes reminds us that we
speech more suitable for a tragedy than a comedy, she reveals are watching a fantasy unfold, and not a fatalistic but a hopeful one.
that the women are losing their resolve. “We want to get laid,” This sense is reinforced by the fact that not only the men but also
she says, and indeed the girls are going wild. They’re trying to the women become hot and bothered over the course of the play.
escape by tunnel and rope. One woman pretends she’s going Sex is a basic human need, but it also has its ridiculous qualities,
home to save her wool from the moths, another so that she can which Aristophanes exploits for comic effect.
“pluck the fibers” of her flax. Another woman stuffs Athena’s
sacred helmet in her clothing so that she appears pregnant, the
better to sneak off from the Acropolis and rendezvous with her
lover. Lysistrata orders them all to get back inside.
The other women begin to crowd around Lysistrata. Kleonike To retain the women’s loyalty, Lysistrata must remind them of what
complains of “those goddamned holy owls” in the Acropolis they’re fighting for, hence the prophecy she reads. The swallows are
who hoot all night long. But Lysistrata understands that the the women, their perch is the citadel, and the end of their suffering
women are really bothered by being away from their men. The is a peaceful resolution of the war. The women, at last, value lasting
women nod shamefacedly to acknowledge it. In response, peace more than instant gratification of their desires.
Lysistrata pulls out a scroll on which is written a prophecy:
when the swallows leave their accustomed perch, then the
great god Zeus will end their suffering, but if the swallows
return to their perch prematurely, their flocks will dissolve.
Understanding the oracle’s message, the women troop back
inside the Acropolis.
The two Choruses assemble. The Chorus of Old Men sing The men’s strength of will is at last breaking, as indicated by the
proudly of a huntsman called Melanion who learned to live male Chorus member’s attempt to kiss the old woman. Just as
without women, “sustained by rabbit meat and hate.” One of Melanion and Timon are parallel opposites, throughout the play the
them attempts to kiss an old woman nonetheless, but then she actions of the Chorus of Old Men are paralleled by the actions of
threatens him with her fist. He tries to kick her but misses, their female counterparts. This suggests at once the opposition of
“exposing an overgrown underbrush.” The Chorus of Old the men and women in the play, but also their underlying unity. It is
Women then sing about a local grouch named Timon who a “battle of the sexes,” but also just sex between the sexes.
hated only men and befriended women; he is the women’s
“antidote” for Melanion. An old woman, for her part, now tries
to kick an old man, but she misses, “brazenly baring the
mantrap below.” At least it’s clean and smooth, she says.
Lysistrata mounts a platform and scans the horizon. Then she The entrance of Kinesias initiates the climax of the play—will
stops suddenly, and orders her women to their battle stations: Myrrhine break the sex strike, or will she persevere in the name of
a man is approaching, and he’s enflamed with love (as we later peace? We might find it strange that Lysistrata stays to help
learn, “in erection and considerable pain”). Myrrhine identifies Myrrhine—perhaps she is offering moral support, perhaps she wants
this man as her husband, Kinesias. Lysistrata reminds Myrrhine to be on hand in case Myrrhine’s strength of will breaks, or perhaps
that her duty is to sexually excite her husband without breaking she too is reluctantly swayed by desire for a man.
the Oath, and Lysistrata herself offers to stay and help “poke up
the fire.” All the other women exit, and Myrrhine hides from her
husband’s view. Kinesias staggers onstage, followed by a male
slave who carries a baby boy.

“WHO PENETRATES OUR POSITIONS,” asks Lysistrata. Lysistrata is probably flattering Kinesias to exacerbate his desire
Kinesias identifies himself, and Lysistrata pretends to be here, as once again Aristophanes shows how male aggression and
overcome. The name “Kinesias,” she says, is famous among the greed is often tied up in sexual insecurity (as when the
women of Athens, and they even have a nickname for his Commissioner blamed the female overthrow of Athens on
incomparable member. Kinesias demands to speak to Myrrhine, cuckolded husbands). Aristophanes continues to enjoy his own
but Lysistrata asks what she herself would get out of it. “I’ll bawdy humor in the dialogue.
raise whatever I can,” he says. Goodness, says Lysistrata, that’s
really something for his wife to do.
Lysistrata moves to where Myrrhine is hidden and the two have One motif in the play is that the older men of Athens neglect the
a conversation in voices designed to be overheard. Myrrhine young (e.g. by pursuing needless wars of conquest in which they
says that she’s mad about her husband, but that he doesn’t themselves don’t fight). This is aptly signified in Kinesias’ neglect of
want her love. Kinesias calls her, and she appears at the wall. his son— which is also, of course, exaggerated to enflame Myrrhine’s
He begs her to come down, going so far as to take up their baby pity and compassion.
boy in his arms and fiercely order it to call to its mother. The
child cries for his mommy (he hasn’t been washed or fed for a
week, so says the father), and Myrrhine pityingly descends at
last. Kinesias says he doesn’t think his wife has ever looked so
hot.
Myrrhine takes her baby in her arms. Kinesias says she ought Kinesias’ shaming of his wife is doubly ironic: the household is falling
to be ashamed of herself because the household is falling apart apart because of his neglect at this point, not his wife’s, and his wife
without her. Myrrhine responds that she’ll come home only was forced to leave the household in the first place because of her
once the Athenians agree to a truce and stop the war. husband and his fellows’ incompetence in affairs of state.
Desperate, Kinesias asks his wife to lie down with him for a
minute. “We’ll talk,” he says. Myrrhine says it would be
disgusting to do it in front of the baby, so Kinesias sends the
baby home with the slave. He then begins to persuade his wife
to break the Oath.
Myrrhine seems to acquiesce, but she says she can’t make love Myrrhine’s game of prolongation arouses suspense but is also an
on the ground. She goes off to get a cot from the Acropolis. She opportunity for lots of comedy. It also emphasizes how luxuries can
returns—but, she just remembered, the couple will need a separate us from the bare necessities of life. In this sense, the most
mattress, too. Kinesias says he doesn’t want a mattress, but off destructive luxuries in the play are political ambition, greed, and
his wife goes to get one, giving him the lightest of kisses to tide pride—luxuries which Athens cannot afford if they are also to
him over. Myrrhine returns with a mattress, only to play a maintain basic human needs (like sex).
similar game of prolongation by fetching a pillow, a blanket, and
not one but two bottles of perfume.
Myrrhine then begins to undress, and she asks Kinesias Kinesias is still not prepared to give up war in favor of his basic
whether he’ll remember to vote for the truce. When he gives a needs, and this fact signals to Myrrhine that the sex strike must go
noncommittal response, however, Myrrhine runs off for good. on. Kinesias’ tragic lamentation points to how self-defeating the
Kinesias mourns her departure in a parody of tragic men’s actions are, and also plays up how hilariously overwhelming
lamentation. He asks that Zeus reduce the throbbing of his their desire is. The Male Koryphaios is once again the epitome of
erect member. The Male Koryphaios prays that the god unleash misogyny and frustrated impotence.
his thunder on Kinesias’ sluttish wife, pick her up in a strong
wind, and drop her right onto her husband’s member. Kinesias
exits left.

LINES 980 – 1323

A Spartan herald enters right, holding his cloak in an attempt to Myrrhine’s putting-off of Kinesias represents the breaking of the
conceal his erection. He has news concerning a truce. The men’s will and the victory of the women. The Commissioner’s
Commissioner enters from the left. He suspects the Spartan is suspicion of the Spartan herald is unfounded,
packing a concealed weapon beneath his cloak, but throws it obviously—Aristophanes is suggesting that, rather than be
open only to expose the poor, wildly embarrassed man’s suspicious of their neighbors, the Athenians should commiserate
phallus. The Spartan herald, however, says that his penis is not with them (particularly when it comes to basic aspects of humanity,
really a penis at all, but rather a Spartan epistle in code. The like sexuality).
Commissioner then throws open his cloak to expose his own
erection: it is they key, he jokes, by which the code can be
cracked.
The Spartan herald and the Commissioner get down to The women’s sex strike has touched all of Greece, and the men at
business. The herald informs the Commissioner that Lampito last recognize that basic human needs override all else. Just as
has sown disorder in the Peloponnesian League, driving the personal lust has brought about political change within the play, so
men mad with painful lust. The Commissioner orders the the play itself seeks to bring about such change through its comedy
herald to have a Commission sent to Athens empowered to and satire.
conclude a truce. Both men exit hurriedly.
The Male Koryphaios curses Woman as “the pride of applied Just as Athens and Sparta are being reconciled, so too are the men
immorality.” His female counterpart attempts to befriend him, and women of the Chorus. Shallow ideologies, like the “battle of the
but he proclaims his credo to be “Misogyny Forever!” sexes,” cannot survive when in conflict with basic human needs.
Nonetheless, the Female Koryphaios puts his clothes back on Even the unlikeable Male Koryphaios is finally made into a more
him out of pity. This sincere gesture softens the heart of the old sympathetic character.
man, who expresses his embarrassment.
The Female Koryphaios then offers to extract the beast, the The Female Koryphaios very charitably gives her male counterpart
bug in the old man’s eye, that’s been supposedly causing all of an excuse for his bad behavior, so that he does not have to bear the
his problems. The Male Koryphaios plays along and lets the old full burden of responsibility. This is a fiction that both the man and
woman remove an imaginary insect from his eye. He is “cured” woman accept to strengthen their relationship, just as Lysistrata is
and weeps. The old woman wipes away his tears and kisses him. a fiction for the Greeks to accept in order to achieve peace.
The two Choruses agree that there shall be no more mischief
between them, and then they address the audience in song.
The Chorus of Old Men wish the Athenians wealth, and the
Chorus of Old Women wish them good eating.
A delegation of Spartans enters from the right, all of them This is one of the most famous comic images of the play, and with it
attempting to cloak their erections, followed soon after by an Aristophanes also profoundly humanizes the Greek men. They are
Athenian delegation, in as big a pickle as the Spartans. The men naked, needy animals more than they are glorious
all open their cloaks and commiserate. Kinesias, one of the conquerors—bound by a common humanity more than they are
delegates, wants to get hold of Lysistrata; only peace can cure divided by nationality. This image of leveling thus ultimately
the malady of the Greek men. The Male Koryphaios, for his gestures toward the absurdity of fighting with one another.
part, advises that the Spartans cover their erections, lest the
women knock them off as they’ve been doing to statues. All the
men follow his advice.

Kinesias finally notices the Spartans. “Why are you here?” he The Male Koryphaios, who began the play by denigrating women in
asks. The Spartans say that they’re ambassadors who’ve come the vilest terms, at last recognizes Lysistrata’s excellence and the
to talk about Peace. Perfect! But only Lysistrata can truly make excellence of peace. Although Peace is personified as a sexually
Peace. Sure enough, she emerges at once from the Acropolis, to desirable girl, the play is not interested so much in lust here as it is in
much praise from the Male Koryphaios. Lysistrata is also the civilizing, uniting power of erotic love.
accompanied by Peace herself, who is personified as a beautiful
naked girl. Peace remains out of sight till Lysistrata summons
her—but when she emerges, the Greek men ogle her and follow
her to a position near Lysistrata.
Lysistrata pontificates about the brotherhood of the Greeks, Lysistrata’s comment about the Persians makes sense only if we
and about how they share a common enemy whom they’re remember that the Greco-Persian Wars took place only some
benefitting by fighting one another: the Persians. She’s twenty years before the Peloponnesian War began. In that earlier
interrupted by Kinesias, who is impatient with a lust for Peace, conflict, the Athenians and Spartans fought together against the
but she serenely ignores him. Lysistrata reminds the Spartans Persians. Lysistrata is attempting to reunite the Greeks by
how Athens recently provided them with military assistance, demonizing a common enemy. Here it’s made clear that Lysistrata
and she reminds the Athenians how Sparta liberated them from is not a universally pacifist (or feminist) play. Aristophanes doesn’t
tyranny. A Spartan praises Lysistrata, and Kinesias praises condemn war or patriarchal society in themselves—only war when
Peace as the most desirable woman he’s ever seen. Lysistrata, it’s irrational, and only men when they’re acting foolish.
oblivious to all this, asks the Greeks to stop their wicked
fighting and to make peace.
A Spartan and Kinesias begin to draw up terms—pointing to the The bawdy image of Peace as territory to be negotiated over
naked Peace as they do so. The Spartans want the “butte,” while cleverly (if sexistly) joins together the ideas of sexual excitement,
Kinesias claims the “Easy Mountain” and “the Maniac Gulf,” friendly rivalry, common goals, and new creation (see the bawdy
among other things. An argument flares, but Lysistrata quells it agricultural metaphors). Quarrels do not need to be eliminated, only
at once to smiles of agreement. The men’s ardor “to plow a few amicably resolved.
furrows” in Peace and “to work a few loads of fertilizer in”
quickly burns away all warlike thoughts. Peace is made.
Lysistrata promises the Greek men a feast, and with that she It is appropriate that a play all about frustrated appetite should end
and Peace enter the Acropolis. The delegations exit at a run. with a feast. The Chorus’s jokes here remind us that we’re watching
The Chorus of Old Women sing about jewelry on offer—the a fantasy of plenty, and that if we really want jewels and wheat, so
joke is they don’t really have anything to sell. The Chorus of Old to speak, we have to enact political reform in the real world.
Men, meanwhile, offer free wheat to the audience—the joke
being that they own a tremendous unleashed dog that will bite
you like hell if you try to claim some.
The Choruses flock together, unified at last, to the door of the The unification of the Chorus resolves the play’s subplot about the
Acropolis. The Commissioner, wearing a wreath, carrying a fighting old men and women. The Commissioner only plays at
torch, and slightly drunk, emerges from therein. He brandishes enforcing regulations here, because he recognizes that the raucous
his torch to disperse loiterers and restore order, then gives this celebration is in the spirit of Athenian law, if not in its letter.
up as being beneath his dignity (and also in response to
imagined protests from the audience), and allows the newly
unified Chorus to celebrate.

Kinesias also emerges from the Acropolis, wreathed and drunk. Kinesias speaks in the Spartan dialect (which Aristophanes still
Speaking in the Spartan dialect, he praises the feast as gently mocks) because he has rediscovered his brotherhood with
“splendiferous.” Wine smoothed things over between the those fellow Greeks. As the women drank wine when taking their
Greek men very effectively. The Commissioner thinks about oath to fight for peace, so is wine here imagined to promote
instituting a new rule: every ambassador should be a bit drunk sociability and unity.
when doing his duties. Cold-water diplomacy just leads to
suspicion and paranoia.
Everyone now emerges from the Acropolis, including the Although Aristophanes’ comedy was performed for the Athenians,
Spartan and Athenian delegations, a flutist, and Lysistrata and he gives the Spartans pride of place and patriotic songs to sing. He
her women. The flutist plays and the Spartans slowly dance, was trying to cultivate among the Athenians fellow feeling with the
singing in honor of their patron hunting goddess, Artemis, and Spartans; notice that he again brings up the Persians as a common
of past Spartan heroes like Leonidas, who was famous for his enemy of the Greeks.
role in the Battle of Thermopylae waged against the Persians.
When the Spartans end their song, Lysistrata returns the Peace and trust are fully restored only when the Peloponnesian
Peloponnesian women held hostage in Athens back to the women are restored to the Spartans. The ode to the god of wine
Spartans. She also releases the Athenian wives back to their celebrates the comic spirit and the ideals of sociability and pleasure,
husbands. “Let’s not make the same mistakes again,” she while the ode to Zeus and Hera celebrates the ideal of marriage
cautions. The delegations obey her orders and together they (although Zeus and Hera’s marriage was far from ideal, but that’s
sing an ode to Bacchus, god of wine, to Zeus and Hera, the another story).
highest of heavenly couples, and finally to Aphrodite, goddess
of Love.
Lysistrata, in closing, invites the Spartans to sing a final song. Aristophanes honors the Spartans by giving them the last word of
The Spartans invoke the “Spartan muse” and sing a lively ode to his comedy. This is something of a peace offering, even if it’s made
dancing, beautiful girls, Spartan rivers, and Athena. Everyone with some gentle mockery and comic outlandishness. The ode’s
then exits, dancing and singing. theme is the satisfaction of basic human needs—what all
reasonable and just states and policies are supposed to uphold.
Though the play ends with peace and happiness, it’s also important
to remember that Aristophanes’ political comedy wasn’t heeded by
the higher-ups in the Greek government—the Peloponnesian War
continued for several years after Lysistrata’s debut, and Athens
eventually surrendered to its enemies amidst desperate
circumstances. Yet despite the fact that Lysistrata may not have
effected immediate political change in the way Aristophanes
intended, his play endures as a brilliant, comic appeal to the basic
needs and pleasures of humanity in the face of political pride,
intrigue, and stubbornness.

To cite any of the quotes from Lysistrata covered in the Quotes

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MLA Aristophanes. Lysistrata. New American Library. 1984.
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Web. 18 Oct 2019.
Aristophanes. Lysistrata. New York: New American Library. 1984.
CHICA
CHICAGO
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Wilson, Joshua. "Lysistrata." LitCharts LLC, June 29, 2016.
Retrieved October 18, 2019. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/
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Page Number: 119-125 Lines 254 – 705 Quotes

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inhumanity." The contrast between the two Choruses reveal

Explanation and Analysis

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Explanation and Analysis

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SUMMARY AND ANAL

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LINES 254 – 705

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LINES 706 – 979

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LINES 980 – 1323

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To cite any of the quotes from Lysistrata covered in the Quotes

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