Lysistrata

Plot/Summary

Lysistrata gathers up all the women of Greece with plans to end the Peloponnesian War. She asks them to refuse to have sex with their husbands until a treaty for peace has been signed. The Chorus of Old Women have been sent to seize the Akropolis, house of treasury. They are met with the challenge of facing The Chorus of Old Men trying to burn them down but they win. The Commissioner comes in search of naval ships but finds all these women and asks for them to be arrested. In a comical defeat, the policemen run off as the women win. Lysistrata and the Commissioner argue about the war and she bring up a wool analogy, proceeds to dress him as a woman. Kinesias and other men end up with erections and sexual frustrations - plead for a treaty.

Koryphaios of Men

a stubborn and rather grouchy fellow, leads the Chorus of Old Men around Athens

Corinthian girl

accompanies Ismenia and Lampito to Lysistrata's meeting and is known for her vast posterior bodily feature

Lampito

representative of the Spartan women, large and well-built, brings Spartan women to Lysistrata's meeting

Myrrhine

second strongest women in this play, seduces her husband Kinesias, but refuses to have sex with him

Reading in Class

the goal of this reading was censorship

Lysistrata

Athenian woman sick of war and how weak women are, plans to keep women of Athens and Sparta from having sex with their husbands until a treaty has been signed, least feminine of all the women - masculinity gains the respect of the men

Setting

Athens/Sparta

Ismenia

Boitian girl who has a nice body, keeps herself well tended, and is quite possibly mute

Peace

Lysistrata's handmaid. Peace is the unclothed beauty of a woman whom Lysistrata displays and uses during her final plea for peace between Athens and Sparta. Terribly aroused and uncomfortable, the men quickly discuss the terms of a truce, all the while staring at Peace's body.

Kleonike

Lysistrata's neighbor, first one at the meeting of women, really embraces her feminine side

Commissioner of Public Safety

head of security and law in Athens, but is completely overwhelmed by the women and ends up being dressed as a woman himself. Lysistrata has a lengthy conversation with the Commissioner about the future of Athens and peace in the region, but the Commissioner is very slow to understand her logic

Policewoman

kindly offers her shield up for the women to make a sacrifice upon

Koryphaios of Women

leads the Chorus of Old Women around. The Koryphaios of Women leads a successful seizure of the Akropolis and outwits the men in every possible way

Chorus of Old Men

made up of twelve old men who teeter around Athens attempting to keep the women in line. Although, unsuccessful in their civic duties, the Chorus of Old Men strike up some fantastical misogynistic melodies and are a generally comedic element of the play

Kinesias

needy, desperate for sex, Myrrhine's husband, first man to be affected by the sex strike and comes to the Akropolis, fully enflamed.

Policemen

ordered to arrest the women, humiliated again and again by the women. The women, brandishing nothing but lamps, chamber pots and other various household utensils, scare these policemen away