The Acharnians [and] the Clouds [and] Lysistrata Study Guide & Plot Synopsis

The Acharnians [and] the Clouds [and] Lysistrata Plot Summary

Preview of The Acharnians [and] the Clouds [and] Lysistrata Summary:

This collection of three plays by the Classical Greek playwright Aristophanes satirizes various aspects of the society and culture of Athens several centuries before the birth of Christ. The first and third ("The Acharnians" and "Lysistrata") focus on the city's need for, but resistance to, a lasting peace with its enemies. The second, "The Clouds," focuses on the new (at the time) style of learning and philosophy as taught by the renowned Socrates. Throughout all three plays, there are undercurrents of explicit sexuality as well as thematic explorations of the foolishness of holding too tightly to traditional ways, and how the disempowered find power.

The first play of the collection, "The Acharnians," begins with a long soliloquy by Athenian citizen Dikaiopolis, who expresses his frustration with the drawn out process of trying to build peace between Athens and its various enemies, a process that (as the narrative later reveals), is...
(read more)