Lysistrata

by

Aristophanes

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Lysistrata makes teaching easy.

Kleonike Character Analysis

The fun-loving Athenian woman Kleonike is the first to respond to her neighbor Lysistrata’s summons at the beginning of the play. However, Kleonike conforms more to Athenian gender stereotypes than her neighbor does. She loves soft, fancy garments, and she would rather walk through fire than abstain from having sex. She even slanders her own sex as being superficial, lazy, and unwise. That being said, once she joins Lysistrata’s cause Kleonike proves herself to be sharp-tongued and fierce: she serves as the women’s spokesperson when they swear their Oath to abstain from sex, and she wields a chamber pot in the fight against the Athenian police.

Kleonike Quotes in Lysistrata

The Lysistrata quotes below are all either spoken by Kleonike or refer to Kleonike. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War and Peace Theme Icon
).
Lines 1 – 253 Quotes

Us? Be practical. Wisdom for women? There’s nothing

cosmic about cosmetics—and Glamor is our only talent.

All we can do is sit, primped and painted,

made up and dressed up.

Related Characters: Kleonike (speaker), Lysistrata
Page Number: 41-43
Explanation and Analysis:

I’m willing to walk through fire barefoot.
But not

to give up SEX—there’s nothing like it, Lysistrata!

Related Characters: Kleonike (speaker), Lysistrata
Page Number: 134-136
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Lysistrata LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lysistrata PDF

Kleonike Quotes in Lysistrata

The Lysistrata quotes below are all either spoken by Kleonike or refer to Kleonike. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War and Peace Theme Icon
).
Lines 1 – 253 Quotes

Us? Be practical. Wisdom for women? There’s nothing

cosmic about cosmetics—and Glamor is our only talent.

All we can do is sit, primped and painted,

made up and dressed up.

Related Characters: Kleonike (speaker), Lysistrata
Page Number: 41-43
Explanation and Analysis:

I’m willing to walk through fire barefoot.
But not

to give up SEX—there’s nothing like it, Lysistrata!

Related Characters: Kleonike (speaker), Lysistrata
Page Number: 134-136
Explanation and Analysis: