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.