Wasps

Acts

• Prologue

  Bdelycleon tries to keep his father Philocleon locked in the house to prevent him attending the law courts. The old man is addicted to jury service.

  259 lines
• Parodos

  Philocleon attempts increasingly desperate escapes — under a donkey, through the chimney, clinging to the roof tiles.

  115 lines
• First Episode

  The chorus of wasps — elderly jurors armed with stings — arrives to collect Philocleon for court duty.

  79 lines
• Second Episode

  The wasps discover Philocleon is imprisoned. They prepare to attack Bdelycleon to free their fellow juror.

  127 lines
• Agon

  Bdelycleon confronts the chorus and proposes a debate: is jury service genuinely empowering, or are the jurors being exploited by demagogues?

  204 lines
• Choral Interlude

  Philocleon gives an impassioned speech about the pleasures and power of being a juror. Defendants grovel, daughters dance, politicians flatter.

  34 lines
• Third Episode

  Bdelycleon demolishes his father's arguments. He shows that jurors receive a pittance while politicians pocket the real money. Athens' revenue is vast; the jury's share is tiny.

  123 lines
• First Stasimon

  The chorus is persuaded. Philocleon is devastated. Bdelycleon proposes a compromise: his father can hold trials at home.

  31 lines
• Fourth Episode

  The domestic court is set up. The household dog Labes is tried for stealing cheese — a parody of a real political prosecution.

  134 lines
• Parabasis

  The dog trial continues. Philocleon is tricked into casting an acquittal vote and nearly faints from the shock.

  117 lines
• Fifth Episode

  The parabasis: the chorus addresses the audience about Aristophanes' courage in attacking Cleon, and about their own glory days as war veterans.

  159 lines
• Second Stasimon

  Bdelycleon attempts to civilise his father — teaching him how to recline at dinner, tell proper stories, and behave in polite society.

  27 lines
• Sixth Episode

  Philocleon returns from a symposium roaring drunk. He has stolen a flute-girl, insulted the other guests, and assaulted people in the street.

  171 lines
• Second Parabasis

  Victims of Philocleon's drunken rampage arrive to press charges. The old man threatens them all.

  24 lines
• Exodos

  Bdelycleon tries to manage the chaos of his father's drunken lawsuits and aggression.

  50 lines
• Final Dance

  Philocleon challenges everyone to a dance contest. The play ends with the old man dancing wildly offstage, unreformed and unrepentant.

  19 lines