The Wasps by Aristophanes. Short summary

5 seconds

The court-obsessed Philoctleon is locked up. His son allows him to hold the trial of the dog who stole the cheese, forcing an acquittal. Philoctleon agrees to leave the trials alone, but loses his mind.

1 minute

Philoctleon loves to judge and pass judgment, so his son, Bdelikleon, tries to cure his father of his lunacy with sacrifices to the gods and exhortations. Nothing works, so he decides to lock his father up at home. They begin to argue, with Bedelikleon trying to prove that an ordinary citizen should not have to go to court. He allows his father to pass sentences on the household: a trial is arranged for a dog who has stolen a piece of Sicilian cheese. With the help of a tampering with the ballot box, Philocleon forces his father to deliver an acquittal, which terrifies Philocleon and causes him to lose consciousness.

Upon awakening, Philoctleon agrees to leave the judging and live in peace. The son takes his father to a party, where he gets drunk and runs off with the flute player, causing trouble for the people he meets by slapping them. He is pursued by a chorus of wasps. In the play’s finale, Philocleon completely loses his mind, arranges a dueling dance between all the playwrights poets and starts it first. Bdelikleon falls into hopeless despair, not knowing what to do with his father.