Sostratos is timid in a sense. He is afraid to ask Knemon for his daughters hand in marriage. Part of his fear comes from the hatred Kenmon shows towards anyone and everyone with a pulse. However, with the advice of the girl's half brother, Sostratos decides to act as a worker on the farm of Knemon in order to become closer to him. Ultimately his goal is to get close enough to the father to ask for the girl's hand in marriage. In a long series of events that occur Knemon falls down a deep well and is need of saving. Sostratos and Gorgias, the half brother of Sostratos, rescues Knemon from the well. Knemon who is deeply moved by the gesture of Sostratos decides he has been acting rather unfairly and allows him to take his daughters hand in marriage. He does this while also convincing his father to let the half brother of the girl to marry his sister. The play ends with "the grouch" or Knemon refusing to attend the wedding celebration of his daughter.
Themes.
One of the overriding themes in the play is that love conquers all. The emotion of love had the ability throughout the play to overcome the class system and an overbearing father. Sostratos, in the end, got the girl even though he was a King and she was the daughter of an owner of a farm. They also ended up together through the obstacle of Knemon wanting her daughter to marry someone like him. There was also love found between Gorgias and the sister of Sostratos conquering the inability of Gorgias to find love throughout his life. Love is the powerful emotion that dominates the play "Dyskolos." Another major theme in this play is the obvious notion that class system matters. Vincent J. Rosivach writes in his "Class Matters in Dyskolos" of Menander, describes the message of Menders play about class system being complex. He says the message of the play is that "the working poor are to be respected, but also that the leisured rich are entitled to their privileged position as long as they, like Sostratos, also respect the poor.
