The Lion and the Jewel is a play by Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that was first performed in 1959. It chronicles how Baroka, the lion, fights with the modern Lakunle over the right to marry Sidi, the titular Jewel. Lakunle is portrayed as the civilized antithesis of Baroka and unilaterally attempts to modernize his community and change its social conventions for no reason other than the fact that he can. The transcript of the play was first published in 1962 by Oxford University Press. Soyinka emphasises the theme of the corrupted African culture through the play, as well as how the youth should embrace the original African culture.
TITLE: The Form in The Lion And The Jewel
PLAYWRIGHT: WOLE SOYINKA
SETTING: A TRADITIONAL YORUBA VILLAGE OF ILUJNLE IN NIGERIA
PUBLISHER: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
YEAR: 1963
THE TITLE:The title of the play above represents the oppressive nature of the system.The Lion in this play represents men who oppress women in a male dominated society while the Jewel is used to represent women who are the victims of men’s oppression.The jewel here is represented by Sidi.She represents the group of women who face oppression and humiliation from men.
CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERIZATION
The playwright used figures of speech in his work.The figures of speech used in the Play “The lion and the Jewel” are as follows:
Analyse the Form in This Time Tomorrow
PLAYWRIGHT: NGUGI WA THIONG’O
SETTING: UHURU MARKET(THE SUBURB OF NAIROBI CITY), KENYA
PUBLISHER: HEINEMANN
YEAR: 1963
The following are some of the characters who were found in the play ”This Time Tomorrow”
The following are the themes found in the play “The lion and the Jewel”
TITLE: The Form in The Lion And The Jewel
PLAYWRIGHT: WOLE SOYINKA
SETTING: A TRADITIONAL YORUBA VILLAGE OF ILUJNLE IN NIGERIA
PUBLISHER: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
YEAR: 1963
THE TITLE:The title of the play above represents the oppressive nature of the system.The Lion in this play represents men who oppress women in a male dominated society while the Jewel is used to represent women who are the victims of men’s oppression.The jewel here is represented by Sidi.She represents the group of women who face oppression and humiliation from men.
CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERIZATION
- LAKUNLE:A village school teacher. He fell in love with a virgin village beauty, SIDI. He was not ready to pay the bride price in order to marry Sidi. He is a fighter of women’s rights and opposes all bad African customs and traditions.
- SIDI:A beautiful village girl. She fell in love to Lakunle though later on she finds herself married to chief Baroka after been tricked. She is a conservative village girl who sticks to African customs and traditions. She was ignorant and did not support European lifestyles.
- BAROKA:A chief of Ilujnle village. A strong and feared chief of the village. He was a womanizer. He marries any woman who eats supper with him. He uses women as tools of enjoyment. HE uses a trick to marry Sidi. He represents leaders who use their power to oppress women.
- SADIKU:Baroka’s eldest wife. She was used by Baroka as a go between to seduce Sidi. She feels happy when she notices that her husband is impotent. She is not aware of her rights as a woman.
The playwright used figures of speech in his work.The figures of speech used in the Play “The lion and the Jewel” are as follows:
- Metaphor: eg “I am the twinkle of the jewel while he is the hind quarters of a lion”(p.23). “Sadiku is my faithfull lizard (p.47)
- Proverbs: eg “Old wine thrives within a new bottle”
Analyse the Form in This Time Tomorrow
PLAYWRIGHT: NGUGI WA THIONG’O
SETTING: UHURU MARKET(THE SUBURB OF NAIROBI CITY), KENYA
PUBLISHER: HEINEMANN
YEAR: 1963
The following are some of the characters who were found in the play ”This Time Tomorrow”
- Journalist
- Editor
- Njango
- Wanjiro,her daughter
- 1st customer
- 2nd customer
- 3rd customer
- Inspector Kiongo
- Tinsmith
- Shoemaker
- Asinjo
- Stranger
- Police Officer
- Crowd, Policemen
- Njango:She is the main character of the Play. She is a widow and the mother of Wanjiro. When her husband passed away in the struggle during Mau Mau war, she came to town. She engaged in a petty trade of selling soup at Uhuru market. She believes in tribalism. She is poor and shares the floor with her daughter as a bed.She was a victim of keep-clean-the-city campaign.
- Wanjiro:The daughter of Njango.She has natural beauty and a lived poor life. She is ignorant as she did not go to school. She loves Asinjo and wants to marry him. She admires how European ladies dress.
- Stranger:He is an activist who fought for Uhuru during Mau Mau war. He educates people on their rights and makes them aware of humiliation and exploitation. He unites people against the city council with its campaign of “keep the city clean.”
- Shoemaker:One of the slum dwellers. He is illiterate and does not know his age.He was among the freedom fighters in the forest. He protests against the government’s decision to demolish the houses.
- 1st, 2nd & 3rd customer:They are among the slum dwellers.They buy soup at Njangos place.They oppose the city campaign of demolishing their slums.
- Inspector Kiongo:A worker at the City Council in the Health department. He reminds people at Uhuru market to move away since the slums are to be demolished.He is among those who enjoy the national cake.
- Asinjo:He is a young man from a different tribe with Wanjiro. He was chased away and insulted by Njango as he wanted to marry Wanjiro. He convinces Wanjiro to go with him and ignore her mother for claim that she is ignorant and old.
- Tinsmith:He is a slum dweller who lives a poor life. He is ignorant. He cooked for the white people during the war. He makes and sells water tins,pangas,hoes etc.
- Journalist:A reporter of different events in the society.For example,he reported on the keep the city campaign, how houses were demolished and how people reacted against it. He takes pictures of different people like the Tinsmith and Inspector Kiongo.
- Police Officer:He is among the civil servants.He represents the Government to make sure that the clean the city campaign is a success.
- Husband of Njango:He is the father of Wanjiro and husband of Njango, He was killed during war fight with white people in Kenya.
- Gitnua, Macharia and Gitina:Customers of Wanjiro
The following are the themes found in the play “The lion and the Jewel”
- Women emancipation:The main theme in the play.The play is there to solve women oppression.It was indicated in the play that women were not involved in decision making.Sexual harassment for women is also shown by the playwright.In the play, Baroka tricked Sidi and slept with her without her will. Lakunle represents women rights fighters. Sadiku was used by her husband to trap Sidi and she succeeded in her mission.Early marriage for small girls was portrayed to be a problem. Baroka married Sidi who was very young compared to his age.
- A clash between cultures:There is a mismatch between European culture and traditional African culture. Lakunle opposes the issue of dowry payment and polygamy in his society.This is against African culture.A woman or girl can not get married without bride price.Sidi rejected the kiss from Lakunle as this is not common in African cultural practices.Western culture was represented by Lakunle who wanted to transform the village of Ilujnle to be a modern village with all the western life styles while on the other side, Sidi and Baroka represents the conservative African traditionalists who believed in African culture.
- Polygamy:This is a common cultural practice in Africa.The strength of a man according to African culture was judged by the number of wives he possesses.The traditions allow a man to have more than one wife.Baroka is portrayed as a polygamous since he had many wives and concubines.Polygamy can be the source of HIV/AIDS spread and creation of big families difficult to handle.Polygamy is a source of women oppression and humiliation.
- Betrayal:Every community has traitors.In the play,the playwright portrayed Lakunle as a great betrayer of African customs and traditions.He used his education to educate people on the bad African customs and traditions which have to be discarded.He was against bride price and polygamy.He wanted to transform the village into a modern village.The traditionalists like Baroka and Sadiku did not support Lakunle and mocked him and regarded him as a traitor in their society.The followers of western culture are always regarded as traitors since they undermine their own culture and lift up the foreign culture.
- Irresponsibility:The playwright shows Baroka as irresponsible leader who spent most of his time thinking women and planning new marriages instead of thinking on development of his village.Baroka was conservative and did not accept challenges from the young generation(Lakunle) who wanted to transform the village by opening the eyes of villagers to see what is happening in other parts of the World through newspapers.Lakunlewas portrayed as irresponsible teacher since he left his students in the class and went to meet Sidi.Lakunle spent most of his time thinking on how to win Sidi’s love instead of making efforts in teaching and think on how to enable his students pass.
- Protest:Lakunle protested against African culture.He protested against polygamy and paying of bride price.Sidi protested to be married to Baroka since Baroka was old than her.Sidi also protested to be married to Lakunle who wanted to marry her without paying bride price.
- Misuse of Power:There are leaders who misuse their power for their personal interest.In the play “The lion and the Jewel”,the playwright shows Baroka as a leader who used his power to force women to get married to him without their will.For example,Baroka used his power to invite Sidi at the palace to supp with her.Sadiku was sent by the chief(Baroka) to convey the message of marriage to Sidi though his request was rejected.Lakunle was beaten by the chief’s companions for messing around the girl(Sidi) who was loved by the chief too.