They both employ different approaches in winning Sidi’s heart. This again is manifested in the comparison of the two main male characters, Lakunle and Baroka - this time not of their ideas but of their approaches to Sidi. The Lion and the Jewel is thus a play that addresses the conflict between tradition and modernity. While Lakunle is bent on bringing civilization to Ilujinle, Baroka is interested in maintaining the status quo as it is. In between these two characters stands Sidi who is affected by the views held by the duo. Take for example, the one-day off (holiday) Lakunle enforces on the palace workers in line with the working conditions found in the civil service or similar enterprise established by the European colonialists. To this effect, he influences the diversion of railtrack from Ilujinle and also frowns at some of the views Misita Lakunle (as he calls him) holds. While he acknowledges the importance and the indispensability of Western education in his village, he abhors any Western value or the intrusion of civilization that would undermine his power or render useless his relevance and efficacy. He is the custodian of African customs, culture and tradition. He condemns every African tradition that seems to stand parallel to the European values he espouses.īaroka, by virtue of his position as the Village Head, is on the other side of the fringe. He rejects the long-standing practice of bride price. In The Lion and the Jewel, Lakunle is an archetype of such Africans. Western education produced a new category of Africans who embraced European values totally but saw everything African as backward, barbaric, archaic and retrogressive. The play reflects the post-colonial realities of the African continent. Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel shows the growing discrepancy between European values and African traditional values. And if she hadn’t, she would not have felt Baroka’s sexual prowess and consequently, might not have married him. Sidi would not have honoured Baroka’s invitation had she known she was being deceived. It is on the premise of this lie that Sidi decides to honour Baroka’s invitation to sup with him. Sadiku in turn spreads the news about Baroka’s humiliation. He lies to Sadiku, a loose tongue, about his being impotent. The theme of deceit manifests through Baroka. While Lakunle hopes to seek Sidi’s attention through flowery language and his promise of an equal union, Baroka takes a more practical approach in inducting Sidi into his harem of wives. The marriage institution is also well foregrounded in The Lion and the Jewel. Baroka and Lakunle show their love for Sidi in their own individual ways. Her beauty endears her to the village men and of course, the visiting stranger. Sidi is the centre of attraction in the play. The Lion and the Jewel portrays the women world as one that can be easily manipulated by the male folks. Sidi for one is influenced by Lakunle’s worldview and later manipulated by the wily village head, Baroka. ![]() ![]() This dialogue is a reference to the male dominant African society and the role of second fiddle women play in the traditional African society.Īnother pointer to the theme of male chauvinism is rooted in how the women are manipulated by the men in the text. With a child strapped to her back?” The Lion and the Jewel He backs his claim with the fact that it has been scientifically proven that “women have a smaller brain than men” hence, “they are called the weaker sex”. He claims that Sidi, as a woman, has a smaller brain than his. We first catch a glimpse of this in the dialogue between Lakunle and Sidi in which the former attributes the latter’s inability to comprehend what he is saying to the generic inferiority of women. ![]() The theme of male chauvinism is clearly portrayed in Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel. This is a belief in the innate superiority of men over women. Some of the themes in Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel include male chauvinism, marriage and love, deceit, modernity versus tradition, and, virility and cowardice.
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