THE LION AND THE JEWEL (BY WOLE SOYINKA) Written by Africa’s well known dramatist, Wole Soyinka , the play has its setting in the village of Ilunjunle in Yoruba West Africa. It was published in 1963 by Oxford University Press. The play is characterized by culture conflict, ribald comedy and love, where the old culture represented by the uneducated people in Ilunjunle, led by Baroka, Sidi and the rest, clashes with the new culture led by Lakunle, who is educated, school teacher by profession is influenced by the western ways. Like the title suggests, The Lion and the Jewel (Three Crowns Book) is symbolic. The lion is Baroka and the jewel is Sidi. She is the village belle. The lion seeks to have the jewel. The play starts with Lakunle pouring out his heart to Sidi but she does not want to pay attention. If only Lakunle can pay dowry then she would marry him. But to Lakunle, that’s being barbaric, outdated and ignorant. If he could only make her understand. He says: “To pay price would be to buy a heifer off the market stall. You would be my chattel, my mere property.” Sidi does not pay attention. To her a girl for who dowry is not paid for will be hiding her shame for she will not be known as a virgin. Her beauty has captured many souls, besides Lakunle. There is the photographer who took her photos and published them in a magazine, and even Baroka the lion, the bale/chieftain of Ilunjunle as well as other girls in the village. Sidi also brags a lot about her beauty. She is not afraid to speak of it in public. Baroka has many wives though, despite his wanting Sidi for a wife. On seeing her in a magazine seated alone, he laments:
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THE LION AND THE JEWEL (BY WOLE SOYINKA)
Written by Africa’s well known dramatist, Wole Soyinka, the play has its setting in the village of Ilunjunle in Yoruba West Africa. It was published in 1963 by Oxford University Press.
The play is characterized by culture conflict, ribald comedy and love, where the old culture represented by the uneducated people in Ilunjunle, led by Baroka, Sidi and the rest, clashes with the new culture led by Lakunle, who is educated, school teacher by profession is influenced by the western ways.
Like the title suggests, The Lion and the Jewel (Three Crowns Book) is symbolic. The lion is Baroka and the jewel is Sidi. She is the village belle. The lion seeks to have the jewel.
The play starts with Lakunle pouring out his heart to Sidi but she does not want to pay attention. If only Lakunle can pay dowry then she would marry him. But to Lakunle, that’s being barbaric, outdated and ignorant. If he could only make her understand. He says:
“To pay price would be to buy a heifer off the market stall. You would be my chattel, my mere property.”
Sidi does not pay attention. To her a girl for who dowry is not paid for will be hiding her shame for she will not be known as a virgin.
Her beauty has captured many souls, besides Lakunle. There is the photographer who took her photos and published them in a magazine, and even Baroka the lion, the bale/chieftain of Ilunjunle as well as other girls in the village. Sidi also brags a lot about her beauty. She is not afraid to speak of it in public.
Baroka has many wives though, despite his wanting Sidi for a wife. On seeing her in a magazine seated alone, he laments:
“Yes yes…………… it is five full months since I last took a wife…..five full months” (page 18)
Sadiku is Baroka’s head wife. As custom suggests, the last wife of the previous bale/chief becomes the head wife of the new chief once succeeded.
Her duty as a head wife is to lure any woman Baroka pleases to have into getting her. Sidi turns off Baroka’s proposal in the most demeaning way, through his head wife. She scorns him:
“Compare my image and that of your lord… an age of a difference….”
See how water glistens my face…. But he-his is like a leather piece torn rudely from the saddle of his horse.Baroka blames it on himself when he gets the news of his rejected proposal. He says:
“My man hood ended a week ago.”
Sadiku rather glad about Baroka’s confession tells the news to Sidi. Sidi goes to see Baroka on the grounds that she did not intend to reject his invitation and proposal well knowing that he would not be capable of doing anything. In an unexpected turn of events, Baroka manages to seduce her and win her over Lakunle.
Sidi’s Choice of Baroka and the Victory of Traditional Valuesover Western Ones in Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel
Lakunle
Lakunle is the schoolteacher of the village. He deeply admires Western culture and seeks
to emulate, often to comically inadequate effect. He is portrayed by Soyinka as clumsy in
both actions and words, throwing together phrases from the Bible and other Western
works in hope of sounding intelligent. He is "in love" with Sidi, but can not marry her
because she demands that he pay the traditional bride-price, something he refuses to do.
Initially we chalk up this refusal to his Western beliefs, and the belief that women
shouldn't be bought and sold, but later in the play he reveals his true self - when Sidi's
virginity is taken away, he leaps at the chance to bypass the bride-price by saying that she
can't really expect him to pay the bride price now that she's no longer "pure". He
represents one extreme of the play's central pendulum - the Western values.
Sidi
Sidi is a young girl in the village who has just had her ego boosted by a visit from a
bigcity
photographer, who has taken her pictures and published them in a magazine. From
them on, she is extremely conceited, thinking herself even higher than the Baroka, the
Bale, the Chief of Illujinle. She refuses to marry Lakunle until he pays the bride price,
and eventually goes to visit Baroka because she believes that she will be able to humiliate
him by exposing his impotence. However, Baroka proves to be a cunning man and she
falls right into his trap. She is the needle of the pendulum; she wavers from end to end,
confused, before finally settling on the traditional side.
Baroka
Baroka is the leader of the village. He holds to his Yoruba traditional beliefs, but his
power is coming under threat from the Western influence. The issue that troubles him
throughout the beginning of the play, we learn, is his apparent impotence, a secret he
reveals to his head wife. We later learn, however, that this feigned impotence was only a
clever stratagem in order to lure Sidi into coming to his palace.
In the course of the story Baroka‟s qualities of cunning, discrimination and strength are
shown to advantage; Lakunle is provided with a number of opportunities to display his
talents but he fails recurrently. Finally Sidi‟s decision to marry Baroka reflects the
playwright‟s opinion that in the context provided by the play, Baroka is the better man
and his attitudes are the more substantial as well as worthy.
Conflict between Tradition and Modernity in Creative Writing
Sidi‟s Choice of Baroka and the Victory of Traditional Values over Western Ones in
Wole Soyinka‟s The Lion and the Jewel 31
Issues have been raised regarding the conflict between tradition and modernity in this
play wherein tradition wins over modernity through the final action of Sidi. Now, if the
play reflects a conflict between old ways and new ways, then who is the winner? We
cannot answer this very easily. If we say that Sidi is the prize, then we see that she has
been won by Baroka. And thus victory may seem to go to the older ways of life and the
older beliefs he represents.
But still we are confronted with some complications; the first is that Lakunle is not a
particular convincing representative of modern ideas. There is evidence that he
misunderstands some of the books he reads and he believes to be true. For example, he is
wrong in saying that women‟s brain is smaller than men‟s. Then he is much fascinated
by
the most superficial aspects of modern ways of life, such as, night clubs, ballroom, dance,
etc. He is full of half-baked modern ideas which he exploits in denying to pay the
brideprice to Sidi.
Baroka, the sixty-two year village chief of Ilujinle, on the other hand, opposes progress
because he believes that it destroys the variety of ways in which people live and that he
as well as Lakunle should learn things from one another. Baroka is anxious enough to
make Sidi his wife and here comes the love-triangle of Sidi, Lakunle and Baroka wherein
finally Sidi surrenders herself to Baroka. It is miraculous to know that a young man fails
before an old man in the game of love and at the end Sidi willingly accepts Baroka, not
Lakunle, as her husband.
Bride-price, a Sign and Symbol and a Complex Situation
There are several reasons behind Sidi‟s hesitation in accepting Lakunle. The basic reason
seems to be his refusal to pay the bride-price:
Ignorant girl, can you not understand?
To pay the price would be
To buy a heifer off the market stall.
You‟d be my chattel, my mere property.
No, Sidi! (The Lion and the Jewel, 8)
But Sidi is also uneasy about Lakunle‟s ideas, especially the role of women and the
duties of a wife. The language he uses, drawn from his „ragged books‟ (mainly the Bible
and the dictionary) adds to this uneasiness. She feels uncomfortable by the scorn with
which he is regarded by other villagers, even the children. She also hates his miserliness
which she considers „A cheating way, mean and miserly.‟
There are many inconsistencies in Lakunle which also may irritate Sidi. Although he
claims to detest Baroka‟s habits and powers, in fact he secretly envies them. In one
speech he wishes if he had the Bale‟s privilege of marrying many wives. Now, polygamy
is a familiar tradition in older, backward society whereas monogamy is a modern
phenomenon. Lakunle is contradicting himself here by trying whole-heartedly to uphold
modernity but ironically he cannot obviate his native identity and demands. Even he
seems to forget his principles at the end of the play when he eagerly embraces the thought
that since Sidi is no longer a virgin now, he cannot be asked to pay a bride price for her:
But I obey my books.
„Man takes the fallen woman by the hand‟And ever after they live happily.Moreover, I ill admitIt solves the problem of her bride-price too. (The Lion and the Jewel, 61)
Opposing Religious Values – Convenience Plays a Better Part
In the same speech he forgets in his agitation that he is a Christian opposed to the village
religion and appeals to the God of thunder and lightning. He declares that „My love is
selfless- the love of spirit. Not of flesh‟ but if it is so, then how can he be so concerned of
„bride price‟ even when he is about to lose the beloved? Lakunle himself is deliberately
insincere and that it would be perfect to say that he is too weak to recognize his own
inconsistencies. We may assume that Sidi refuses him being motivated by more to her
personal opinions and disliking to this callous man rather than considering him a
representative of western norms and values. But at the end she realizes that Baroka
possesses what Lakunle lacks; the climax is, youth is eclipsed by the old.
Seduction of Modern Channels
It is not true that Sidi refuses Lakunle as if she was in love with Baroka from the very
beginning. Sidi initially refuses Baroka‟s offer to marry him and this offer arrives when
she is under the influence of the magazine brought to the village by the white
photographer. We notice Sidi‟s excitement demonstrated by her reactions to this
magazine and the photographs in it:
Have you seen these?Have you seen these images of meWrought by the man from the capital cityHave you felt the gloss?Smoother by far than the parrot‟s breast. (The Lion and the Jewel, 19)The fact that her photograph covers three pages and the Bale‟s only the corner of a page
seems to her to prove that she is far more important than he is. Her confusion in choosing
between Baroka and Lakunle as her husband indicates the young generation‟s wavering
to choose between the old values and the new allurements of Western culture:
In Wole Soyinka‟s The Lion and the Jewel, there is a constant confrontation
between tradition and modernity. Soyinka published the play in 1959, when
Nigeria was struggling for independence under British control. Nigeria had been
united as the “Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria” since 1914 and by the late
1950s was facing the challenge of whether or not it was ready for independence
and capable of handling modern Western civilization. Some Nigerians felt that it
was time for change while others wondered if they should move from their
present culture. (Watts 1)
RomanceIn the play, both men, Lakunle and Baroka play the role of romantic lovers in a differentway. Lakunle plays this role for much of the play; he praises Sidi‟s beauty, kneels to herand performs services for her. Baroka, who seems anti-romantic to many of us, turns in abrief performance as a romantic lover. Having appealed to Sidi‟s vanity through thestamp-printing machine he weaves a spell of words around her:In Baroka‟s part, we see that certain qualities of slyness in him make him win Sidi whichare not manifested in Lakunle. From the very beginning she cannot tolerate Lakunle and
till the end she is consistent in expressing her hatred to this callous chap. On the otherhand, when she is seduced by Baroka, she decides to choose one single man whom shewould let herself touch in future and that single man should be Baroka who has alreadytouched her enough. The Bale impresses her with his skill at wrestling; he pretends not toknow about the offer of marriage and implies that Sadiku is always trying to makematches for him. Moreover, he cunningly appeals to her loyalty to the old village waysand he praises her depth and wisdom, too. He flatters her with his talk of having herportrait on the stamps and all the time he talks to Sidi in a soothing tone with the mostflattering seriousness as well as stressing the responsibilities of the village head. Lakunleobviously lacks this foresightedness and therefore Sidi cannot get reliability as well aspracticality in him.
Victory of Old Africa?The Lion and the Jewel shows the triumph Baroka over Lakunle and many readers andcritics regard this as a victory of old Africa over foreign-educated parvenu or upstarts. Itis true that the vitality of Africa has been demonstrated and the established rulers havebeen shown as dignified, arrogant and powerful. But the way Soyinka presents Baroka isnot acceptable to those who want to romanticize traditional African leaders. Baroka is nota straightforward conservative; he has made many a significant innovations and hislanguage shows his familiarity with alien idioms and ideas. Several small African nationsmake a large part of their national income by selling beautiful stamps to collectorsabroad. It is not then too surprising that the Bale should view stamp sales as a majorsource of revenue.
The Old and the New – Complementing Each OtherSoyinka has portrayed Baroka and Lakunle- these two men to complement one-another,and his argument in the play is worked out through the juxtaposition of them. Baroka ispresented in a much more favourable light than Lakunle, but Soyinka is dealing inrelative rather than in absolute terms. He has taken us into a grey area and he forces us tolook closely and distinguish different shades of grey. He does not allow us to „sit backand separate the black from the white at a quick glance‟. (Gibbes, 54) We may,therefore, say that this play is not in favour of reckless progress and false imitation of socalledwestern practices; simultaneously it is not in favour of simply standing still. Likeall good fictions, it gives us something to think and argue about.
Reactionary Answer?Some critics accused Wole Soyinka of giving in The Lion and the Jewel, a reactionary(that is, a backward looking) answer to these problems. Soyinka is not a writer whobelieves that „progress‟ is always a good thing. As a small example, he shares Baroka‟sview that modern roads are „murderous‟. On the other hand, like Baroka he has stated hisbelief that „the old must flow into the new‟. One critic replied to the charge that The Lionand the Jewel is a reactionary play by arguing that „one of the first duties of the comedianis the exploding of cliché‟. In other words, it had become a mechanical thing – a cliche -to say that the new must be preferable to the old. In The Lion and the Jewel, WoleSoyinka had simply refused to reproduce that cliché. (Blishen 1975)
ConclusionIt is clear that The Lion and the Jewel is tilted in favour of the mature and discriminatingBaroka and against the shallow and boyish Lakunle. But this does not imply that Soyinkais likely to support old men and dislike youths. He made his intentions as a playwrightclear when he said: “I‟ll admit, if as a dramatist I set a riddle which gives my audience aheadache, not only in the theatre, but afterwards... the purpose of the theatre is to impartexperience... Often this is indefinable. (Gibbes, 54). We can then believe that through theplot of The Lion and the Jewel, Soyinka deliberately has put a riddle which gives us aheadache on analysing the victory of Baroka over Lakunle in which many of us wouldlike to apply ethnic issue as a soothing balm. Sidi is then quite right to uphold her own.
This play is one of Soyinka's most popular. Despite occasional uses of unconventional devices, it is readily accessible and highly entertaining. Like Death and the King's Horseman, a much more serious work, it explores the value of traditional Yoruba ways vs. European innovations. Some modern readers object to its treatment of women and find the humor spoiled by the sexism. What is your reaction?
Morning
The play is set in the village of Ilujinle. Note Lakunle's age. Despite his behavior on occasion, he is essentially a lively young man. He tries to emulate European notions of courtesy by relieving Sidi of her burden, though carrying water is traditionally a women's task. His flirtatious opening speech may seem rather crude, but is typical of the kind of jesting that goes on in courtship. Sidi is not so much shocked as bored by Lakunle.
Sidi cleverly answers his insistence that she should abandon the traditional way of carrying loads on her head. Note the contrast between the ideas that Lakunle has derived from books about women's weakness and Sidi's answers based on experience. Baroka, the Bale (chief) of the village is a major character later in the play, here introduced as standing for tradition.
When Lakunle proposes to Sidi he is quoting words he has read in popular English books about marriage. Note that his pretentious metaphors are answered by her pithy proverb. "Bush" means "uncivilized," typical of people who live in the bush.
Their relationship is clarified when Sidi says she wants a bride-price. It is not that she lacks affection for Lakunle--what has passed before has been essentially good-natured sparring on her part. But she insists on the tradition which will prove her value in the eyes of the village. Lakunle, in his "Pulpit-declamatory" style, quotes to her lines from the wedding service which are in turn quoted from Genesis 2:24.
Sidi is eager to see the stranger's book. Notice how the conflict in the play which has been between Lakunle and Sidi is now complicated by the tension between Sidi and Baroka. How do you react to Sidi's celebration of her own beauty?
The dance of the lost Traveler draws on Yoruba tradition and that of many other African peoples. Current events are often depicted and commented upon in dances involving costumes and pantomime. It is this sort of "street theater" which Soyinka sees as providing fertile ground for the development of drama in Africa. One of the problems with reading a play rather than seeing it performed, is that one skims quickly over what would be a very impressive high point in the production, with dancing and drumming building to a climax. Imagine this "dance" taking quite a long time and having much more dramatic impact than anything that has gone before. Note that Lakunle finally enters into the dance with enthusiasm. Despite his modern pretensions, he is underneath not so alien to Sidi and her comrades as one might at first suppose. The stranger had been photographing Sidi while she was bathing, and she quickly grabbed up her clothes to cover herself when she saw him.
Baroka gives Lakunle the traditional greeting and is displeased to get a European one in return. Far from being displeased by the dance, he insists on it being continued, playing the role he played in the original incident. When he tells Lakunle "You tried to steal our village maidenhead" he is speaking to the character Lakunle is playing, not the villager himself. He is telling him to go on acting. It is significant that Lakunle has been given the part of the stranger.
Noon
"The Lion" is Baroka's nickname. It is common in many cultures for men to use elderly women as go-betweens to solicit a new bride. What do you think of the fact that Sidi seems to have learned that she is beautiful through the magazine photographs? How do the magazine photographs affect Sidi's perception of Baroka? The storm god Sango (often spelled "Shango" or "Xango") is a West African deity, the most famous of those to have survived the slave trade to the western hemisphere, where his name is invoked in such places as Bahia and Haiti, where African traditions linger on among the black inhabitants. Of what quality does Lakunle accuse Baroka?
Laukunle's story is told through pantomime, in the form of another dance. Again it is important not to skip quickly over this passage, but to attempt to imagine it vividly enacted on stage. A matchet is a large knife used for clearing brush, machete in Spanish. Note how the Bale is worked into this "flashback." A bull-roarer is a carved piece of wood or stone which is whiled at the end of a long cord to produce a mysterious roaring sound, part of the religious traditions of many cultures. What do you think Lakunle's attitude is toward Baroka's success in diverting the railroad?
The removal of body hair is a feature of many cultures, not--as is often supposed--of western ones alone.
Night
Sadiku's glee at Baroka's impotence may be partly based on resentment at having been long abandoned by him as a lover; but there seems generally to be a tension between the Bale and his wives which roots his dominance over them in his sexual potency. Her story of the rusted key which could not open her treasure house is an obvious sexual metaphor. However, based on what we have just seen, she knows of his impotence only through what he has told her, not by first-hand experience as she claimed. Note the insistence on the power of women's rituals, from which men are banned. Note Sidi's glee in desiring to torment Baroka.
The wrestling match in Baroka's bedroom is of course a metaphor for the power struggle about to take place between himself and Sidi. Throughout this scene the Bale tries to throw Sidi off her balance by pretending not to know why she has come.
To "pull asses' ears" is to mockingly put one's fingers behind one's head to imitate a donkey's ears. Sidi mocks Baroka in her conversation with him. She uses metaphors to satirize his pursuit of young women. The "tappers" are palm-wine tappers. Baroka manages to keep throwing Sidi off balance in their conversation. In his description of Sadiku's activities as match-maker he quotes her typical line of chat. Sidi's respectful words in boasting of her traditional garment cause Baroka to call her "wise."
Several small African nations make a large part of their national income by selling beautiful stamps to collectors abroad. It is not then too surprising that the Bale should view stamp sales as a major source of revenue. What is it the Bale says he dislikes about progress? How can you tell that Sidi is being bewildered by Baroka? Sidi is "overcome" by Baroka's words.
The third pantomime ironically depicts the triumph of women over a man just as the Bale is triumphing over a woman. Lakunle's description of the Bale's dungeons is probably a paranoid fantasy. "Mummers" are dancers who pantomime stories. Lakunle is expected to tip the mummers, like other people; but in this he adheres to the pattern established by his refusal to pay a bride price. He clings to modernism as an excuse for saving money, though the following description makes clear that he actually enjoys the performance.
Sidi is angry with Baroka, either because she has been seduced or because she has been deceived. Lankunle reacts with stereotypically heroic words of despair, but when he hears himself utter them, he recoils and changes metaphors. He reacts strongly to Sidi's loss of virginity. What are his motives? A "praise-singer" is a traditional poet-bard, often known as a griot , who sings the praises of whoever hires him. What is Lakunle's reaction to Sidi's seeming acceptance of his proposal?
(2) From http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/stage2/reviews/th-mod017.html
Synopsis
The action takes place in the remote Nigerian village of Ilujinle, in the territory of the Yoruba people. Sidi is the local beauty, much admired by the village school teacher Lakunle (la-kun-li), who wants to make her his bride. She is not averse to his intentions, but insists he must pay her 'bride price' to maintain her reputation. Lakunle however, is a
modernist, he has been to Lagos and is filled with modern ideas, consequently he is reluctant to fall in line with what he sees as an archaic tradition (at least that is his excuse, we surmise its more a case of penny-pinching). A photographer who had visited the village sometime earlier and taken photographs of the people returns to deliver a copy of the magazine in which the photographs appear. Photographs of Sidi have pride of place, on the cover and centrespread, whilst the village bale ('ba-lay' = chieftain) Baroka has only a small corner inside. Sidi realises the power of her beauty, placing her above even the leader of her people.
Baroka was once a powerful warrior known as 'the Lion'. He has lived a long life and collected many concubines. Now he wants to add Sidi to his harem and sends his head wife, Sadiku, to proposition her. Sidi is not interested since he is an old man, and with the arrogance of youth rudely rebukes his advances. But Baroka is a wily old fox, not so easily brushed aside. He has determined to have Sidi, and hatches a plan to seduce her. Who will win the battle of wills, the naive but headstrong young girl, or the wily experienced old statesman?
Impressions
Wole Soyinka's play is a spirited and ribald account of African village life that explores the conflicts between traditional and modern values, third World reality against first world ideals, and the power of men against the influence of women. The action is interspersed with raucous African song and dance. The visit of the photographer is told as a play within a play, a musical re-enactment with the villagers acting out the events of that day. The set is a simple circular affair but imaginative use of props serves to transform it from the schoolhouse to the village square and Boroka's bedroom. Colourful costumes round off the effect.
The strong accents of the characters make the dialogue a little difficult to follow at times for unaccustomed ears but adds to the realism of the piece. Unfortunately, the play loses it's way a little in the second act, accenting the humour but in so doing straying away from the darker side of the original story.
Performances
Omonor Imobhio is ideally cast as the beautiful young Sidi, the 'Jewel' of the title. She captures perfectly the essence of the uncultured 'bush woman' who allows the power of her beauty to go to her head turning her world upside down. But Anthony Ofoegbu is the undoubted star of the show, garnering most of the laughs as the lovestruck modernising schoolteacher. Toyin Oshinaike was impressive as the 'Lion' of the title, Baroka, despite struggling with his lines on a couple of occasions and Shola Benjamin was wonderfully comic as the mocking head wife Sadiku. The remainder of the fifteen strong cast, including musicians, all performed admirably.
Verdict
A colourful production with many genuinely funny moments. Despite the generally strong perfomances however, it has to be said that the direction went somewhat astray with the result that this production fails to capture the acerbic edge of the original play.