Ans: “The Lion and the Jewel” is a remarkable comedy by Wole Soyinka and perhaps the only play by him. The play portrays a conflict between tradition and modernism. It shows the deep familiarity of Soyinka with the various aspects of African tradition and the influence of the modern world on the African mind.
The play “The Lion and the Jewel” is about the victory of traditional values over western ones. If we carefully observe some main characters, and incidents, it will be crystal clear.
The main three characters in the play are Lakunle, Sidi, and Baroka. Lakunle, a village school teacher represents modernity while Sidi and Baroka stand for tradition. The battle between Lakunle and Baroka for Sidi’s hand in marriage reveals a confrontation between their ways of life.
Baroka is the chief of the village and everyone calls him Lion because of his strength and vitality. He represents tradition and wants to keep tradition in the village. So, he tries his best to isolate the villagers as far as possible from modern ideas. For example, when the public works attempt to build a railway through Ilujinle, Baroka stops the work by bribing the white surveyor with money, a coop of hens, and a goat.
Lakunle wanted to civilize the villagers but his civilizing mission meets hindrances from the natives. He tried to connect the village to the ways of western civilization. He wanted to rid the ‘savage people’ of their age-old superstitions. But the villagers curse him and call him a madman of Ilujinle and even the children call him a fool.
In the play, we find that Baroka believes in Polygamy while Lakunle believes in monogamy. Baroka has many wives from Sadiku to Ailatu. The youngest wife is always his favorite. When the new arrival of his favorite, he sends the last favorite outside of his room. Seeing a glossy picture of Sidi in a magazine, he desires to marry her at the age of sixty-two. Then he spreads the rumor that he has lost his manhood. He is ready to pay a handsome bride price. Ultimately, he wins and marriages Sidi.
On the other hand, Lakunle is in love with Sidi and wants to marry her without the bride price. Because he considers it barbaric and compares it to buying a cow from the market. But he encountered rigid resistance from Sidi who is a deep-rooted traditional African girl. She rejects his westernized idea of love marriage and kissing as a ‘way of civilized romance’.
Sidi is the jewel of the village and is renowned for her beauty. She is desired by many men. When Lakunle wanted to marry her, she knew her value as the jewel of the village. She refuses to marry without the bride price. Sidi senses that Lakunle’s modern attitude is:
“A way you mean to avoid payment of lawful bride-price
A cheating way, mean and misery.”
Another female character in the play is Sadiku, Baroka’s head wife who also plays the role of the traditional head wife.
From the above discussion, we can say that Soyinka has shown the victory of African tradition over the western ones through the characters of Baroka, Sidi, and Lakunle very brilliantly.
