The Plot Summary, themes of Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka
The Plot Summary
Morning
Sidi, the most beautiful girl in her Yoruba village, arrives on stage carrying a bucket of water on her head. The foppish schoolteacher Lakunle rushes out of the schoolhouse to help her. He chides her for ruining her posture and tries to flirt with her. Sidi teases Lakunle back, reminding him that most of the village calls him a "madman" for embracing so many Western ways. The pair tease each other flirtatiously, with Lakunle offering his marriage proposal. Sidi nonchalantly says she'll marry Lakunle whenever he agrees to pay her bride-price, a tradition Lakunle finds savage and dated. Another villager arrives to announce that the foreigner who visited their village to take pictures has returned. He took many beautiful photographs of Sidi, one of which is featured on the cover of a magazine. The photograph is more prominent even than the photograph of their village chief, Baroka. Dancers break into a reenactment of the traveler's visit, with Lakunle reluctantly playing the traveler. The performance is interrupted by Baroka himself. The reenactment breaks up with Lakunle feeling embarrassed and Sidi feeling excited. As she runs to find the traveler, Baroka laments that it's been five months since he took a new wife.
Noon
Sidi returns to the stage staring intently at her photographs in the magazine. She feels empowered by her own beauty, becoming somewhat vain and entitled. Sadiku, Baroka's first wife, arrives and announces Baroka's plans to take Sidi as his final wife. Sidi laughs in Sadiku's face, saying that she would never marry a man as old as Baroka. Sidi's insult shocks Sadiku, but she still invites Sidi to join the chief for dinner that night. Sidi refuses again, saying she has no interest in dining with a "fox." She accuses the chief of only wanting to possess her power and beauty, which was captured in the photographs. When Sadiku returns with the news of Sidi's rejection, Baroka rages about his recent masculine accomplishments. He wonders aloud how any woman could reject such a masculine specimen, yet he collapses on the bed and laments that he actually lost his manhood the week before. He had hoped a young virgin such as Sidi could have revived his libido.
Night
Sidi sees Sadiku in the village square dancing and laughing around a statue of Baroka. When she demands to know what's going on, Sadiku confides the secret of Baroka's impotence, saying she feels victorious that he's been "scotched" (put out of service). Entertained, Sidi decides to visit Baroka and mock his lost manhood, despite Lakunle's warnings of the danger that Baroka represents. When Sidi arrives at Baroka's palace, he's wrestling with a hired sportsman. At first, he pretends not to understand why Sidi would pay him an unannounced visit, but he eventually warms and welcomes her. When the wrestler leaves, Baroka shows Sidi a stamp maker he had built especially so he could start printing stamps in the village. He hopes to use Sidi's image on the first stamps. He talks eloquently to her about the future of the village and their impending "union." Sidi doesn't understand everything Baroka says, but she feels enamored of him due to his confidence. Shortly after, Lakunle and Sadiku see Sidi rushing through the village square, crying. Sidi announces that Baroka raped her. Angered, Lakunle promises to marry Sidi anyway, in part because he won't have to pay a bride-price for a "spoiled" woman. Sidi rushes to her house and packs up her belongings. She hands Lakunle the magazine photographs of herself and dispassionately invites him to her wedding. Confused, Lakunle wonders why he shouldn't be present at his own wedding. Sidi says that she could never marry Lakunle after "experiencing" Baroka's manliness. The play ends with her walking to her wedding, singing traditional Yoruba songs with Sadiku.
Themes
Tradition vs. Modernity
This is perhaps the most conspicuous theme in the play. It initially seems like Soyinka is setting a clear dichotomy between these two things, tradition embodied by Baroka and modernity embodied by Lakunle. However, as the play progresses Soyinka defies the audience's assumptions. Lakunle espouses a variety of backwards views and seems to abandon his progressive principles when it is convenient to do so. Similarly, Baroka says he does not hate progress but merely finds its sameness and stagnation boring. He is preparing to use a stamp machine to make the village make money as they do in Lagos. Soyinka thus suggests that progress is not bad, but that it must be done on African terms.
Gender
It does not seem that Soyinka consciously tries to make a statement about gender, but he does so nonetheless. On the one hand, he creates two female characters that are sassy, opinionated, manipulative, and independent. On the other hand, both of them are ultimately pawns in the games of men. Sidi does not want to marry either Lakunle or Baroka, but Baroka tricks her, rapes her, and then gets to marry her. She is an object and nothing more. Sadiku is also tricked, and sees her elation over the Bale's impotence and the power of women vanish as his plot is made clear. Women may seem like they have power in mid-20th century Nigeria, but they ultimately do not.
Trickery and Manipulation
Most of the characters in this play decide to trick and manipulate others in order to achieve their ends. This is perceived to be a much more effective method than being forthright, as the things characters want come at the expense of others' feelings and wishes. Sidi and Sadiku try to fool the Bale so they can feel a sense of triumph at his humbling, and the Bale fools Sadiku and Sidi so he can subdue Sidi and acquire her as one of his wives. Even though Soyinka carries this out with a light touch and a great deal of witty repartee, the fact remains that there is a lot of lying and manipulation in the play.
Performance
There are several instances of performance in the text; they include singing, dancing, and acting. All characters, including the Bale, participate in them. Performances are a crucial part of Nigerian culture and serve to define, celebrate, and emphasize the things that matter to the people. The story of the stranger was already known, but the performance cemented it as a crucial moment in the collective history of the village. The mummers' performance of the Bale's downfall and Sadiku's participation in it were a way to express discontent with the leader. The performance gives the powerless Sadiku a sense of power, though it is ultimately a dream and nothing else.
Words
Words in this text are often associated with foolishness, pride, and tendentiousness. Lakunle is the wielder of words, but even though he spews them out, they rarely accomplish their aim. His words do not win Sidi, nor do they dissuade her and Sadiku from tricking the Bale. They do not inure the village to Lakunle but rather make him look like a proud fool. The Bale is much more sparing with words, although he does use them to his advantage when he manipulates and woos Sidi.
Images
Images have a great deal of power in this play. First, photographic images are emblems of the modern. They are incredible to behold, easy to disseminate, and evocative of status and stature. It is no wonder that Sidi is obsessed with her own visage as found in the magazine. Second images carry social influence. Sidi's reputation grows because she has a large picture in the magazine, and the Bale feels embarrassed because he only has a small picture next to an image of the latrines: whether people do it on purpose or not, they will associate him with such disreputable things. Soyinka emphasizes his belief in the power of images when he has Sidi give the magazine to Lakunle and tell him she tried to destroy it at the end of the play when she is going to marry the Bale. She no longer has power, and the image likewise no longer has power.
Legacies of Colonialism
Even though Soyinka does not deal with this as explicitly as he does in some of his other works, colonialism and imperialism in Nigeria exist below the play's surface. Lakunle represents the West: his clothing, his words, his learning, and his callous foolishness are all indicative of Britain's impact on Nigeria. The Bale is a traditional African figure who knows he cannot bury his head in the sand. The mid-20th-century Nigerian village he rules has been affected by British rule, and even though the country is on the road to independence (1960), it will never be able to go back in time. It is part of a modern world and must start to change, whether it wants to or not.
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