The Lion and the Jewel Questions and Answers
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the role and function of Lakunle in the play The Lion and the Jewel?
Lakunle is Ilujinle's schoolteacher. Because he was educated at a British school, he seems to enjoy emphasizing how well he knows English. Lakunle wants to modernize Ilunjinle and marry Sidi, the...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the significance of the title "The Lion and the Jewel"?
The significance of the play's title lies in the symbolic nature of these two names. The "Lion" is an elderly man, Baroka, whose power and potency are referred to frequently, and his sexual potency...
The Lion and the Jewel
Describe the dramatic roles of Sidi, Baroka, and Lakunle in the play The Lion and the Jewel.
Let’s start with Sidi. Sidi is the jewel referred to in the play’s title,; she is beautiful and will choose one of the men of their remote village of Ilujinle to be her husband. Her dramatic role...
The Lion and the Jewel
Why does Sidi choose Baroka at the end of the The Lion and the Jewel?
Sidi chooses to marry Baroka because he has proved himself the most skillful at playing upon her vanity. Sidi is indeed a very vain woman, especially after she sees her photos in a magazine—then...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the setting of The Lion and the Jewel?
The setting of The Lion and the Jewel is a Yoruba village called Ilujinle, in the Ibadan region of southwest Nigeria in the late 1950s. The Yoruba are one of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria....
The Lion and the Jewel
How does Wole Soyinka present women in the play The Lion and the Jewel?
At the heart of The Lion and the Jewel is a fierce battle between tradition and modernity. When Soyinka wrote the play, there were deep tensions between those who wanted Nigeria to become more...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is a character sketch of Sidi from the play The Lion and the Jewel?
In the play, the plot revolves around Sidi’s decision about which man she will marry. She is the most renowned beauty of her village and, as such, believes she can freely choose among her suitors....
The Lion and the Jewel
Discuss the theme of culture conflict in The Lion and the Jewel.
Cultural conflict forms the heart of The Lion and the Jewel, paralleling the rapid industrialization of Africa during the mid-twentieth century. Soyinka did not write the play as a theoretical...
The Lion and the Jewel
How would you compare and contrast the views held by Lakunle and Baroka regarding the role of women in society?
The Lion and the Jewel is about the attempts of two men, Lakunle and Baroka, to win the hand of the fetching Sidi in marriage. Lakunle, a school teacher, symbolizes the Western point of view...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are some life lessons from the play The Lion and the Jewel?
Wole Soyinka incorporates several important life lessons throughout his play The Lion and the Jewel. Soyinka uses Sidi's behavior and plight to suggest that overconfidence, vanity, and pride can...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are the main themes developed in "The Lion and the Jewel" by Wole Soyinka?
In The Lion and the Jewel, Wole Soyinka conveys the struggles for control between two women and two men in rural Nigeria. Two closely related themes structure these conflicts. One is the interplay...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are the mimes/flashbacks in The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka about?
Early on in the play, Sidi is told about how her images in a foreign magazine have given her fame and prestige. She encourages the villagers to participate in "the dance of the lost traveler."...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the importance of the bride price in "The Lion and the Jewel" by Wole Soyinka?
The bride price is a dowry that has to be paid in order for Lakunle to be allowed to marry Sidi. Sidi, like most people in her community, takes the bride price very seriously. To her, it is what...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the importance of the bride price in The Lion and the Jewel?
The bride price, the dowry that has to be paid to marry Sidi, functions in The Lion and the Jewel as a symbol of the traditional Yoruba customs and values. The young Lakunle wants to marry Sidi,...
The Lion and the Jewel
How did Baroka seduce Sidi in The Lion and the Jewel?
Chief Baroka uses his wisdom, power, and cunning tactics to seduce Sidi into marrying him. Throughout his endeavors, he uses his wife Sadiku as the pawn in the game plan. Sidi, the "jewel," gets...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are the flashbacks in The Lion and the Jewel? What do they tell the audience?
There are a couple flashbacks throughout the play The Lion and the Jewel. The first flashback takes place during "the dance of the lost traveler." The flashback tells the audience the story of how...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the conflict in The Lion and the Jewel?
The main conflict in Wole Soyinka’s play The Lion and the Jewel is the competition between Baroka and Lakunle, suitors who are both after Sidi’s hand in marriage. Sidi is a beautiful young woman...
The Lion and the Jewel
What literary devices are used in The Lion and the Jewel?
The literary devices used in The Lion and the Jewel include irony, personification, simile, metaphor, and symbolism. Irony is perhaps the most prominent literary device in the play. The entire plot...
The Lion and the Jewel
Why did Sidi not marry Lakunle?
This is somewhat of a tough question to answer, because there not merely one single reason why Sidi does not choose to marry Lakunle. Her reasons for not marrying him also probably change over the...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are the differences between Sidi and Sadiku?
Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka’s 1959 play The Lion and the Jewel centers on the conflict between tradition and modernization and African versus Western culture. Sidi, the “jewel” referenced in the...
The Lion and the Jewel
How did Baroka seduce Sidi?
At first, the young Sidi has no interest in the sixty-two-year-old Baroka, despite his high status in the village. She is somewhat attracted to Western culture, in the form of the young,...
The Lion and the Jewel
What type of play is The Lion and the Jewel?
Through his play The Lion and the Jewel, Wole Soyinka shows his mastery of modern European dramatic form along with his knowledge and appreciation of Nigerian oral literature and performance. The...
The Lion and the Jewel
Is The Lion and the Jewel a comedy?
The category of "comedy" is a wide one, encompassing such literary works as Dante's Divine Comedy, which is not remotely funny. It has often been used to refer to any work of literature with a...
The Lion and the Jewel
In the play The Lion and the Jewel, what is the role of Sadiku in the love circle?
In Wole Soyinka's play, Sadiku plays several crucial roles. As the Bale's senior wife, she has considerable authority within their household and, because he is a powerful man, in the community at...
The Lion and the Jewel
Evaluate the use of song and dance in The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka.
Wole Soyinka incorporates numerous dimensions of performance into The Lion and the Jewel. The resulting play is a rich medley of Western and African performance traditions. Rather than relying...
The Lion and the Jewel
Discuss the idea that neither Lakunle nor Baroka deserves Sidi’s hand in marriage in The Lion and the Jewel.
The Lion and the Jewel presents Sidi as a young woman who is faced with two distinct alternatives in a potential husband. The process of courtship does not go entirely smoothly, as both men present...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are some life lessons from the play The Lion and the Jewel?
The Lion and the Jewel is an interesting play for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is how well a play written in 1959 explores media images and their influences on a person's own ego....
The Lion and the Jewel
What are the similarities between Lakunle and Baroka?
Several major similarities are that Lakunle and Baroka are both men, they live in Ilujinle village, and they want to marry the same woman, the beautiful Sidi. Both men are shallow, in that they...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the conflict between tradition and modernity in Wole Soyinka's play The Lion and the Jewel?
The conflict in the play, set in Nigeria in the 1950s, is between indigenous tribal tradition and western modernity. This is a period in which countries in Africa were achieving their independence...
The Lion and the Jewel
Who is the protagonist in the play The Lion and the Jewel?
The Lion and the Jewel is a play with only a few main characters. That's not necessarily a rare thing. What is much more unique and rare about those main characters is that none of those characters...
The Lion and the Jewel
What happens in the "dance of the lost traveler" in Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel?
At the beginning of the "dance of the lost traveler," Lakunle plays the role of the foreign photographer who is driving through the jungle. The four girls who are miming and acting as the wheels of...
The Lion and the Jewel
Why is Sidi keen on having a bride price paid for her? What does this show about Lakunle's character in The Lion and...
Sidi looks at her potential bride-price as a monetary expression of her value as a person. She has a very high opinion of herself and fully expects that any bride-price will reflect her exaggerated...
The Lion and the Jewel
Discuss the use of symbolism in The Lion and the Jewel.
For the most part, symbolism is used in the play to highlight the tension between the old and the new, the traditional Africa and the modern Africa that is just coming into being. For instance, we...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are the various conflicts between the characters throughout The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka?
The primary conflict in the story exists between Baroka and Lakunle, two men who are competing for the love of Sidi. Both men are deceptive and in many ways not what they seem. Lakunle comes across...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the significance of marriage in the play The Lion and the Jewel?
The love triangle that involves a young girl, a young man, and a wealthy, powerful, older man is one of the staples of comedy. The older man is tricked or thwarted so that the young couple can...
The Lion and the Jewel
What is the role of Sadiku in The Lion and the Jewel?
In Wole Soyinka’s play The Lion and the Jewel, the character of Sadiku is a well-to-do, high status senior woman in the village. Sadiku understands that her current and future status are connected...
The Lion and the Jewel
How would you describe Lakunle from Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel?
Lakunle is the village school teacher who opposes traditional Yoruba culture in favor of modern Western civilization. He continually criticizes Sidi, Baroka, and Sadiku for their way of life. At...
The Lion and the Jewel
Who is the "jewel" referring to in the play The Lion and the Jewel?
The jewel refers to Sidi, a young girl who is trying to decide which man she wants to marry. Sidi is called the "jewel" because she is beautiful and coveted. Baroka and Lakunle both want to marry...
The Lion and the Jewel
What do the characters Lakunle and Baroka symbolize throughout the play? How do their beliefs affect their lives?
Lakunle is the village's school teacher who wishes to marry Sidi. He is a proponent of modernity and a supporter of Western civilization. He is also rather arrogant and critical of Yoruba culture....
The Lion and the Jewel
Compare and contrast the speech quality of Lakunle and Baroka in The Lion and the Jewel.
Lakunle speaks directly and often without respect or thought; Baroka is more thoughtful and cautious with his words to help him achieve his goals. Both men, however, speak with the confidence that...
The Lion and the Jewel
Discuss how Wole Soyinka depicts culture in the play The Lion and the Jewel.
Wole Soyinka depicts contemporary West African culture as a complicated mixture of European and Yoruba elements, including important social institutions such as marriage and education. He uses both...
The Lion and the Jewel
How would you compare and contrast the characters of Sidi and Baroka in The Lion and the Jewel?
Sidi and Baroka embody traditional notions of womanhood and manhood respectively. Sidi is a beautiful woman, and her beauty is a source of near-universal admiration. In the traditional village...
The Lion and the Jewel
Why is Baroka called the lion?
In Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel, Baroka is called the lion because he is a very strong man. Baroka is the old, wise chief of the village of Ilujinle. Even though he is sixty-two years old,...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are some gender issues that are addressed throughout the play The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka?
In his play, Wole Soyinka places gender prominently at the forefront of social conflicts between traditional and modern society. Lakunie, a young African man who has received a Western education in...
The Lion and the Jewel
What role did Sadiku play in Sidi's visit to Baroka's palace?
Sadiku initially seeks Sidi to tell her that Baroka has requested her hand in marriage. Sidi rejects Baroka's offer because she has become conceited after seeing her images in the magazine. Sidi...
The Lion and the Jewel
Lakunle insults Sidi at one point of the play. What does he say to her?
Lakunle insults Sidi more than once: for someone who claims to be in love with her and want to marry her, he seems to insult her all the time as he seeks to assert dominance over her. He tells her...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are the character traits of Sidi?
Sidi could quite easily be considered the play's protagonist. What's interesting about calling her that is the fact that Sidi does not seem like a standard protagonist. More often than not, the...
The Lion and the Jewel
What are the themes throughout the play The Lion and the Jewel?
The primary theme of The Lion and the Jewel is that of tradition vs. modernism. Throughout the play, the two primary characters fight over the affections of Sidi, who is the "jewel" of the play....
The Lion and the Jewel
In The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka, what role does Sadiku play in Sidi's visit to Baroka?
Sadiku is Baroka's head wife who petitions Sidi to marry Baroka in the play The Lion and the Jewel on the Bale's behalf. Sidi initially declines Baroka's offer because she has become conceited...
The Lion and the Jewel
Who is the winner in The Lion and the Jewel?
In my opinion, I would say that Baroka is the "winner" in the play because he successfully woos Sidi and ends up marrying her. Throughout the play, Lakunle and Baroka both attempt to win Sidi's...
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