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...

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...

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...

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 conflicts between cultures in Ilujinle are mainly concerned with the various characters' adherence to or rejection of the traditional Yoruba ways. One of the things that Wole Soyinka imparts is...

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....

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...

In the play, Wole Soyinka uses Western theatrical conventions and includes traditional Nigerian elements of poetry, music, and dance. The play is a one-act play with three scenes. Each corresponds...

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...

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 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 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...

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 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...

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 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...

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...

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."...

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...

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...

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 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....

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...

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...

Wole Soyinka's play The Lion and the Jewel represents the conflict the native Nigerian villagers feel concerning whether or not to embrace their own past culture or the modernist future and how to...

I believe that Baroka deserves to marry Sidi more than Lakunle does in the play The Lion and the Jewel. Initially, Lakunle seems like he has a legitimate excuse not to pay the bride-price because...

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 jewel in The Lion and the Jewel refers to Sidi, a beautiful young woman in Nigeria's village of Ilujinle, who is well aware of her attractiveness. Sidi chooses to abide by the village's...

Sidi is the village belle of Ilujinle, who becomes conceited after a photographer publishes beautiful pictures of her in a magazine. She rejects the idea of marrying the village schoolteacher,...

The play begins as the village belle, Sidi, walks past the school as the teacher, Lakunle, professes his love for her. Sidi tells him that she will marry him, but only if he pays the bride-price....

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...

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...

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...

Wole Soyinka's play The Lion and the Jewel is a comedy that chronicles how Baroka, the Bale of Ilujinle, fights with Lakunle, the village school teacher, for Sidi's hand in marriage. Sidi is...

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...

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 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....

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...

Lakunle is an interesting character because he is unique in his village of Ilujinle. Lakunle, unlike the other villagers, values Western civilization and supports modernity. He openly criticizes...

The play takes place in a small traditional African village that is being threatened by the encroachment of the modern world. The Bale refuses to allow this to happen and shows that he will do...

African Proverbs Towards the end of the play, Baroka is attempting to woo Sidi and shows her the machine that makes stamps. He tells Sidi that her image will adorn each stamp leaving Ilujinle, then...

Sadiku enters the village at the beginning of the scene and is laughing as she recounts her experience with Okiki, Baroka's father. Sadiku was able to make Okiki impotent and gloats at the fact...

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...

Baroka symbolizes the beauty and stability of African cultures by being the clever leader of their town; he manages it in such a way that they still practice important traditions but also shows the...

Lakunle plays the role of the "lost traveler" who ends up in the remote village of Ilujinle. The mime scene begins when four girls enter the stage, pretending to be the wheels of a car. Lakunle...

As a play that embodies African village culture, Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel is full of dancing and music. Many flashbacks are portrayed in the dances and pantomimes that accompany the...

At the beginning of the play, Lakunle urges Sidi to not carry loads of water on her head and to dress more modestly. Sidi responds by criticizing Lakunle and saying that everyone calls him the...

The characters in The Lion and the Jewel are roughly divided by age, with Sidi and Lakunle being young adults and Sadiku and Baroka older people. Youth and age are also related to modernity and...

Soyinka suggests that maintaining traditional customs is essential in light of colonial development. Baroka, a symbol of traditional Yoruba culture, successfully wins the heart of the village...

Wole Soyinka examines a variety of social issues throughout his play The Lion and the Jewel. One of the most prominent social issues in the play deals with tradition versus modernity. Lakunle, and...