Discussion Topic
Sidi's Character and Relationships in The Lion and the Jewel
Summary:
In Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel, Sidi is depicted as a beautiful, vain, and somewhat naive young woman whose character evolves throughout the play. Initially, she is courted by the modern schoolteacher, Lakunle, and the traditional village chief, Baroka. Her vanity peaks after her photos appear in a magazine, leading to arrogance and manipulation attempts. Despite her initial adherence to tradition, Sidi's desire for fame and status ultimately leads her to marry Baroka, demonstrating her ambition and complex nature.
What is a character sketch of Sidi in 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. Finally, she decides to become Baroka’s second wife rather than marry Lakunle. While Sidi initially seems like a very modern young woman who would be attracted to the equally modern school teacher, Lakunle, she proves to be more complex.
Sidi is portrayed as being extremely vain, a trait that is exacerbated when her photograph is published in the newspaper. Sidi’s limited endorsement of modern changes also surfaces when Lakunle, although claiming he wants to marry her, refuses to pay the bride price on the basis of its being an old-fashioned custom. She interprets this as a sign of cheapness that will likely continue into their marriage and result in her husband not buying her lovely...
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things. Sidi also understands her own intelligence and takes pride in being treated well; Lakunle patronizes her and, despite his modern pretensions, sees his role as dominant, which she resents.
Baroka has retained his role as an important social and political leader largely through his shrewd assessment of human nature. He understands that Sidi is more ambitious than she is modern. Rather than talk down to her, he both tricks her by faking impotence and flatters her by proposing to make her even more famous, by putting her face on postage stamps.
What are Sidi's character traits in The Lion and the Jewel?
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 protagonist is a hero character. If not a hero character, a protagonist is at least someone whom readers or audience members like.
Sidi is not that kind of protagonist. To be fair, there are moments when audiences might be drawn to like Sidi. It is fun to watch her continually rebuff Lakunle. He has an overinflated sense of self and believes that his higher levels of learning give him an exemption to cultural norms like paying a bride price. He incorrectly believes that his modernity should be enough to convince the beautiful Sidi to marry him. He's pompous and naïve. But interestingly, the same things can be said about Sidi.
Sidi is the beauty of the village, and she knows it. While we don't initially think her beauty has "gone to her head," we do know that Sidi understands that her looks should be enough to get a man to pay her bride price. This shows her as someone who does believe in and adhere to village traditions, but it could also show her as having a sense of entitlement.
Once the magazine shows up, Sidi begins to display signs of narcissism. The pictures give her an overinflated sense of self, and she even becomes overconfident and arrogant. She incorrectly believes that the pictures give her the power to insult and manipulate Baroka. In reality, Sidi is naïve, and that naivety results in her loss of virginity to Baroka.
In The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka, who most deserves Sidi?
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 he is opposed to the traditional Yoruba custom, in favor of modern views of marriage. However, at the end of the play, Lakunle uses the custom to manipulate and justify his decision to not pay the bride-price. His initial reasoning for not paying the bride-price was insincere, which is why he does not deserve to have Sidi as his wife. On the other hand, Baroka cunningly devises an ingenious plan to woo Sidi. He is willing to have his reputation tarnished over the false rumors of his impotence in order to marry Sidi. Baroka puts more thought and effort into winning Sidi's heart than Lakunle does which is also why he deserves to have Sidi as his wife.
How is Sidi portrayed in Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel?
Sidi is portrayed as a naive, beautiful young woman who is rather conceited and vain throughout the play. At the beginning of the play, Sidi is open to the possibility of marrying the village school teacher, Lakunle. After she learns that her image is displayed throughout a foreign magazine, she becomes conceited and believes that she is the most prestigious individual in the village of Ilujinle.She cherishes her physical appearance and begins to make fun of the Bale by calling him old and ugly. When Lakunle and Sadiku attempt to humble Sidi and talk some sense into her, Sidi ignores and ridicules them. After Sadiku tells Sidi that Baroka is impotent, Sidi decides to mock Baroka to his face and visits his palace. Sidi is depicted as being ignorant and simple because she does not think her actions through. Baroka is able to seduce Sidi by telling Sidi that he will put her image on every stamp leaving Ilujinle. Sidi is fascinated with the idea of becoming even more famous and willingly sleeps with Baroka. Following her interaction with the Bale, Sidi decides to marry Baroka instead of Lakunle. Her decision to marry Baroka reflects her affinity for traditional Yoruba culture.
What is Sidi's role in The Lion and the Jewel?
Sidi is a great character to talk about and discuss with classes because it seems perfectly acceptable to talk poorly about her. Sidi is the play's protagonist, but that doesn't automatically make her a character that audiences root for and love. She's manipulative, arrogant, narcissistic, and power hungry. Sidi doesn't come across this way at the beginning of the play; however, she quickly changes once the magazine arrives that contains all of the pictures of her.
In Sidi's mind, her picture being printed and distributed gives her power, and her fame "goes to her head." She believes that her stardom somehow makes her better than other people and more powerful than commoners and/or Baroka, and that is why Sidi is an important character in the play. Her role is more than that of a protagonist. She exists as a symbol of sorts of media's influence on people.
Sidi takes on an overinflated sense of self merely because she is pretty and has pictures of herself being distributed. It's amazing how accurately this play reflects or predicts modern-day media influencers. There are people that exist who think that they have the power to control and influence others for no other reason than repeated posts on some social media platform. To be fair, that power does exist at times, but Sidi's role includes a message of warning. Her "power" is fake power and only exists as long as the receiver is willing to buy into it and believe it. Baroka never allows that to happen to himself, and he manipulates Sidi's ego for his eventual benefit.
What is admirable about Sidi's character in The Lion and the Jewel?
What's admirable about Sidi in The Lion and the Jewel is that she knows her own mind.
Sidi is fully aware of her beauty and is determined to use it in order to get what she wants. As a woman in a changing but still traditional society, Sidi occupies a subordinate position in relation to men. Even so, she can still exert more power than other women on account of her remarkable beauty.
That beauty of hers gives her the power to decide between competing suitors, the only real power she'll have this side of marriage. To some, Sidi may come across as manipulative; however, the asymmetrical power relations between men and women in this society leave women with few options in controlling their own lives. In any case, whatever else we might say about Sidi, there's no doubt that she knows her own mind, and that's a very important thing to have in this society, especially for a woman.
Though Sidi is hardly the most likable of characters, one can admire the way she recognizes and uses the power of her beauty.
How does Sidi's character evolve in The Lion and the Jewel?
When Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel opens, Sidi is a traditional yet somewhat vain young woman with two suitors, but when the play draws to a close, Sidi has become a proud woman who has essentially betrayed her own ideals. Let's look at this in more detail.
Sidi has two suitors at the beginning of the play. Lakunle is the schoolteacher, but he does not want to follow traditional ways and pay Sidi's bride price. This offends her, for Sidi truly believes in the traditions and customs of her people. Baroka is a leader, and he wants to make Sidi his latest wife, but she is not interested in him, at least at first.
Sidi begins to change when she learns that her pictures have appeared in a magazine. Her vanity becomes pride and arrogance. She begins to taunt Baroka and carry on in a way that is hardly becoming for a young woman. Eventually, Baroka tires of her games and rapes her, assuring that she will indeed become his next wife.
We would expect Sidi to be highly upset by the violation. Lakunle offers to marry her yet (with no bride price), but Sidi surprises him. She wants nothing to do with Lakunle after experiencing Baroka. She marries the latter, still caught up in her pride and vanity.