He furthermore, deceives his wives that he is sexually impotent so that Sadiku can go to Sidi to reveal this secret which is not true.

In the play, Baroka who is labeled the Lion is a womanizer, oppressive and deceitful.įor instance he sends his head wife (Sadiku) to Sidi. A jewel is a person or thing that is very important or valuable. Sidi is so cute to the extent that she is called the jewel of the Ilujinle society. In succinct explanation, the play is about a so very naturally beautiful girl called Sidi. When Sidi goes to Baroka’s house, Baroka takes her into his room and the wrestling match between Sidi and Baroka takes place.īaroka achieves to make love with Sidi and he automatically marries her because he has become the first man to make love with her (Sidi). This is because he deceives her that he is sexually impotent. From the play, Chief Baroka tries to deceive Sidi who is to be married to the primary school teacher Lakunle. Chief Baroka is labeled as the lion because he uses women for enjoyment, he decides to marry any girl or women he wants inspite of having several wives. From the play, chief Baroka is labeled as the Lion whereas Sidi is labeled as the Jewel. The title of the play is fundamentally symbolic whereby the lion stands for men and the jewel stands for women. Lakunle who is the school teacher presents the class of modernists who want to bring changes adopted from western culture while the villagers such as Sidi and the chief himself stand for the class of traditionalists who preserve their own culture.

Generally the play talks about the clashes happenīetween the modernists and traditionalists. THE LION AND THE JEWEL PLAY WRIGHT: WOLE SOYINKA SETTING: AFRICAN VILLAGE OF ILUJINLE YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1963 PUBLISHER: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Lion and the jewel novel