Wole Soyinka Analysis

Great Essays
Acknowledged as one of the foremost living playwrights of the world, Wole Soyinka is the first African Nobel laureate who was awarded the covetous Nobel Prize for literature in 1986. As a playwright, Wole Soyinka has basically operated within two categories – the tragic and the satiric.Although the dramatic form itself and the Western generic categories are Western import, Soyinka has injected fresh energies into every genre by the incorporation of traditional Yoruba elements. Soyinka’s dramas are informed by both indigenous and European forms and elements. Soyinka observed inherent theatrical qualities in many rituals, festivals and ceremonies of West Africa which might be stretched in the direction of theatre.Yoruba worldview, Yoruba myths, …show more content…
The same deity may be male in one village and female in another. The pantheon of deities is called the Orisha. Olorun/Olodumare is the supreme deity who is “regarded as the creator of everything – he created all the other gods, and the earth was created on his initiative, though not by him personally” (Larsen 21). Olorun breathes life into creation.Obatala is the god of creation and at the command of Olorun he created the earth. Entrusted on Obatala isthe responsibility of shaping human bodies. It is believed that “all the other divinities (“orisha’) originated from Obatala” (Larsen 23). Orunmila, regarded as Olorun’s deputy, is the “Yoruba god of divination and oracles” (25).Ogun, Soyinka’s favourite god, is the god of war, poetry and hunters. He is the patron deity of all who use metal in their work. Eshu is the messengerand trickster god who is feared for his potential for causing harm. Oko is the god of agriculture. “Shango is the god of thunder and lightning” (Larsen 27). Yoruba people also worship numerous forest deities like Oro, Aroni, and Erinle.Not only these gods but festivals also are an integral part of Yoruba life. The Yoruba New Year takes place in March, when the villagers and town dwellers participate in communal purification rites, helping each other to confess their sins and starting the New Year afresh together. Soyinka’s dramaA Dance of the Forests, which was conceived on the …show more content…
Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horsemanintroduces us to a traditional custom of Oyo society which demands that after the death of the Alafin (king), his Horseman would escort him in his perilous journey through the transitional abyss to the world of the ancestors, by committing willing suicide in a ritualistic manner. According to the traditional beliefs, contingent upon the proper performance of this ritual suicide by the king’s horseman Elesin Oba is the maintenance of the cosmic harmony and survival of the Yoruba world. However, for both lack of willpower and colonial intervention, the Elesin fails to commit ritual suicide. The consequence is disastrous: “The world is set adrift and its inhabitants are lost” (Soyinka, DKH 69).The intended as well as interrupted ritual suicide, around which Soyinka’s plot revolves, has its metaphysical mooring in traditional Yoruba worldview which views death not as the cessation of existence but as a passage to another mode of existence in the world of the ancestors. Cognizant of the king’s death and anticipating his father’s imminent death, Elesin’s son Olunde returns to his land from England for the prospective burial ceremony of his father. Tremendously shocked at his father’s betrayal of the trust of the community, Olunde sacrifices himself as his father’s substitute

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The olodumare is the god that does not get involved in human affairs, he is the highest god. The lesser gods, the orisas, are the ones that help humans out and are able to bring harm upon the humans. Since they can harm humans they are able to sin, unlike Jesus Christ who is considered to never sin. When you are being born in the Yoruba religion, you are placed before god and you can chose your own destiny: where you were born, what you want to do in life, and when you would die. Unlike in Christianity, you are born with sin already due to the original sin of Adam and Eve.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Okonkwo was born in Nigeria and was known as a respected warrior in the Umuofia clan.…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his novel, “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe includes a passage about a boy being led unknowingly to his death. In this passage, Achebe builds tension by using foreshadowing, as well as language and diction. He uses this tension to show how traumatic this event was, especially because of the terror of a child who felt betrayed by his family, because of another characters importance of self-image over family. Achebe first builds tension by the use of foreshadowing, in order to show the father-son relationship between Ikemefuna, the boy who is led to his death, and Okonkwo, the man who kills him. When Ogbuefi Ezeudu tells Okonkwo about the plans for Ikemefuna’s murder, he advises him “That boy calls you father.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Igbo Culture Analysis

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages

    They have a polygamous religion and believe in supernatural, being such as Gods, spirits, and ancestors. “This man told him that his child was an ogbanje, one of those wicked children who when they died, entered their mothers’ wombs to be born again,” wrote Chinua Achebe. This is talking about what the medicine man told Okonkwo after his third wife, Ekwefi, had lost her second child. The man advised Okonkwo, to stop the ogbanje, to let his wife stay with the her people to elude the ogbanjes’ evil cycle. In their religion they believe that sacrifices are used to dispose of sins, ask assistance, and give thanks.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, a self-indulgent individual in respect and authority to his clan, Umoufia is conflicted with a reoccurring outside western influence that poses as a threat against the normality of the custom-based society established within Umoufia in which psychologically effects his consciousness empowered over his fear of weakness; however, Okonkwo’s sense of identity before encountering western influence is to meet the expectations and customs established by the Umoufia clan. The cultural collision between the western influence and the Umoufia clan consequentially results in Okonkwo’s negative responses and violent motives which enforces a precedence of an unfortunate upbringing. Cultural collision is represented by the misinterpretation of individuals effected by the unwillingness to comprehend one’s cultural lifestyle and establishments thus establishes biased perspectives and opinions.…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The relationship between Gods and humans differs from play to play in ancient works. In the Odyssey the Gods ask mostly as guides and the human follow the Gods words. In Oedipus, however, the Gods give advice when asked but Oedipus attempts to act on free will in an effort to change his destiny. The Gods do seem to be in control the entire time though because in the end, Oedipus does not manage to outrun his fate.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “The Danger of a Single Story,” the author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, uses her speech and life story of growing up in Nigeria to examine stereotypes of cultures around the world. Adichie 's purpose of writing this speech was to show the dangers of a single story and how knowing only one story about an entire race of people is dangerous as it creates a negative connotation about that culture. It seems as though Adichi is presenting stereotypes to readers by explicitly describing their negatives, but actually, Adichi is uncovering the implicit dangers in stereotypes. Adichi explains how literature has the power to put danger in a single story.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Okonkwo, the protagonist of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, is the epitome of the self-made man. He starts from humble beginnings and turns himself into a successful farmer, wrestler, and warrior, propelled by a fear of seeming weak and womanish like his father, Unoko. At first, Okonkwo makes conscious behavioral choices as a reaction against Unoko, but over time, his desire for strength and masculinity becomes a subconscious personality trait and manifests itself in the way he reacts towards others. Eventually, Okonkwo’s impulsive actions bring about a great consequence, his suicide. This tragic end marks him as a victim of his own personal flaw, fear of effeminacy, which is the root cause of his personal transformation over the course…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian author whose universally appreciated novel, Things Fall Apart, provides a voice to an ill-treated and unrepresented culture. Things Fall Apart took place in Umuofia in the 1880’s, before and during the first arrival of European missionaries. Weary of reading westerner’s interpretations of how socially backward, illiterate, and uncivilized Africans were, Chinua Achebe wished to reveal a better insight of the Ibo culture and, in doing so, preserve the wellbeing of his continent. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart displays the natives of Africa with an appropriate level of complexity to contrast the Westerner’s overly-…

    • 1463 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Christian religion seemed to be prospering through the villages in eastern Nigeria and that caused discomfort to those who were against it. Okonkwo’s own son left the village to be part of the Christian movement and that angered Okonkwo to the point where he wouldn’t speak of his son.. Okonkwo’s wife however gave the reason to her son’s leaving to Obierika. The white men came and talked about their religious faith compared to the religious faith of Umuofia. An interpreter of the white man explained that, “All the gods that you have named are not gods at all.…

    • 1728 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The literary book “Things Fall Apart” is a well-written novel by Chinua Achebe about an ordinary Nigerian named Okonkwo and it explains how the impact of European colonization in his village significantly changed his life. Though this is the main idea, the novel also consists of many hidden messages which are shown through the interesting plot turns and literary devices. A theme that Achebe explores through the book is the role of men and women in the Igbo society and how certain customs are associated with each of them. The powerful personalities of the unique characters such as Ezinma, Ekwefi, and Nwoye, and the way that they reach out of their gender stereotypes is one of the main reasons that this piece of literature was so entertaining to read. While Ezinma and Nwoye’s actions and mindsets make them different from other children of the same gender, Ekwefi’s interests and mentality set her apart from other women as well.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the aunty insists that they do not follow the schedules their father enforced on them, Kambili describes how her mouth ‘felt dry, my tongue clinging to the roof’ to emphasise her anxiety at the thought of going against her father and further highlighting to the reader the power and influence he has over their household as Kambili feels as if it is only her ‘shadow’ visiting her aunty. Additionally, when the cousins begin to sing through the rosary, the severe rules impacted on them by their father are stressed as Jaja’s…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Blindly following ancient customs and traditions doesn’t mean that the dead are alive, but that the living are dead” (Ibn Khaldun). There are the benefits and costs that come along with any religion or custom, but as seen in the novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe demonstrates how the consequences of the customs of the Umuofia tribe outweigh the benefits. While many of the tribe members of Umuofia all follow the tribe’s customs, one member in particular who is well respected, lives by the village's customs especially by the rule of masculinity, his name is Okonkwo. As a child, Okonkwo grew up with a father who was seen by the village more as a woman than a man, and all because he showed his emotions and rather play the flute than fight.…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is one of the most prideful people. He believes in his values and his culture like no one else. When western colonization comes in and tries to change everyone’s culture to their own, Okonkwo does not take this lightly. Okonkwo is forced to take action on the people from the Western Colonization to try and save his culture. The main cultural conflicts for Okonkwo are; when his son, Nwoye, goes and joins the missionaries, when most of the village flocked to the new church since they did not rely on the Gods for power.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    As an African novel, “Arrow Of God” dwells on the problem of the postcolonial Nigerian society. The theme of the novel centers on the conflict between the African culture and the Western culture as well as the conflict between the Christian ideology and the Traditional religious doctrine . In the novel , The events begin with the political conflict between the two Nigerian neighboring regions of rural Igbo land: Umuaro and Okperi on their boarders to show superiority on each other and this conflict was solved with the interference of the civilized British colonizer ,which Okperi thought of as ideal model to be followed . While the British interference has played a vital role to put an end for the political conflict , the religious and the cultural conflict last till the end of the novel . Consequently , by the end of the whole novel , it was the triumph of Christianity after the death of Ulu ,the god of the traditional religion, which means the death of its religion.…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays