Book Review- The Lion and The Jewel

The lion and the Jewel is a playwright written by Nobel Prize Laureate, Wole Soyinka. The play captures the story involving four characters – Sidi, Lakunle, Baroka, and Sadiku.

The narrative hinges on an unusual love-triangle. Lakunle is a schoolteacher who wants to marry Sidi but refuses to pay a bride-price for her, ostensibly because it is one of many outdated practices of the Yoruba people that do not match his civilised opinions. Sidi, the “jewel” of the title, seems to return Lakunle’s affection but is constantly angered by his condescension towards her as an “uneducated bush girl” and by his highfalutin phrasemaking. Moreover, her sense of self-worth according to “traditional” criteria for desirability as a bride-to-be is (ironically) increased by her prominence in a recently-published book of photographs taken by a visitor to the village.

When the bale or autocratic head of the village, Baroka seeks a new bride to add to his harem, Sidi’s growing reputation makes her the most eminent candidate. Sidi rejects his proposal – more out of egotism than fidelity to Lakunle or opposition to a polygamous system – but when she hears that Baroka is impotent, she decides to pretend that she will accept him, in order to taunt him when he is unable to perform in bed.

Not for nothing is “the lion”, Baroka, also known as “the fox”, for he has cunningly circulated a false rumour about “the end of his manhood” in order to lure Sidi to his bedroom, where he seduces her (or is it rape?). When Lakunle hears of this, he despairs – until her realises that Sidi, who is no longer a maiden, does not merit a bride-price. Thus, he thinks, the barrier to their marriage has been removed; and he asks her again to marry him. But Sidi, impressed by (or scared of) Baroka’s physical prowess, chooses instead to marry the chief.

Soyinka’s language is rich and unabashedly lyrical. It abounds in imagery, digressive soliloquising and verbal flourishes, marking his style off from the terse “realist.

The staging is dynamic, with a multi-level set dominated in the centre by a wire baobab tree rising suggestively above and behind Baroka’s bed.

Ultimately, it seems that the urban corrupts the rural. Sidi becomes proud and disdainful when she sees her image printed in a book. The Christian Bible provides no better moral compass than “pagan” West African gods such as Sango.

But here the justification of the “old ways” breaks down. Baroka is comical in his obsession with still being able to father children at a ripe old age. We hardly feel sorry that this once-great “big man of Africa” has lost his manhood.

That Baroka is finally able to “wow” Sidi with his virility and potency, to obtain her as a wife by a show of force (foreshadowed by his wrestling match with a servant), does little but perpetuate male-female relations that are built on deceit and sexual realpolitik. 

What are the lessons learned from the lion and the jewel?

Firstly, it is obvious that most people who claim to be modern or civilized do not actually understand the fundamentals of things. Like Lakunle for example, he believed that traditional bride price is a thing that objectifies the woman into a property of the man; and with that notion, the opportunity of having Sidi as a wife was never utilized.

As a matter of fact, it is not wrong to affirm that foolishness has been instilled into the consciousness of most Africans with the crusade of modernization. And obviously, Lakunle represents one of those.

Secondly, the misfortune that is most likely to embrace those that places vanity before integrity was portrayed. And this one here is with regards to Sidi.

Undoubtedly, if not for the fact that Sidi’s vanity was played on, she wouldn't have been a victim of rape. If integrity was actually one of those principles guarding the sanctum of her mind, she would have repelled the enticement of Baroka. However, this was not the case.

Lastly, it was made known to understand that due to circumstances, the majority of people don’t usually end up with their intended. And disappointment often drives them into the arms of another. As this was the case with both Lakunle and Sidi.

In the final analysis, the Lion and the Jewel is, by all means, an evergreen classic which holds the fondness of readers and lovers of literature as one of the most popular works of Wole Soyinka.

Indeed, the lion and the jewel is a unique expression of art.

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