What are the Literary Devices in The Lion And The Jewel

Dramatic Technique / Literary Devices Of The Lion And The Jewel

 Playwright's Style 

The playwright uses a lot of stylistic means to beautify his play in order to make it artistic and memorable  

1. Poetic use of wordsThe play's language is written in both prosaic and poetic constructions. Sadiku largely speaks in but Baroka, Lakunle and Sidi utter what appears to be poetry, in short, concise lines, musical and elevated language. When Baroka speaks, his royalty is not indoubt. He commands respect and everybody calls him, 'Kabiyesi,' 'Baba,' etc. In full majesty he calls Lakunle, "Akowe. Teacher wa. Misita Lakunle" and begins to chat him up with authority. Lakunle uses images to bamboozle Sidi who is not as educated as himself, especially when he asks her to forget the bride price. Read what looks like his Jove manifesto on pages 36-38, although this makes little sense to Sidi, Sidi in reality seems to have conducted her responses to both Lakunle and Baroka in Yoruba since she had not gone to school: "Out of my way, book-nourished shrimp./Do you see what strength he has given me?/That was not bad. For a man sixty/lt was the secret of God's own draught/A deed for drums and ballads" (pp. 63-64). 

 ALLUSION

A part from the occasional reference to the Bible by Lakunle, he himself as a character seems to have been an allusion to Bambuiu, the enigmatic village school teacher in Ene Henshaw's older book, This is our Chance, a plays, cripted in 1945 and published in 1956, Lakunle is a Bambulu character, glowing in bombastic English, whether or not his listener understands him. Which iswhy Sidi describes him as a "book-nourished shrimp." When she insiststhat her bride price must be paid so she can have respect among fellow villagers, he bursts out in a running-tap drawl of grammar: "A savage custom, barbaric, outdated,/Rejccted,denounced, accursed,/Excommunicated, archaic, degrading,/Humiliating, unspeakable, redundant,"etc. In some of his loud English, Lakunle refers to the Bible, using a pulpitdeclamatory language: "And the man shall take the woman/And the two shall be together/As one flesh" (Page.8), At the height of his wooing Sidi, he cries, "My Ruth, my Rachel, Esther, Bathsheba/Thou sum of fabled perfections/From Genesis to Revelations' (p. 20). Lakunle is pouring encomiums on Sidi which homage terms she may not have understood. Even the inclusion of 'Bathsheba' among the virtuous women in the Bible is odd and strange because Bathsheba does not belong to this category of women.  he seems to have remembered David's concubine's name and included it since he is sure Sidi will never discover the anomaly. There is as well Lakunle's idealism in referring to Sidi's fate in the hands of Baroka as 'this trial is my own.... It is my cross. ..' (p. 60) in which he portrays himself as a Jesus bearing his own grief.  

Mimes as flashbacks 

A mime a form of acting without words. In this play, mimes serve as flashbacks to times and events pastare relevant and related to the present. There are the miming of the photographer, the motorbike, the car, the surveyor, dance of virility, how civilization was deferred in Ilujinle through the exchange ofa bribe, etc.The "Stranger," a photographer acted by Lakunle, at a sudden signal from the Bale is thrown down prostrate on his face by the villagers. Although he had tried to call the villagers' bluft, after his being thrown, the Chief begins to show sympathy. Baroka orders dry clothes for the Photographer, sits him on his right and orders a feast in his honour. "The photographer begins to 'take' of' the party attcndccs and at a time he begs the Chief to send for Sidi. We are informed that the tranger "arranges, Sidi in all sorts of magazine postures and takes innumerable photographs of her this happened in the past but the mime serves as a recall. Similarly, the devil-horse (motor car) by four girls, marking, the visitor's (Iakunle's) entry into Ilujinle. The girls mime the Lakunle clowns the driving motions. With the furious beating of the drums, and the car is meant move faster and faster. There is a crash of drums and "the girls quiver and dance the stall" and the "stalling wheels" give a corresponding shudder finally as when a car is having problems with starting. The driver is Lakunle who 'climbs' out of the 'car' and "looks underneath it" All these are contrived in mines meant to reflect the past. The major "character" recalling these incidents is lakunle plays the roles of photographer, Stranger, the driver, retain the number of characters and avoid the bloating up of the membership of the cast. 

 Suspense and surprise 

 There is one major suspense in the play, but it controls the play's later flow as the audience wantg know what happens later. This suspense has to do with Baroka's sudden revelation of impotence to his first wife, Sadiku, Immediately he gets to tell her this development, she fails to reason into it but  quickly goes to dance with the women for tiring the Lion, The Bale uses Sadiku without her knowing, His purpose is to enable Sidi to let her guards down. Although she had earlier turned down Baroka's invitation to supper, the revelation of the ruler's sexual failure makes her reconsider the Old man's request. Sidi simply wants to mock the Bale and to show that her beauty is not meant for "the hindquarters of a lion" whom she says is "spent." We want to know who of the two Baroka and Sidi will win the 'contest'. We also want to know how Lakunle takes the outcome of Sidi's defilement. An allied surprise results from Sidi who rather than get angry ather discovery and probably be unhappy with Sadiku for her rumour-mongering would rather have nothing to do with Lakunle, the younger fellow: "Mamy who-..? You thought...Did you really think that you, and I.../Why, did you think that after him/l could endure the touch of another man?" Everybody is taken un awaresas she (Sidi) will not "choose a watered down,/A beardless version of un ripened man" (p. 63).

 Time -- Setting of morning, noon and night 

Although the play's events took many years to occur, in the play the playwright wants all the activities to take place in a day — morning, noon and night ('unity .of time'). The play in truth can only happen within three hours but it is presented as if it happened on a particular day. The parts of the day seem to be symbolic. Morning represents innocence and extreme youthfulness; it is the period of Lakunle's sentimental love for Sidi; their love seems to be platonic and aromanticization of ideal love where sex does not come in at all. Morning in the play also recalls a story of adventure, discovery and drunkenness. Noon is a cushion or shield between morning and night. It presages danger; and it is an indication of the cloud to come. For instance, the message of love from Baroka to Sidi hints of doom because the difference is clear between the two people. Then she quickly declines Baroka's offer, and not long after decides to accept the old man's invitation. It is at noon that Baroka's bribing off of civilization from the white surveyor is mimed for purposes of revealing the past, and also showing how the lion wants only him to exploit whatever goodies to befound in his village. Finally, night symbolizes intrigue. The fresh air of morning is no more, light is gone and instead the lights now are artificial and deceptive. There is a rumour of Baroka's concocted impotence. Only he knows this is not true. Sadiku is fooled and the mock duel between Baroka and his wrestler at which the Bale wins foretells that in the contestof will between Sidi and Baroka the latter will overcome. Thus the grand design to ensnare Sidi is achieved and Lakunle who detests bride price losesout.

 Dances and songs 

Yoruba dances and songs abound in the play It is an indication that the setting is culturally reflected. Even to draw the attention of Lakunle upon getting to his school, two pupils make a buzzing noise at Sidi, "repeatedly clapping their handsacross the mouth." Before now thepupils were chanting the multiplication table of 'Three times two are six,' 'Three times three are nine,' etc. Sidi's chant on Page 14 is taken up by all and "they begin to dance round Lakunle, speaking the words in a fast rhythm."  

There are a clap of drums, soft throbbing drums, "gradually swellingin volume." We are told that the drums gain tempo until there is a crash of drums. There is full use of 'gangan' and 'iya ilu' types of At the mime involving Lakunle who is now drunk on the local brew "two drummers.- Insist on dancing round him." The mime offelled trees, swinging matchetes, log-dragging, etc. all take place to the rhythm of the work gang's metal percussion (rod on gong etc.). There are song leaders raising choruses of such songs as 'N'ijo itoro,' 'Amuda el'ebe l'aiya;' 'Gbeje on'ipa,' etc. One of the mimed songs is 'N'ijo itoro' which is a song of the 1940s, popularized by prisoners engaged in manual labour such as grass cutting. One of the mimes, the third one in fact, is theDance of Virility. It is a performance of Baroka's sexual life until he announces his impotence. The sexuality of his youthfulness is marked by athletic dance movements promoted by the vigorous beating of the bala drums which does not last long because it is energy-sapping. Surprisingly, the virility dance is done by Sadiku who is in her seventies. Intermittently, there is music or drumming or fluting, box-guitars, 'sekere' instrument, etc. On Page 62, there is a singing group. On Pag e. 64, musicians resume their tune while Sidi sings and dances. She sings 'Mo te' ni Mo te' ni' while the crowd repeats Tolani Tolani' after Sidi. Earlier, when Baroka throws his sparring wrestler, Sidi shouts "You won. You won!" and breaks into a shoulder dance and sings, "Yokolu Yokolu" (Page 44). All ofthe play is filled with moments of dance and songs to reflect the Yoruba culture and way of life. 

Irony

An irony is the use of words or situations with a humorous or satirical objective in mind and to havean outcome which is directly opposite of what is said or what is expected. It can also mean saying one thing and meaning another or uttering two things and meaning neither. Ironies are associated with comic plays, which is why irony is the bedrock of the present play. The entire play is founded on one big irony within which  there are some minor ironies. It is an irony when an old man of Baroka's ages natches a young girl (Sidi) from ayoung man (Lakunle). It is also an irony when a young girl (Sidi) goes to an old man (Baroka) who is said to have lost his virility with the intention to mock him, but returns ready to the so-called impotent man while rejecting the young man who ordinarily should have been better qualified. Where as Sidi will not marry Lakunle because he (Lakunle) does not want to pay the bride price, she moves her things to Baroka's house without demanding that her bride price be paid. It is likely that Sadiku's revelation of Baroka's secret to Sidi is meant to discourage her and justify her (Sidi's) rejection of the old man without her knowing that it would engender in the younger woman the urge to find out. We hold this view because younger women who went into Baroka's women's quarters tended to alienate her (Sadiku) as theold man's attention would centre on his newer wives. Another Irony the play is Lakunle thinking that because Sidi has been defiled by Baroka shewill now be his the aqking without realizing that Sidi has been given a new boost of energy which she had never experienced before: "Marry who.. ? You thought... Why did you think that after him,/l could endure the touch Of another man?" (p. 63) Sidi goes on to praise the Lion: "That was not bad. For a man of sixty,/lt the ofGod's own draught" (p. 63), Sidi mistakes her publicized beauty as evidence of power and the Lion, a man of power, her equal or even infierior. However, beauty is not strength. Instead it tnakes the "jewel" more auractive for which a snare is put on her way. Witness Sidi's use of two metaphors next to the other "l am that winkle of a jewel"/But he is the hind-quarters of a lion". (p 23 While she says this, she does not seem to realire that a lion retmains an animal of power until is dead. Take notice of Sidi's scream of ' 'YOU won. You won!"(p. 44) when Baroka throws his wrestler, This is ironical because she does not seem to know at. this point that Barok'a will 'throw' her and win hand in marriage. Even as Lakunle and Baroka are opposed in their ways,the former assures Sidi that they are not enemies. He tells Sidi, I do find/Your school teacher and I are much alike" him, "the haste of youth... The school teacher/And i, must learn one from the other" (p, 54), This must be an irony because where as it had always appeared as if Baroka and Lakunle had been enemies, the old man says he needs him (Lakunle) in his concept of progress because 'old wine thrives best/Within a new bottle.The coarseness/ls mellowed down, and the rugged wine/Acquircs a full and rounded body..." (p. 54). 

Personification

  I thought the world was mad. Pg 28

  My armpit still weeps blood. pg 39

  My beard tells me you have been a pupil… pg 47

  Sidi, my love will open your mind. pg 6

  Can the stones bear to listen to this? Pg 6

  The village is on holiday, you fool. Pg 14

  And my images have taught me all the rest. pg 21

  Our thoughts fly crisply through the air. Pg 53

  It is only the hair upon his back which still deceives the world. Pg 54

  The words refuse to form. pg 59

  Earth open up and swallow Lakunle. Pg 60

       Simile

  Like a snake he came at me, like a rag he went back. Pg32

  Must every word leak out of you as surely as the final drops of mother’s milk pg 35.

  Sulking like a slighted cockroach. Pg 39.

  But you are as stubborn as an illiterate goat. Pg 2

  And you must chirrup like a cockatoo pg 7

  And her hair is stretched like a magazine photo. Pg 9

  The thought itself would knock you down as sure as wine. Pg 13

  He seeks to have me as his property. Pg 21

  His face is like a leather piece. Pg 22

  I’ll come and see you whipped like a dog pg 55

  She took off suddenly like a hunted buck. Pg 61

               Metaphor

  Sadiku my faithful lizard. Pg 47

  Sidi will not make herself a cheap bowl for the village spit. Pg 7

  Romance is the sweetening of the soul. Pg 10

  You’d be my chattel, my mere property. Pg 8

  The jewel of Ilujinle. pg 21

  I am the twinkle of a jewel while he is the hind quarters of a lion. Pg 23

  Hence parasites, you‘ve made a big mistake. Pg 62

  Baroka is a creature of the wilds pg. 58

               Sayings

  If the snail finds splinters in his shell he changes house. Why do you stay? Pg 6 

  Shame belongs only to the ignorant.Pg 5

  The woman gets lost in the woods one day and every wood deity dies the next. pg 42

  If the tortoise cannot tumble it does not mean that he can stand. pg 42

  When the child if full of riddles, the mother has one water-pot the less. pg 42

  Charity begins at home. pg 52 (proverb)

  A man must live or fall by his true principles pg 61

  Until the finger nails have scraped the dust, no one can tell which insect released his bowls. Pge 43 

  Old wine thrives within a new bottle p 54

             Symbolism

  Lion – the king (the Bale -Baroka)

  Jewel – beautiful girl (the Belle - Sidi)

  Honey tongue (Sadiku of the honey tongue pg 20)

  Sadiku’s unopened treasure-house –virginity. Pg32

  Okiki came withhis rusted key- an old male sexual organ Pg32

  Devil’s own horse – motorbike.

  One-eyed box – camera.

  Baroka’s picture next to the village latrine – he is corrupt and filthy.

             Oxymoron

Inside out. pg 5

Upside down. pg 5

              Exaggeration

  When the whole world knows the madman of Ilujinle. Pg 3

  You really mean to turn the whole world upside down. Pg 5