The Lion and the Jewel

Drama | Wole Soyinka
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Write a short note on Bride Price. 

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Write a short note on Bride Price Bride Price is money or gifts a groom pays to the bride bride s family to marry her It is an important tradition in the village of Ilujinle where Soyinka s play The Lion and the Jewel is set This custom causes conflict in the play In the play two people want to marry Sidi the village beauty One of them is Lakunle a young schoolteacher Lakunle hates old customs He loves Sidi but refuses to pay her bride price He calls it savage and thinks it treats women like property Lakunle thinks paying bride-price for a wife is like buying a cow from the village market Lakunle says To pay the price would be To buy a heifer off the market stall But Sidi disagrees She feels the bride price gives her respect and value If Lakunle does not pay people might

mock her as cheap or worthless Another man who wants to marry Sidi is the village chief Baroka Baroka is cunning He uses tradition village customs to his benefit Though he has many wives he wants Sidi too Baroka tricks Sidi and rapes her It creates a situation where she agrees to marry him For Baroka the bride price is not just a payment it is a way to show power and keep his status as a leader Wole Soyinka uses Bride Price in the play to show the conflict between tradition and modernization Bride Price gives women value in society but also limits their freedom as they are treated as property which we can buy rather than individuals In Ilujinle women are treated as property

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Wole Soyinka
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from The Lion and the Jewel