Sidi’s Attitude Towards Bride Price in “Lion and the Jewel”.

Answer

Analyze Sidi’s attitude towards bride price.

Or, why does Sidi refuse to marry Lakunle without the 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” (1959) is set.  Sidi does not want to marry Lakunle without the bride price because, she thinks, marrying without the bride price would make her “cheap” and “worthless” in the village.

The bride price is a matter of pride for women in the village. Women are valued by paying the bride price. Lakunle, the schoolteacher, does not like this tradition. He believes the bride price is old-fashioned. 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:

“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. Sidi refuses to marry Lakunle without her bride price. She believes marrying without her bride price would make her a laughing object in the village. She tells Lakunle:

“Will you make me

A laughing-stock?”

Sidi also feels that Lakunle does not truly love her. He calls her “ignorant” and “illiterate goat” and tries to change her. He also forces kisses on her, which she finds disgusting. 

For these reasons, Sidi refuses to marry Lakunle without a bride price. She wants to be respected, and she wants her marriage to follow the traditions of her village. Sidi refuses Lakunle because the bride price is not just money for her—it is about honor.