How Does Baroka Seduce Sidi, and what is the result of it in “The Lion and the Jewel”?

Answer

 How does Baroka seduce Sidi, and what is its result in “The Lion and the Jewel”?

The African author Wole Soyinka (1934-present), in his famous play “The Lion and the Jewel” (1962), depicts various strange African traditions. Baroka, the village chief, keeps many wives and finally attempts to seduce beautiful Sidi using various cunning tactics.

Tactics of seducing Sidi: According to tradition, Baroka sends his head wife, Sadiku, with the marriage proposal to Sidi. Sidi refuses the proposal. She says,

Sadiku,

Compare my image and your lord’s

An age of difference!

Then Sadiku tells her about Baroka’s impotence. She invites her to supper with Baroka. But Sidi is aware of Baroka’s tricks. She says,

Every woman who has supped with him one night,

Becomes his wife or concubine the next.

Sidi hears about Baroka’s impotence from Sadiku. So, she finally agrees to have dinner with Baroka. Sidi wishes to mock him. But going to their house, Sidi finds Baroka engaged in wrestling as his daily exercise. After finishing his wrestling event, he tries to attract Sidi by explaining his plan to modernize the village. Being delighted at his plan, Sidi has been seduced.

The outcome of it: Baroka, the village chief of 62, seduces Sidi and takes away her virginity. Sidi intends to marry him. She ignores her other modern lover, Lakunle, as she believes that women should marry only those who take away their chastity. She asks Lakunle,

I could endure the touch of another man?

This is the outcome of Baroka seducing Sidi. 

Superstition holds a very acute position in African society. Despite being a beautiful girl, Sidi marries Baroka, an old man of sixty-two. Sidi marries Baroka only for her belief in the existing tradition. Her decision to marry Baroka is the mere outcome of the concept of chastity.