Summary

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pay a bride-price for her, ostensibly because it is one of many outdated practices of the Yoruba people that do not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 civilized 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 realizes 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.

These schoolgirls are not innocents, however; they taunt Lakunle, and they take a cruel pleasure in narrating his
downfall. In fact, the story they tell should not really be rendered comically and, despite the strengths of this
particular production, towards the end of the play I found myself disappointed with Soyinka’s views about
gender as implemented onstage.

Ultimately, irrespective of whether the “traditional” or the “modern” prevails, the play appears to take
patriarchy for granted. At first, when Lakunle uses his “book learning” to defend chauvinist principles, his
arrogance is undercut by his bumbling speeches. The “ignorant” Sidi matches him argument for argument, and it
seems that traditional ways are vindicated: perhaps it is a good thing that neither roads nor railways reach the
little village of Ilunjile, bringing with them the false enlightenment of the city (Lagos or London).

Likewise, 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.