Manifestations of Double Consciousness in Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, The Lion and the Jewel, and The Invention

Date

2023-8

Author

Kutluk, Aslı

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This study explores three of Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka's plays—Death and the King's Horseman (1975),The Lion and the Jewel (1963), and The Invention (1959), respectively—in terms of manifestations of double consciousness. Double consciousness as defined by W.E.B. Du Bois at the beginning of the twentieth century is shown to resonate in and through contemporary postcolonial theories, most significantly in concepts explored by Stuart Hall and Homi K. Bhabha, where it is shown to encompass a broader set of concepts and ideas. The expanded understanding of double consciousness provides a conceptual framework for this study and covers certain colonial and postcolonial themes and terms—some of them indebted to Du Bois—such as the colour line, the veil, second sight, ambivalence, mimicry, hybridity, cultural identity, positioning, and race as a floating signifier. This thesis argues and demonstrates how double consciousness, that appears in a variety of ways, can be observed in its various manifestations in Soyinka's plays. This study finds that Soyinka's earlier plays condense a great number of themes relevant to double consciousness and political contexts, whereas they are explored more individually in later plays. Presenting analyses of the plays in reverse chronological order allows for a structural sequencing while also demonstrating—through retrospect—Soyinka's development as a playwright.

Subject Keywords

Soyinka, Du Bois, double consciousness, postcolonial drama, cultural positioning

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/105128

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Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis