In this post, we will be looking at the Character Analysis of Sidi in The Lion and The Jewel, the role and function of Sidi in The Lion and The Jewel, and also answer the most asked questions about Sidi:
How is Sidi presented in Lion and the Jewel?
Why is Sidi called the jewel?
Sidi is one of the main characters of Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel. She is the heroine who is the protagonist of the show. Contrary to Lakunle, who’s a character that is fixed, Sidi is dynamic in the sense that she was subject to changes throughout the play.
Who is Sidi in The Lion and the Jewel?
Sidi has been described as the village belle. She has a stunning beauty that draws a large part of the male world (Lakunle, Baroka and the Stranger) to her. At the beginning of the play, Sidi is shown with a pot of water on her head as she returns from the stream. Sidi is being questioned by Lakunle the teacher from the village who, we learned, is making advances toward her. She fights back against Lakunle’s bizarre ways of thinking and behaviour, all in the context that it’s “modernism”.
In the beginning, she’s eager to get married Lakunle but only if he agrees to be willing to pay her wedding cost. However, Lakunle insists that he will not be able to pay the bride’s price. Thus, Sidi withholds her willingness and declines to marry Lakunle.
Sidi is a bit self-conscious after the publication of the magazine, which showcases her beautiful features with glossy pictures. Her self-esteem is so high and she begins to believe that she is above Lakunle (a normal village instructor) or Baroka (whose adorable photo is displayed side-by-side with the village’s latrine) in terms of social significance. The pictures of her have reached Lagos. Therefore, she is more important than any other person in Lagos.
Baroka expressed his desire for her via Sadiku but she rejects Baroka’s marriage plan. Baroka then tricks Sadiku and Sidi to believe that he was now impotent. Sidi takes Baroka’s bait and, in the end, she is thrown into Baroka’s bed, where the elder man uses his slyness and love for words to snuff out her pride, her virginity.
She is crying and then runs back in search of Lakunle as well as Sadiku. The duo is blown away by the incident. After Lakunle learned of the incident to Sidi his affection for Sidi decreases. He decides to take her as she is since her virginity loss will be a way to save him from the cost of a bride regardless. Sidi however, thinks differently. She plans to get married to Baroka. She has experienced the strength of an old man and is not willing to submit herself to the shame of a shrimp that has been fed by books, like Lakunle. She took Lakunle as a complete surprise after she has gotten rid of Lakunle’s glossy publication and made public her decision to get married to Baroka.
