A Study Of Satire In The Plays Of Wole Soyinka

This is a relatively deep study of satire on the stage plays of Wole Soyinka, Thisessay introduces us to a wide range of Soyinka’s satirical literature-from the gentle satireof A Dance to the Forest to the acrid and explosive type in The lion and the Jewel.Basically it deals with satire as an instrument of criticism. The chapter concludes theconceptual, theoretical and etymological framework of satire as an institution in thesociety and as a genre in literature. It concentrates on Soyinka, as an African satirist, Hisrevolutionary tendencies and the influence of Western and traditional African satire on hisworks. The essay treats the satirical exposures of the social-political institutions in Africa.While it also deals in the main with satirical plays which use comedy as A Dance of theForest. The whole research evaluates and assesses the contributions of Soyinka as asatirist. Accusations that mentioned by critics against satire’s inability to purge society ofevil, and accusations of complexity and obscurity against Soyinka as a satirist, are dulyexamined.By using Literature Analysis Method this paper devoted to analyze the part of WoleSoyinka’s play. Since the plays are divided into two different types, comedy and tragedy,the paper are analyzed based on two typical works, The lion and the Jewel and A Dance tothe Forest. Besides, the paper sets Satire as the basis and plays as the sources, which by nomeans has certain theoretical values and academic significance.This article is divided into six chapters. The first chapter introduces the researchbackground, as well as the academic significance and purpose. The second chapter mainlyincludes the literature review, at the sam etime, it also induces the satire study based on thesatire origin and development. What’s more, it also introduces the foreign research ofsatire and domestic research about Wole Soyinka. In the third chapter, the paper presentsthe influence of traditional satire on Soyinka’s work. By examining the specific influencesuch as theme and language to see the way the traditional theory influence Soyinka’s plays.The fourth and fifth chapter analyze respectively from two kinds of plays, comedy andtragedy, combined with social and political morphological status, these two chaptersdiscuss the satire and the deep meaning within the plays. As for the conclusion chapter,chapter six pointed out that Soyinka’s satire serves as a weapon of promoting social andpolitical change. That’s why his plays have a profound literary and social meaning.