A Dance of the Forests by Wole Soyinka PDF

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A Dance of the Forests is one of Wole Soyinka's best-known plays. It was part of a celebration of Nigerian independence. Because it talked about political corruption in Nigeria at the time, many people in the country were angry at the play.

After going to school in England, Soyinka came...

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A Dance of the Forests by Wole Soyinka A Dance of the Forests is one of Wole Soyinka's best-known plays. It was part of a celebration of Nigerian independence. Because it talked about political corruption in Nigeria at the time, many people in the country were angry at the play. After going to school in England, Soyinka came back to Nigeria in 1959 to write this play, immersing himself in Yoruba folklore as a way to connect with his home country. Play: It's about a group of people who call on the spirits of the dead, hoping that these wiser spirits will help them. They are disappointed to learn that the spirits are just as petty and flawed as they are. On the occasion of Nigeria's independence, the play has been seen by many as a cautionary tale. It tells Nigerians to be critical and look for new ways to improve, and it tells them not to become complacent. It also serves as a metaphor for not getting too attached to pre-colonial Africa and being careful. "A Dance of the Forests" was one of the best things Soyinka ever did. When he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, it was said to be one of his best works. The play starts with a dead man and a dead woman coming out of the ground in the middle of a forest. Ask people who pass by to "take their case." Man and Woman were a captain and his wife in a previous life. They were tortured and killed by an Emperor named Mata Kharibu and his Queen, who was called Madame Tortoise. They were killed. There is a gathering of the tribes, and the dead man and his wife have come. Aroni, a god, sent them to the gathering with permission from the Forest Head, in place of the forefathers that the living have asked to join them. Adenebi, a court historian in the time of Emperor Mata Kharibu, is now a council orator. Agboreko was once a soothsayer for the Emperor, and now he's a carver, but he used to write poetry for the court. Demoke was once a poet for the court, and now he's a carver. Aroni has chosen these four people because he wants them to learn about their past lives and make up for their sins. It turns out that another character, Obaneji, is the Forest Head disguised as a human. He wants the characters to dance with the dead man and woman as a show of welcome. Eshuoro, a spirit who is looking for revenge for the death of Demoke's apprentice Oremole, comes and interrupts what is going on at the moment. In his storey, he says that Demoke killed him by pulling him off the top of an araba tree they were carving. This caused him to fall to his death, and he died. He stands up for Demoke against Eshuoro's claim. Ogun is the god of carvers. There was a fire that killed 65 of the 70 people in the town of Demoke. As the play goes on, we learn that the Dead Man was a soldier who led Karibu's men. Because Kharibu has taken the wife of the leader of the tribe, the soldier doesn't want to fight against another tribe. All of the characters from the early parts of the play are seen as Kharibu's court counsellors, even though they are from a long time ago. They don't help the soldier, who is castrated and sold as a slave. A pregnant wife of a soldier comes in at the end of the scene. I don't know how she dies. The audience will have to decide how.

With a petrol truck, people burn down the forests. You need to "pierce the hardened shells of habit and expose your original nakedness," says the Forest Head. This is what he tells you to do. It is clear to him now that he is going to fight on his own. When Demoke builds a totem, Eshuoro tells him to climb to the top. She then starts the totem on fire. They talk about what they've learned. The play starts with an introduction by Aroni, "the Lame One," who talks about the play's setting and tells us what we can expect. Soyinka makes a list of the characters and talks about them. The Dead Man was a captain in the army of Mata Kharibu. The Dead Woman was his wife. There is a prostitute named Rola. She used to be called Madame Tortoise, but that was a long time ago. In this storey, another character, Adenebi, is the court orator. He doesn't know that there are dead people. He used to work for the court as a history. Demoke, the Carver, used to be a poet in his old life. An old man who sacrificed himself for the Forest Head's sake is called "The Elder of the Sealed Lips." When the Forest Head is disguised, Obaneji, he looks like a person. It looks like Aroni has made the Dead Man and Woman "two spirits of the living dead." First, the Dead Woman pushes her head through the soil, then the Dead Man. In an empty spot in the forest, they both do this. People who are on stage say that the man is "fat and bloated." He is wearing traditional warrior clothes, and the woman is pregnant. Do not see each other. Adenebi comes in. Dead Man asks Adenebi for help as he walks by. Adenebi gets scared and runs away. There are a lot of questions for the Dead Woman and the Dead Man, because they think they should have been welcomed by the living. Obaneji comes in, looks at them, then leaves as well. "When you see a man hurrying, he has a lot on his back." This is what Demoke says to the Dead Woman when he comes in. Do you think I'm a waste of time if I'll take someone else's case for money or because I'm kind? When he asks her if she lived here once, she tells him she did. He says it was before his time and goes on his way. It's a good thing the Dead Man asks Rola to take his case. She agrees before realising that he is dead and becoming afraid of him. It was a bad idea for him to ask her for help when he was sick. She tells him that. The Dead Woman is sad that no one will help her, even though she was brought back to the world of the living. The Dead Man is ashamed of how Rola treated him. She says, "The world is big, but the dead are bigger." It's sad for the Dead Man and the Dead Woman to be stuck in this situation. The Dead Woman says that she has been carrying the child in her belly for more than 100 years. From afar, gunshots can be heard. The stage is then cleared, and the dead couple walks off. Rola, Adenebi, Obaneji, and Demoke all show up on the stage at the same time. Rola doesn't like the person who came into her house and said that she was her auntie. Adenebi talks about how important it is to have a "proper family life" and to have privacy. "This whole family business makes me sick." People should be free to live their own lives, says Rola. The group sits on rocks and tree trunks and fights, with Rola in favour of how the world works now. Invited people to the forest to dance as a show of welcome for a

dead man and dead woman. It's important that Demoke be in town on this day, because he carved a great totem. The other people are impressed with Demoke's carving of a totem in town, and they want to know why he isn't there to show off his work. During the meeting, Demoke tells them that before the area had been cleared out, he was asked to carve a tree. He didn't know that it was going to be used for the tribes' meeting. Adenebi doesn't understand why Demoke would leave, so she asks, "Have you no sense of history?" He wants to know why Adenebi came to the forest, and Adenebi tells him that he has a "weak heart." There is a sound of bells and shouts, and then a dead woman and a dead man return. There are two people who died. Rola wants Demoke to go with her, but he wants to find out more about the dead people. Obaneki takes Demoke and Rola, and they go on their own way without him. Follow them, but go back the way they came. Murete, a tree demon, wants to come out of a tree. Aroni comes in, and Murete runs away. Aroni hits a tree and Murete screams in pain. On today, when the forest head needed him the most, Murete didn't leave the woods. Aroni is angry with him. People are having more fun today, says Murete. It was Eshuoro who bit off the top of his tree. Murete told him this. To be at the feast to welcome the dead, Aroni tells Murete that he wants him there. Murete says that at the feast for the living, he'll drink millet wine. : "These rites for the dead. " Murete says, "I don't know why you're taking them on." He then says that he saw a group of four mortals in the woods. Aroni gets worried, so he calls Murete out of the tree and asks if he has seen the dead couple as well. Murete says he hasn't and that he only talked to Agboreko, the elder of Sealed Lips, about it. In this storey, Murete tells Aroni that the mortals are angry with him because he sent accusers instead of illustrious relatives. Aroni asks Murete when he last saw Ogun, the god of carvers. He mentions that one of the mortals is a carver, and that he doesn't want him to get in the way of what he wants to do. Telling Aroni that he hasn't seen Ogun, Murete says he can "go on his debauchery" when he's ready. When Aroni leaves and Murete gets back in the tree, Agboreko, the Elder of the Sealed Lips, comes in. He is dressed in white and carries a bowl of millet wine. In this case, Murete tells him to go away, and Agboreko does. Murete starts to drink some of the wine. When Ogun comes in, he pushes the wine bowl to his lips so he drinks more. So, Ogun takes advantage of Murete's drunkenness. When Murete points, Ogun says, "Where did the four people go?" Then, he asks if Demoke was there. Murete says that Ogun is Ogun, but Ogun says that he isn't, and that he was sent by Aroni. When Eshuoro's name is mentioned, Murete gets angry and passes out. It's time for Demoke, Obaneji, Adenebi, and Rola to come back in. They're gossiping about the dead man and the dead woman. They talk about how "Aroni" has taken over. That's when the guilty are afraid. In this video, Obaneji talks about the fact that he is a high-up clerk and knows many of the country's secrets. He says that he doesn't like how much he knows, but then he says that he also likes the fun side of record-keeping and that he loves passenger cars.

He tells them that the day before, an office worker took a bribe and put 70 people on a lorry that could only hold 40 people. It started to burn. Only five people made it. He tells him that he's the official Orator for the council. Adenebi says that it couldn't have been one of their trucks. Obaneji thinks Adenebi has some power and can help him find the person who took the bribe. Adenebi gets angry and says, "Have you no empathy for those who died?" "He's just a small-time criminal," says Obaneji. "He should be hanged." Rola says, "He's a thief." Obaneji says he'll put the man's name in small print when Rola says, "He should be hanged." As a carver, Demoke works with fire. He says he is not afraid of it, but he would never want to die by being burned. How would you like to die? When his friends ask him what would be the best way to die, his answer is to fall to his death from an even higher place and talk about his apprentice. he thinks that if he could pull his body up further than it would go, he would be willing for it to fall to his death after. It doesn't make sense for Demoke to say that. Obaneji then asks Adenebi how he would like to die, and Adenebi asks Obaneji the same question. Rola tells him, "Why don't you say it? You should." You're the kind of person who would rather die in bed. Because Obaneji is angry, he doesn't understand why that is something to be ashamed of He asks Rola how she would like to die, and she tries to kiss him quickly when he asks. Throws her off and Adenebi tells him off for being so rough. He says he's sorry for being violent, but then says, "I have a very bad reaction to being mauled by women." Because he didn't do more sexual things, Rola says he will die alone in his bed. When they ask him what his curse is, he says, "Recognition is it." She says she isn't to blame for anything like the overturned lorry when he asks for silence. When Obaneji asks for silence, she tells him to go to the graveyard. He responds that many of her ex-lovers must be buried there, but she doesn't believe him. "Doesn't she look like the kind of person that would make men go crazy and kill themselves?" he asks. When Demoke realises that Rola is Madame Tortoise, an infamous prostitute, she gets angry. As Rola weeps over the revelation of her identity, Adenebi says he doesn't like her. Demoke tells Adenebi that the totem he made was for Madame Tortoise, as the prostitute keeps getting a bad rap. In response to a man who killed another to get her attention, Rola says, "I have no regrets." She also says that she is no worse than a businessman. Do you cry to them when your businessmen do bad things to the less important people? She says this. In this scene, Demoke tells Rola that she doesn't look like her other face. He also wants Rola to look at his totem. Adenebi gets impatient with the way things are going and walks away in a rage. Dead Man and Dead Woman come in as he leaves. Demoke asks the Dead Man, who fell from the tree, if he is his old apprentice. Rola says that he isn't, but Demoke wants to know if he is guilty of killing the apprentice.

Demoke suddenly confesses that he killed his apprentice because he wanted to carve the top of the tree. Then he goes on a long monologue, in verse, about how he wanted to carve the top of the tree and killed his apprentice. After sending the apprentice to his death, Demoke was filled with creative ideas. Soon, Demoke's father calls out his name. In the beginning, Demoke leads the mortals away as Ogun comes in. Ogun says that he changed his voice to sound like Demoke's father and that he is desperate to find the human. This is what the man says: "I'm sorry for what happened to my apprentice. I think he was too proud and didn't show enough respect for Demoke." Ogun leaves the room as two Councillors and Demoke's father, an Old Man, come in and join them. Afterward, Adenebi comes in and asks if the Old Man and the Councillors are trying to catch "shady people." The Old Man tells him that they are just trying to get some people out of the way. This is madness, the Old Man tells Adenebi. They are trying to drive away the very people who are their guests, he says, and this is not right. Because of this, the Old Man says that Adenebi was in favour of this. Adenebi says that they talked about bringing back "the descendants of our great forebears...let them represent all that is noble in our country." He says that "the guests we were sent are slaves and henchmen," but he doesn't say that they were slaves. They have only come to weaken us. To tell us how low we are. She tries to convince the Old Man that their guests would have been beautiful if they had put on a show to welcome them. Then, she says that Demoke's totem is "pagan." The Councillor comes in and talks about the dead couple. People who died have been taken under the wing of Aroni. Agboreko told the Old Man that. His next words are: "...and they are very close to her." Because I don't know. To answer the Old Man's question, Agboreko tells him he doesn't know, and that Murete won't tell him. People who say Agboreko thinks that Aroni is wisdom itself. The only thing that can stop him is if he wants to show how weak people are. And he knows how to spend his time. The Old Man wants to know if Oremole is one of the dead. Agboreko tells him that he is not, but the Old Man doesn't believe him. ...Would the other people say bad things about him? The Old Man wants to know, and Agboreko says he doesn't know what to do. One of the Councillors says that there is still hope, because the Forest Father hasn't spoken yet and there is a chance that Aroni is just acting on his own. Everybody stares at Adenebi when he asks who the Forest Father is. They don't answer. In order to find out more from Murete, Agboreko goes to try to find out more from her. He tells the Old Man that he was with Demoke. It turns out that Adenebi saw two dead people who he called "those crazy people you see everywhere." That's not all. He also says that the woman he was with was called Madame Tortoise. It looks like the Old Man thinks that Eshuoro was the fourth person in their group, and that he led them all to their death. A servant of Oro was killed. Then the Old Man

says, "A servant of Oro was killed." Nothing will be done until we are all covered in blood, so nothing will stop. For Agboreko: The Old Man calls for him. Agboreko rushes into the room, where he tries to tell him about the two dead people who want people to represent them. People start to get scared that Adenebi is like the other mortals and that he will be punished for his past crimes. In a procession, the beaters (one with a whip), the dancer, an acolyte, a dirge-man, and an assistant come in. They give Agboreko a divination board and a bowl with kernels in them. They go through a divination ritual, and the Old Man isn't happy with what they find. They keep going through the ritual, which includes a dance that is part of it. In time, they become more and more nervous, until they panic and run away in fear. Adenebi calls out to his fellow humans, while forest creatures and forest spirits are around him. Adenebi says, "I have always been afraid of being lost." Obaneji, Rola, and Demoke all come back in. Obaneji asks him if he knows who "burned out 65 souls." Then Obaneji tells Adenebi that he is going to the welcoming of the dead, and after hesitating for a while, Adenebi joins him off the stage and walks with him. When Murete is at home, about to go to a party, he cleans his nails on a tree's bark. This is part 2. When Eshuoro comes in, Murete's neck is grabbed and he's told not to tell anyone that he saw Aroni. Asked Murete if it was the day for the dead to be welcomed. Murete said it was. says, "I know they want conquerors, and Aroni has sent them accusers because he knew they wouldn't welcome them." Because Eshuoro didn't get a welcome, Murete knows that Eshuoro plans to turn it into "a bloody sentence." In Murete's words: The Forest Father should be called. Tells Murete that Aroni is planning to let the four mortals go after they're welcomed by the dead. Eshuoro says he wants to stop it. When Murete protests, Eshuoro says, "Not by my hand. I didn't do it." Humans always do bad things to their own heads. Who can stop them? Eshuoro tells Murete that, out of all the sons of the Forest Father, he has been treated the worst by a person. Because of the totem that Demoke made in town, and because the apprentice fell from it, Eshuoro is upset. Murete tells him to talk to the Forest Father about it. "His axe cut off my head!" Eshuoro screams. Murete doesn't care about Eshuoro's anger, saying that he's disrespectful of art in general. Eshuoro tries to hit him with a branch, so Murete runs away from the scene. Eshuoro gives a long and passionate speech about how he will get back at the people who cut down his tallest tree. In a different part of the forest, there is a Forest Crier and a lot of forest ghosts. Asked for help, he asks for help from the spirits and people who live in the forest. He also asks for help from the Forest Father, who can "unveil phantasmagoria of characters from the dead." Forest Head and Aroni come in. The Forest Head and Aroni talk about how they can control the four people who live on Earth. "They didn't think you were bad." What does the Forest Head say to Aroni? "Nothing. I don't know." In order to keep my identity a secret and make them accept my aloofness, I gave them dark clues about what I was like. It held everyone but the

woman. If Eshuoro can find them, Aroni tells Forest Head that he's set up a trail for him to follow. It makes Forest Head happy. "If the child needs a fright, then the mother must call the witch." They will travel back eight centuries to the court of Mata Kharibu, who led an empire. Forest Head says that now they will go back to that time. After Aroni makes a circle with his hand, the stage turns into the court. For Mata Kharibu, there are two thrones: one for him and one for his queen, Madame Tortoise. An African guitar is being played by a page. The King is angry and mocking at the same time, while Madame Tortoise is cruel in another way. Across the street, the court poet (who was Demoke in a previous life) stands with a scribe, who is also there. Court poet: When Madame Tortoise says that she's sad, he says that sadness is noble and that he hopes the queen's sadness will cover her. She says she has lost her canar...