Sidi tries to be quite intelligent by making remarks that counter act another persons. However, Baroka and Sadiku trick Sidi into marrying Baroka and becoming his youngest wife. Even Sidi’s crafty tongue and language usage is no match of intelligence that Baroka possesses. Baroka uses Sidi’s vanity to manipulate her into thinking that she can have her head on the village’s stamp, so that she would be the figurehead. Naturally Sidi is entranced by this thought and complies with him. Baroka knows that Sidi likes to be told how beautiful she is, and if he could harness this desire, then seducing her would become much easier. After he manages to seduce her, Sidi feels tricked and disgusted and does not want anything to do with the Bale either. She does however know that because she has slept with the Bale, she is no longer a virgin and therefore stays with Baroka as his latest addition to his wives. Sidi also decides to stay with the Bale, due to tradition, which she strongly believes in i.e. the Bale has the ‘Belle’ or in this case the ‘Lion’ has the ‘Jewel’.
Lakunle
Lakunle is classified as a ‘stranger’ to the village because of his western ideas. This is also reflected in the dance that occurs just before ‘noon’. Lakunle is a schoolteacher in the village, which is already a sign that his western ideas are slowly trying to creep them into the village, by educating his students in a way that a westerner would.
His ideas are quite opposite to those of Sidi. Lakunle is more into change whereas Sidi is more conservative and tends to stick to tradition. To show Lakunle’s western ideas, he mentions ‘breakable plates’, which probably had been mentioned before in the village. Also when Lakunle proposes to Sidi, he is quoting words he has read in popular English books about marriage, which shows that the language that he speaks, comes from books and is not what he really wants to express to Sidi. This shows that he is an outsider and not able to communicate properly with Sidi and fit in with their society.
Lakunle does warm kindly to Baroka and fears him. His fear is expressed towards the end of the dance where Baroka enters in character, however Lakunle mistakes him for acting seriously. Lakunle also realises, that Baroka will also be after the village ‘belle’ and therefore he has some competition to contend with. Lakunle does not like it how Baroka refuses to turn the village into a more modern area. He mentions to Sidi that he can show her the great towns and go to theatres, however Sidi may not be ready for this great change and would prefer to stay traditional in the village.
At one point, Lakunle tries to kiss Sidi, she does not like this and then says “No, don’t I tell you I dislike this strange unhealthy mouthing you perform, every time your action deceives me.” This shows the audience how unprepared Sidi is for modern change.
Throughout the play, Lakunle seems to be focused on having Sidi for a wife. He is however; oblivious of the fact that she (at that time) does not want anything to do with him unless he pays the bride price. Lakunle continues to try and get Sidi to be his wife because he is so riddled with ‘temporary love’. Lakunle’s love for Sidi is contradicted, when he finally realises that he cannot have her and she marries Baroka. He then almost immediately forgets about Sidi, when he sees a young girl ‘flaunting her buttocks’ at him. Basically Lakunle longs for a wife.
Baroka the Bale
Baroka is the Bale (leader) of the village. People think highly of him and the news that the audience receives about him before his appearance is respectable. Sidi believes that she is some what better than the Baroka, because she has a bigger picture than him the magazine, and Lakunle does not really like him either because he seems to think that the Bale does not want the village to be civilised or inherit western ideas.
Baroka is very much like Sidi, in that he is traditional. An example of this is the Bale not letting the railway track be placed too close to the village (fear of too many modern things coming into the village).
Baroka has many wives, like many African cultured Bale’s and respectable men do. He seeks younger wives all the time but keeps his first wife by his side until a new wife is found to replace her. He is not shy around women and thinks that they are below him and that he can manipulate them in any way (this is true in Sidi’s case). Baroka is an intelligent man and can use his words to fool people. Much like the railway track story and Sidi’s case. Baroka uses more words/ psychological flirting moves, rather than active moves. In the play Sidi comes to Baroka because of the news given to her by Sadiku, note that Baroka does not physically seduce her. He is able to analyse Sidi and her thoughts and then produce an effective seducing tactic.
These 3 characters all have similarities and differences. Once we find out these differences, it is easier to see why the characters react in the way that they do. We are able to see why Lakunle is an outsider, why Sidi does not like one aspect of Lakunle, and how the Bale finally seduces Sidi. The Lion gets the Jewel and the outsider is left standing there watching for other women ready to go for the bait.
