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This paper is about the implications of tragedy as an aesthetic choice. A study of Wole Soyinka's The Strong Breed reveals that there are three tragic levels in the play, and leads us to reflect on the relation between ritual and tragedy at a communal level. The importance of these elements leads in turn to an examination of the use of tragedy as an art form, which paradoxically reveals that Soyinka once saw it as a vehicle for hope and a source of deep communion with his audience, whereas he seems to have subsequently abandoned the genre.
The Strong Breed, a one-act play, belongs to the early works of Wole Soyinka. It was first performed at the Greenwich Mews Theatre (US) in 1964. In this play - set in an African village, on the last day of the year - Soyinka explores the enforcement of a supposedly salvatory tribal ritual, which disturbs the peace of the community and eventually leads to a tragic ending. Starting from Aristotle's definition of tragedy, this paper tries to illustrate how three tragic levels emerge in The Strong Breed. The analysis of tragedy aims to elucidate how - through the depiction of tragic events and the misfortune of the characters - Soyinka questions the social mores leading to such results. This approach to tragedy initiates a questioning of the ways in which Soyinka commits himself as a playwright, bearing in mind that this inquiry cannot be restricted to the message of his social engagement. Indeed, beyond the issue of the content of his writings as social and political acts, and his status as a political playwright, lies the question of his aesthetics, and its meaning. In other words, focusing on The Strong Breed, this paper questions Soyinka's use of tragedy as a meaningful aesthetic choice, which might help characterize his early approach to theatre.
Aristotle's definition of tragedy might seem an unnecessary starting point since Soyinka expressed his own views on tragedy in Myth, Literature and the African World. A second note of caution is sounded by Soyinka's analysis of European critics' inability to relate to J. P. Clark's Song of a Goat, an African play. Critics rejected the play, he argued, because for this specific dramatic work -...