Onomastic Vortex in Soyinka’s Plays: A Study of Fabricated names in Selected Works

Abstract

There is no need stating the obvious that various aspects of Wole Soyinka’s works have been treated over and over again by critics and theatre practitioners in Nigeria and the world over. Yet, very few have comprehensively touched on a vital index to the mood in the plays of Soyinka which the names used in many of his plays betray. This paper seeks to investigate the significance of the names of characters in Soyinka’s A Play of Giants and King Baabu. It demonstrates that naming is important to the writer’s thematic concern. It analyses the interplay between names of characters and their roles in the selected plays. The questions this paper asks are: What is in a naming? Is a name just an appellation? Is it symbolic? Does it carry along with it certain character traits that betray the notion of the bearer? An analysis of the plays not only shows the symbolic connotation of the names used by Soyinka, but also betrays the fact that the names he uses are in fact vital keys into the treasure of Soyinka’s artistic creations. The significance of this work rests on the way Soyinka’s work is re-examined using his plays to show his satirical posture of many African leaders whose names are creatively woven to symbolize their negative behavior and actions to the people they govern.