Even though the play Wedlock of the Gods ends on a tragic note, it was
tasked to delineate the tragic hero in the play; bearing in mind that both
Ogwoma and Uloko are common folk whose lives for me are not worthy of a
tragedy as well as their goals,
viewing from Aristotelian tragedy which I’m initiated into. However,
after a study of Hegel's "Theory on Tragedy" I came to understand
that in some cases tragedy arises when a hero/ine courageously asserts a
substantial and just position, but in doing so simultaneously violates a
contrary and likewise just position and so falls prey to a one-sidedness that
is defined at one and the same time by greatness and by guilt" (Mark. W.
Roche 11). On the second level is Bakary Traore's assertion that in an African
tragedy “the conflict originates more often from the situation than from clash
of two forces"(59).
Analysis of the characters (Protagonists)
takes place based on the positions that the characters take, are offered,
are caught in, his/her performance and the portrayal of his character and his
reaction as contained in his thoughts and rendition of lines. This is to
support Winslade's stance that "people take up a position about
discourse in the very moment of making an utterance in a conversation"
(352).
The production note as contained in
the text gives a prior insight into the causative factor of the conflict in the
play and the position of our protagonists-Ogwoma and Uloko.
Wedlock of the Gods is a tragedy
which finds its roots in the ritual parathyroid and mourning. The traditional
solemnity of ritual is distorted. However, rather than engaging in the normal
funeral rites and rituals which should have cleansed her and sent the spirit of
her deceased husband to the world of the gods, the widow expresses a sense of
liberation from an unwanted marriage, while the mother of the deceased performs
rites meant to destroy her son's widow as an act of vengeance for supposedly
killing her son (Sofola, 1).
The pre-colonial African society, in which the
play is set and the characters existed in, it was a patrilineal society where
the female gender's right to be heard was not guaranteed and her rights to life
were predicated on her observance of the ordinances and norms of her society,
hence, there is a strong hegemony established and above the women by the all-seeing and all important male gender, thus; Ogwoma as a female character finds
herself in society as this for which she is married against her consent and is bound to observe
all the rituals and rites of mourning duties to her late husband Adigwu.
However, Ogwoma lets hell loose by breaking the taboo of letting another man
(Uloko) in while still observing the mourning rites and thus is reminded of the
consequences of her actions for which she would have to face the music alone.
Nneka: Do you know that the
punishment for this deed is a swelling of the body, with water leaking from
everywhere? Do you know that even after death, no forest will accept your
body? (20).
Accordingly,
in breaking the taboo ascribed to the period of mourning, Ogwoma and Uloko
elevate their own status from the ordinary to the super-ordinary; what they
did according to Okolie had never been done "never before has it been heard that a
woman in mourning let's another man in" (31). "Their
psycho-sociological suffering at the hands of the community and especially
Odibei, the avenger catapults them into the realm of Scape-goatism and
sacrifice"(Solanke, 122).
The fate of the protagonists is premised on Chigoize
Nnabuihe's assertion which states that
in the Igbo worldview " any person who violates the cultural norms of the
people incurs the wrath of the deities...such contraventions could cause a
plague either on the offender in particular or the entire people in general
(41). Therefore, what Ogwoma and Uloko have done amounts to what is termed
" a crime against societal norms" as the consequences of their action
have a ripple effect, which spreads like wildfire.
Ogwoma and Uloko as protagonists fit
into the frame of "The Tragedy of The Common Man" and "Modern
Tragedy" whose heroes are far removed from the Classical and Shakespearean
practice of "protagonists of high stations" (Kachua Effumbe, 102).
Ogwoma and Uloko as heroes are what Nwahunanya termed in Modern tragedy
"protagonists who are true to life, heroes we can identify among the
common run of humanity" (44).
Aristotle stipulates that there must
be consistency in the character of the tragic hero, while, Miller expounds upon
this to be the characters' willingness to lay down his life if need, to secure
birthing -his sense of personal dignity "Ogwoma and Uloko" are
epitomes of the Hero’s that lived and died for their cause after confronting
the hurdles set before them from
different angles, their death becomes an avenue for their society to re-examine
itself and develop into other levels of socio-religious and cultural
consciousness. Their heroic personalities are confirmed in the light of what
they died believing in "Love"(22).
Ogwoma and Uloko from the beginning
of the play decide to face the consequences of their actions. They stood together
with a focus and decisiveness that showed they were determined to achieve their
purpose. Their sameness of purpose is captured in the statement made by Ogwoma
in the absence of Uloko, which was re-echoed later by Uloko's absence of
Ogwoma close to the end of the play "I was not going to wait for another
blink of the eye this time"(9, 36).
Both characters each become a model
for their community to reassert their customs and traditions which would lead to
an overhaul of the situation. Uloko and Ogwoma are possessive of a high level of
pride (hubris), which is contended that the tragic hero is generally full
of pride. It is this hubris or pride that Betiang carefully outlined "Pride pushes the hero into the abyss of pain and sorrow without giving up.
As life for him is a continuous struggle against fate"(55). Both in their
pride insist that they have done nothing wrong before the gods; rather they
shift all forms of blame to their parents whom they see as Obstructions to
their eternal destiny.
Uloko: I planted my son in Ogwoma's womb and I don't regret it at all
Ogwoma: Now you tell me you cannot walk on the road for shame (33,34)
Uloko's flaws include; being foolish,
naive and senseless at the same time and also are prelude to his tragic end. He
is a man who is below average and is caught between two strong forces
"the laws of the land and the yearnings of his Heart". As his
character his actions are borne out of emotions in exchange for sound reasoning, this is evidenced in his response on two occasions; when Odibei catches him in
romance with Ogwoma, he is quick to say: I will not leave this house until Ogwoma
goes home with me"(44). Ogwoma's plan to elope with him is also thwarted
by his senseless and naive reply "forget the world. You are in my
arms"(45). These are signs of a protagonist who neither is oblivious of
the consequences of his actions nor can see his own flaws just like
Oedipus who unknowingly walks into his own doom for the same inability to recognize
his flaws. Thus Uloko the lawbreaker gets his punishment for going into
another man's widow while still in mourning, he is punished in three folds;
Ogwoma dies, with his unborn child and he ends up committing suicide. His
action shows it clearly that he stood against the injunctions of the society as
love for him supersedes all laws, like Antigone who chose to obey the laws made
by the gods over that which is made by the humans.
Ogwoma is torn in-between doing her
duty to a dead husband and following her emotions and also societal norms,
Solanke cited Ramphele as saying "a widower obligated to transform
personal pain into social suffering ...for the sake of the society she lives
in"(123). It is for the spiritual and communal well-being of her community
that she must consider any decisions that she takes. Because
Ogwoma does not want to abide by any of the conditions set forth before her, other than that which is the yearning of her heart, she gets pregnant for her
estranged lover (Uloko ) inviting herself to the wrath of society. In her is
painted the emblem of the oppressed and suffering woman in a patriarchal
society. However, she sees the light and tries to strike a break with tradition
through her feeling of love. She becomes a sacrificial scapegoat to the
vengeful wrath of Odibei, and
tradition. She is a strong-willed, confident and freedom-seeking individual,
who does requesting her love to "Meet me these "(54)
Through Anwasia's line, we see the
full characterization of Ogwoma, as she confided in and divulges bluer Secret
and fears to Anwasia, who though supportive of her position is caught
in between, the societal ordinances and the consequences replica of Sophocles'
Isemene who chooses to obey the laws of the land.
Ogwoma and Uloko fit into Brechtian
anti-heroes and are emblematic of Hegelian Tragic characterization which is
typified in Antigone. For according to Hegel, “Tragic heroes embrace
conflicting positions that are equally justified "(Roche 15). We identify
with the character's positions but at the same time we fear the consequences of
their actions (external factors) for eventually, the characters choose to lay
down their love in heroic appeal for what is today considered significant,
which then was taken for youthful madness,. Insignificant as it might be, they
have succeeded in imprinting their names in the sands of time as important
figures whose ordeal stored a cause for a redirection of human society.
Suffice it to say that, Ogwoma and Uloko
are flawed, humane, neither good nor bad, ambitious, true to type and
possessing what liwhu Betiang termed as "a human failure...fault or
inadequacy like any of us"(54). Their principal weakness is a self-centred and inconsiderate love "youthful exuberance" which leads to
a violation of societal norms and in turn the consequences of their ignoble
acts which are given rise by the circumstances around them (Parental intrusion
and community action) as is the case in most African tragedy, one person's
failure can wipe out an entire generation...
They lived and fought their most
cherished goals, love and marital union and against the worst form of tragedy
in the Igbo society which is worse than death-estrangement (Osu) outcast
syndrome because death is perceived to be a reunion with the ancestors in
eternal bliss, while an Osu is totally cut off from his roots (annihilation and
alienation) both in life and death. Thus their character trait irrespective of
class structure is fitting of tragic characterization and consideration.
