An Archetypa Reading of Mythmaking in Wole Soyinka'S the Bacchae of Euripides and Death and the King'S Horseman
Özet
The aim of this thesis is to analyse mythmaking in Wole Soyinka’s The Bacchae of Euripides (1969) and Death and the King’s Horseman (1975) using Carl Gustav Jung’s archetypal theory. These plays reflect the socio-political problems in Nigeria by means of local myths, rituals and the Jungian archetypes in a contemporary historical frame. In this thesis, the concept of myth is explained within a historical framework, and myths are analysed in the light of psychoanalytic theory as well as Jung’s archetypal theory. In the main chapters, Soyinka’s aim in mythmaking and his use of archetypes are discussed, pointing out that by making use of the Nigerian culture and mythology, the playwright contributes to Nigerian drama by alternative historical, cultural and political narratives.
