The Symbolism of Evil in Wole Soyinka's Tragedies

The movement of thought that strives to make intelligible the world of symbols is one already restricted by the opacity of this world so that its access must proceed through a language that is itself symbolic(Ricoeur). This is why no language can grasp the symbol adequately. And the reward for striving is the plurality of reflections, the endless proliferation in the ways of seeing which the symbol gives rise to. In other words, the search for the dynamics of meaning is the goal of an inquiry into the symbol. On this book, effort has been made to trace evil back to the realm of the elementary symbol where it properly belongs and, following it up as it manifests, to explore its dynamics and complexities to the point where its expulsion becomes the goal.This investigation is carried out using Wole Soyinkäs tragedies: A Dance of the Forests, The Swamp Dwellers, The Strong Breed, The Bacchae of Euripides, and Death and the King¿s Horseman. The inquiry owes a lot to the French philosopher, Paul Ricoeur