Satire in Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Femi Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel

Abstract: This study examines Satire in Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Femi Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel. It is discovered in the study satire can be seen as a work which portrays the social vices, crimes and absurdities of men individuals in a society. The study also shown that Rotimi and Osofisan are Nigerian writers, who have used satire to mock, criticize and portrays the foolishness, the social injustices, corruption and societal ills affecting the masses. In Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again, findings revealed that Rotimi criticises the Nigerian politicians using an Ex-military officer, Lejoka-Brown who join politics for the means of making money. The playwright see Lejoka-Brown’s motive in joining politics as not dictated by his sense of patriotism and service but as a means to amass economic wealth.

Rotimi satirizes the bad attitude of some Nigerian ex-officers who are supposed to protect and fight corruption but they join politics for their own benefits. Findings further revealed that Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel is also a   satirical play that criticises the Nigerian society on nepotism; corruption and bribery that have eaten deeply into the Nigerian political system.  He uses the character of Awero, the only female Member of Parliament decides to take Pastor Suuru to a hotel so that she could sample him before he is given a contract since, according to her male MPS do this to the opposite sex. Rotimi and Osofisan therefore see the above as foolishness, immorality and criticize the Nigerian politicians and leaders to allayed corruption, moral decay and political disillusionment that have become part and parcel of the society for the betterment of the society.

Satire in Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Femi Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

This study aims at exploring satire as a social art in Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel. On the other hand, Rotimi and Osofisan are renowned Nigerian writers who use satire as an artistic mode of expressing the social reality in contemporary Nigeria.

To them, the Nigerian society is obviously a chaotic one where dreams and aspirations of people remain unrealized. They have all seen with shock and unbelief the endemic corruption, moral decay and political morass that have become part and parcel of the society. Their aim of writings these satiric plays therefore, are to attack the aforementioned ills in the society.

It is on this light writer like Charles May says that satire is a work which ridicules or holds up to scorn the vices, crimes and absurdities of men and individuals, of class and organizations of societies and civilizations. The two Nigerian playwrights are satirists who have written a great deal of works whose thematic preoccupations are of tremendous literary and social significance in African literature. They have contributed immensely to the development of African literature especially in the areas of African drama and theatre and a lot of critical attention has been paid to their works by African and European critics.

However, little is said about those play-rights as great satirist in Nigeria. In other words, their satiric plays have been given scant attention thereby relegating them to their background. Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel share a lot of things in common in terms of the satiric mode explored in them as well as the style and characterization. First, the two plays under consideration fall under the Horacian tradition vis-à-vis their satiric vision, because the two playwrights use mild mockery to deride and ridicule the ills in the society. The reader is not meant to hate the characters who display human failings. The idiotic and infantile attitude of Lejoka-Brown, for example, merely evokes laughter in us, so does the naive personality of Awero in Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel.

In the same vein, the personality of Liza, despite her excessive xenomania, does not arouse contempt in the reader. Suuru’s pretentious and hypocritical nature only makes him a funny character, but not a detestable person. Both playwrights do not poison the minds of the readers towards the characters and situations dramatized in the works, rather the reader is made to see these characters as mere human beings who are imperfect and liable to err. Rotmi for instance lampoons his hero’s idea about politics. In the discussion between Lejoka-Brown and Okonkwo in their discussion says, why do you take politics: Are you there…? Politics is the thing, no in Nigeria mate, you want to be famous? Politics, you want to chop life? No, no… You want to chop a big slice of the national cake? Na politics (4).  Rotimi portrays Lejoka-Brown’s motive in joining politics as not dictated by his sense of patriotism and service but he sees politics as a means to amass economic wealth.

Satire in Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Femi Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel

Osofisan on the other hand, is another prolific Nigerian satirist whose critical works addresses a Plethora of social vices in contemporary Nigeria. In Midnight Hotel, he questions the credibility of our Nigerian law makers   who touches on political intolerance and religious charlatans in the society. The playwright portrays the immorality, hypocrisy and flirtatious tendencies of highly placed persons as aspects of the national psyche which he subjects to criticism. Osofisan is of the view that nepotism, corruption and favouritism have gotten deep into our political system.  For instance, he points to corruption in the character of Awero, the only female Member of Parliament decides to take Pastor Suuru to a hotel so that she could “sample” him before he is given a contract since, according to her; male MPS do this to the opposite sex. But when Suuru does not compromise with her she says: For Christ’s sake, what’s wrong with you?I’m telling you its regular practice in parliament. All the male MPS are doing it even to their own nieces and cousins: everyone in our contracts and award committee is taking some member of the opposite sex somewhere or the other before jobs are given out. They call it “sampling” the goods… (13).

From the foregoing, Ola Rotimi and Femi Osofisan satirize and condemn the Nigeria’s political system which negates the democratic principle. Their writings expose and attack the Nigerian leaders who they regard as charlatans and hypocrites through the use of satire.

1.2  Statement of the Problem

Satire is as an artistic weapon used by literary writers to expose and attack the ills in every society of the world and to sanitise it. It is also use by writers to attack prevalent social vices confronting the masses.

For Instance, Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel are examples of satirical works that depict the political corruption and other problems confronting the nation. As writers, their critical works of art serves as a tool which they sought to restore normalcy in a society that is apparently disintegrating every day.

1.3       Purpose of the study

The purpose of this research work is to critically examine the satire in Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Femi Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel.

Originally posted on April 26, 2021 @ 10:09 am