PATTERNS AND OPERATIONAL MODES OF MYTH AND MYTHIC IDEATION IN SELECTED PLAYS OF WOLE SOYINKA AND OLA ROTIMI

Abstract

Myth as a universal mode of thinking about man and his world has been a very controversial subject in scholarship. However, whether it is a fiction, having nothing to do with actuality, or represents the naïve stage of human civilization; whether it is old and worn-out, or timeless and part of the make-up of every mind, myth has been a staple of dramatic art and, in fact, of literature in general. The aim of this paper is to explore how Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi interweave the patterns and operational modes of myth in their plays to depict human existence as not far from the Homeric battlefield.