Proposed Alternative Ending to A Dance of the Forests
Proposed Alternative Ending to A Dance of the Forests
This blog has been prepared as part of a thinking activity assigned by Megha Ma’am.
“Dawn Beyond the Forest”
When A Dance of the Forests was first performed in 1960 to mark Nigeria’s independence, Wole Soyinka disrupted nationalist celebration by exposing moral corruption in both the past and the present. Instead of glorifying heroic ancestors, he presented flawed spirits whose suffering reflected the living characters’ moral failures. The play’s ambiguous ending suggests that history is cyclical and that humanity fails to learn from its errors.
The following alternative ending preserves Soyinka’s tragic cosmology and political allegory but introduces ethical transformation and communal renewal.
Alternative Ending (Creative Reconstruction)
As the ritual reaches its height, the drumming grows erratic. The spirits swirl violently. The Half-Child, once fragile and trembling, suddenly stands upright at the centre of the clearing. A faint golden light surrounds it.
The Dead Man and Dead Woman stand beside the child—not accusing, but watchful.
Forest Head enters slowly.
The living characters—Demoke, Rola, and Adenebi—are visibly shaken.
The Half-Child speaks for the first time clearly:
The forest grows silent.
In the original ending, uncertainty prevails; here, confrontation becomes action.
Demoke’s Reckoning
Demoke falls to his knees. He recalls Oremole, whom he caused to fall from the tree in jealousy. He admits publicly:
“I feared being less. So I destroyed what stood above me.”
Behind him appears Ogun—the silent deity of iron and creativity. Ogun does not speak. Instead, the iron tools at Demoke’s feet glow red. The symbolism is unmistakable: destruction and creation are inseparable.
Demoke picks up the iron and begins forging—not a weapon, not a monument—but a simple circular ring.
Rola’s Confession
Rola steps forward. No longer defiant, she removes her decorative mask.
“I have survived by closing my eyes,” she says. “But survival without conscience is another form of death.”
She kneels before the Dead Woman. Instead of hostility, the spirit offers her a white fragment of cloth.
Adenebi’s Admission
Adenebi, the corrupt bureaucrat, hesitates longest. He represents political irresponsibility—empty speeches and moral evasion. Finally, he confesses:
“I governed words, not justice.”
The Dead Man nods solemnly.
Breaking the Cycle
The Half-Child collects white fragments from each character. Demoke completes the iron ring and places it at the center of the stage. Each character ties their fragment of cloth to the ring, forming a unified banner.
Forest Head speaks again:
“History is a circle—but a circle may widen.”
This line reinterprets Soyinka’s cyclical vision. Rather than repetition as doom, it becomes progressive continuity.
The drumming changes rhythm—from chaotic frenzy to steady heartbeat.
The Dead Man and Dead Woman begin a slow, dignified dance. Their suffering is acknowledged, not erased. As they fade into the forest, they are no longer trapped spirits but reconciled presences.
The Half-Child approaches Demoke.
“Will you build differently?”
Demoke responds:
“Yes—not for pride, but for memory.”
The child smiles and gradually transforms—no longer divided, no longer spectral. It walks toward a soft rising light beyond the trees.
Final Image
The stage slowly brightens, suggesting dawn.
Instead of ending in ambiguity, the living characters begin clearing the forest floor together. Adenebi removes his ceremonial robe. Rola stands without ornament. Demoke hangs the iron ring-banner at the forest’s edge.
Forest Head delivers the final words:
“The future is not summoned. It is forged.”
The drums beat once—firm and resonant.
Curtain.
Critical Justification
This alternative ending remains grounded in Soyinka’s philosophical framework.
1. Yoruba Cosmology and Cyclical Time
In Myth, Literature and the African World, Wole Soyinka explains Yoruba metaphysics as a dynamic interaction between the living, the dead, and the unborn. The Half-Child symbolizes interrupted transition. In this reimagined ending, that transition is completed through acknowledgment of guilt.
Rather than rejecting Soyinka’s tragic worldview, this version dramatizes what he calls the “ritual passage” between states of being. The circle forged by Demoke echoes Ogun’s creative-destructive duality.
2. Political Allegory
Scholars such as Biodun Jeyifo interpret A Dance of the Forests as a critique of postcolonial nationalism. Adenebi’s character reflects bureaucratic corruption emerging at independence. This alternative ending maintains that critique but introduces moral responsibility as a solution.
Instead of romantic nationalism, we see ethical reconstruction.
3. Tragic Consciousness
Soyinka’s tragedy does not end with simple redemption; it requires confrontation with the abyss. The confessions in this alternative ending represent that confrontation. The characters’ moral awakening aligns with Soyinka’s theory that tragedy involves descent and return.
Conclusion
This proposed ending does not undermine Soyinka’s warning against historical amnesia. Instead, it imagines the next logical step: conscious transformation. The forest becomes not merely a space of accusation but a space of rebirth.
If Soyinka’s original ending warns that history repeats itself, this alternative suggests that repetition can become growth—if responsibility replaces denial.
The future, as Forest Head declares, is not inherited. It is made.
References
- Wole Soyinka. A Dance of the Forests. Oxford University Press, 1963.
- Wole Soyinka. Myth, Literature and the African World. Cambridge University Press, 1976.https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/myth-literature-and-the-african-world
- Gibbs, James. Wole Soyinka. Macmillan, 1986.
- Jeyifo, Biodun. The Truthful Lie: Essays in a Sociology of African Drama. New Beacon Books, 1985.
- Obafemi, Olu. Contemporary Nigerian Theatre: Cultural Heritage and Social Vision. Bayreuth African Studies, 1996.
