A Dance of the Forests

A Dance of the Forests Irony

Ogun tells Murete that he is not Ogun when Murete is drunk (Dramatic Irony)

Throughout the play, characters' identities blend and bleed. A person says they are one person, but then they turn out to be someone else. Additionally, the spirits of the forest often assume different identities in order to trick others and further their own motives. For instance, Ogun, the patron god of carvers, goes to visit Murete, while Murete is drunk. He tells Murete that he is not actually Ogun, which creates a situation of dramatic irony, in that the audience knows something that Murete cannot recognize because of his compromised state.

Eshuoro does not know that he has been drawn towards the festivities by Forest Head and Aroni (Dramatic Irony)

Before the welcoming dance, Aroni and the Forest Head discuss the fact that they will lure the wayward spirit Eshuoro to the festivities. However, he has no idea that they are doing so, which constitutes another instance of dramatic irony.

Warrior becomes the Dead Man (Dramatic Irony)

In the flashback to (or conjuring of, depending on how you look at it) the court of Mata Kharibu, we see the Dead Man in his former life as the dissenting Warrior who Mata Kharibu has castrated and sold into slavery. This scene is an instance of dramatic irony in that the reader/audience knows that the Warrior will become the Dead Man who comes back to reckon with his former oppressors, but the characters in Mata Kharibu's court have no idea that they will one day atone for their heartless actions.

Demoke (Situational Irony)

Initially, Demoke says that he saw a man fall down out of a tree to his death. Ironically, it comes to light that the man who fell was Oremole, Demoke's apprentice, and Demoke was the one who pushed him and caused his death.