BURDEN OF CHOICE AS EXISTENTIAL DILEMMA IN BAKARE OJO RASAKI’S ROGBODIYAN

Abstract

One of the enduring existential challenges confronting humanity is the burden of choice-making. Although freedom of choice is synonymous with human existence, the inability of individuals to predetermine the consequences of freely made decisions often engenders anxiety, conflict, and disorder. The dilemma, arising from that limitation, constitutes a recurring motif in Nigerian drama, where playwrights frequently create dramatic characters that grapple with the consequences of such actions or inactions. Anchored on existentialist concepts of “Freedom of Choice” and “Responsibility”, this paper interrogates how dramatic characters’ avoidance of existential accountability generates conflict at both individual and collective levels in Bakare Ojo Rasaki’s Rogbodiyan. Through close textual analysis, the study observes that the people of Ilu koroju, exercising their freedom, abandon the long-established tradition of consulting Ifa in the selection of a new king. However, when the consequences of this choice threaten the communal stability, they paradoxically return to the same divinatory system in search of redress. The paper argues that Rogbodiyan departs from the existentialist ethic that authentic freedom necessarily entails responsibility, as the playwright portrays characters who exercise choice with awareness, yet are ultimately absolved of the consequences of their actions.

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