Mythology and Allegory in Drama

This work compares the use of allegory and mythology in the drama of Wole Soyinka and Ben Jonson by reading Soyinka's The Strong Breed and Death and the King’s Horseman, and Jonson's Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue and The Golden Age Restored. It shows that Soyinka has used both ancient Greek and African mythologies while Jonson has used ancient Greek mythologies only. The study also shows that both authors have made use of allegory in the dramas. Soyinka has applied allegories of the politics in Nigeria. Jonson, on the other hand, whose role as a masque writer is to elevate the king, in his masques, shows the king, in the image of Pallas, to be the judge of the entire England, the bringer of an ideal world. Finally, the study suggests that further research could be carried out in the reasons why playwrights use mythology in their works, and other areas such as: the use of the archetypes in literature, and whether European dramatists use African myths and if they do the extent to which they do so.