The literary text as a testament of social disparagement: Esiaba Irobi's hangmen also die in the hub

Abstract

Since the days of Aristophanes in classical Greek drama, the judgmental role of drama has been established. The dramatic medium has been appropriated to seek several truths and its function as an instrument of social criticism is well founded. It is against this backdrop that this paper uses the literary drama to assess critically the socio-political and economic situations in Nigeria. Using Hangmen Also Die for illustration, the study discovers that committed dramatists in Nigeria, particularly, the Niger Delta use their plays to unearth the social dislocations and decadence of the society with the principal vision to bring about social conscientisation, edification and mass action for social change. The paper holds strongly that Nigerian dramatists should emulate the dramatic tradition of projecting social reconstruction for the transformation of their society.

Keywords: Literary, Text, Testament, Social criticism, Political attackancy