Symbolism in David Mulwa's Drama: A Study of Glass Houses, Clean Hands and Inheritance

Abstract

This study will focus on the symbolism in three plays by David Mulwa, critically analyzing and discussing them as dramatic texts. These plays, written and published in English are Clean Hands (2000),Glass Houses (2000) and Inheritance (2004). The symbolic approach will be used to evaluate sign systems and how they relate to the writer's societal perception of the world. The stylistics approach will help analyze and evaluate the plays against a background of form and content. This will help us to understand how symbolism as a technique applied by the playwright, conveys the content of the selected texts. The major task in the proposed study is to examine the vision of the playwright, as well as his technique of dramatic construction. Conducting this study is necessitated by the need to investigate and validate the assumption that Mulwa's drama uses symbolism to provide various dimensions of thought to expound on certain ideas and themes about his society. It is our key premise that social, historical and political realities in Africa and particularly East Africa form a creative reservoir for the playwright. The objectives of the study will be achieved through extensive library research, internet services and critical analyses of the plays. The data collected from all these sources will be synthesized for presentation as a project. The study is projected to reveal an understanding of symbolism in David Mulwa's drama and how it reflects the reality in the plays to the social-political and cultural context outside them.