Dramatizing Psychic Spaces: Interface between Spousal Relationship and Mental Health in Bode Sowande’s The Spellbinder

Stephen Ese Kekeghe; Yetunde Omolara Obasuyi; Imoh Sunday Obot

doi:10.58709/niujhu.v9i2.1920

Stephen Ese Kekeghe Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria
Yetunde Omolara Obasuyi Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Nigeria
Imoh Sunday Obot Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Nigeria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58709/niujhu.v9i2.1920

Abstract

The intersection between mental health and literature constitutes the body of contemporary dramatic literature. The theatre has been a very potent platform for dramatizing different human experiences, including medical and health realities. Literature has been generally perceived as an invaluable tool that orientates the people on the adverse effects of mental health disorder in people. The link between family relationship and mental health appears to be a significant aspect of the theatrical conversation on human health experiences. This paper examines Bode Sowande’s play, The Spellbinder, discussing the types of spousal relationships depicted, and the impact of such relationships on the psychological health of the various characters. The study adopted Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis, to account for the implication of the spousal relationships in the play on the mental health of the characters. The primary drama text, Sowande’s The Spellbinder, was selected through purposive sampling, and subjected to qualitative literary analysis, paying attention to characters’ conducts and utterances. The analysis revealed that there are instances of strained spousal relationships in the play, which plunge the characters into different forms of mental health conditions like maniac depressive and schizophrenic psychosis. While Damilare manifests guilt-induced maniac depressive psychosis which was engendered by his adulterous relationship with Adura, the wife of his friend, Adamu, Adamu and Adura show signs of schizophrenic psychosis— Adamu’s psychotic state is triggered by agony of betrayal by his wife while Adura’s madness is also guilt-induced. The playwright deploys flashback, interior monologue/soliloquy, dialogue, action and characterization as dramatic devices, to convey the characters’ mental states. The theatre, as demonstrated through Bode Sowande’s The Spellbinder, explores the link between spousal relationship and mental health.

Keywords: Literature and psychiatry; Psychodrama; Spousal relationship; Nigerian drama; Bode Sowande