Interrogating Hegel’s Levels of Consciousness as Factors of Change in Femi Osofisan’s No More The Wasted Breed

Abstract

Change as used in this study is the realignment of social structures to achieve a new reality. Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel was a German philosopher and theorist whose idea of change is encapsulated in the dialectic. Femi Osofisan is a Nigerian playwright whose idea of change is sustained by the dialectic. However, while Hegel’s view of change through the dialectic is idealistic, Osofisan’s conception of change through the dialectic is practical. T here are divergent views among scholars and critics regarding a more potent, viable process of change, whether idealistic according to Hegel or practical according to Osofisan. This paper establishes that both processes of change are intricately interwoven, therefore can be reconciled. The change which takes place in Osofisan’s No More The Wasted Breed is subliminally embedded in the three stages of Hegel’s Consciousness, Sense-Certainty, Perception and Force & Understanding. In utilizing the rich potential of Hegel’s dialectic, the paper portrays that all the characters in the play embody the attributes of Hegel’s Consciousness in accordance with the roles assigned to them by the playwright. Given that the characters’ experiences are mediated by the three stages of Hegel’s Consciousness as mentioned above, they become agents of change to a degree which informs their social and economic awareness. In this way, this study proves that both Hegel and Osofisan’s methods of change provide a unified paradigm for the understanding and appreciation of change.