Metaphoric Use of Chameleon
The inference to chameleon in this study underscores the understanding of the critical templates deployed to analyse the selected primary texts . The intrinsic nature of the reptile , which is its fluidity or malleable condition , signposts this study towards the forms of dramaturgy in William Shakespeare ’ s The Merchant of Venice and Femi Osofisan ’ s Love ’ s Unlike Lading . 1 Two features about these reptiles are pertinent to this study : firstly , they change their colours based on three environmental factors : mood , temperature , and light . 2 There is a level of appropriateness to this inner mechanism responsible for this situational ornament . Secondly , having changed colours , they become beautiful , especially the male type , 3 in their exo-terra . It is , however , salient to argue that Shakespeare ’ s plays , notably The Merchant and Osofisan ’ s plays , including Love ’ s , exemplify these two qualities , among others , inherent in chameleons . They incorporate cultural and literary elements to ‘ invoke and rework other texts in a rich and everevolving cultural mosaic ’ 4 . This artistic incorporation enriches the literary engagements , and the ‘ permutations and combinations of ideas … ultimately generate a new discursive formation ’, a fact that we , as readers , can truly appreciate . 5
To provide further context , Shakespeare lived and wrote his work in the 16 th and 17 th centuries . Samuel Taylor Coleridge is quoted as positing that ‘ a Shakespeare text has an affective component ’. 6 His contribution to the Humanities and other related disciplines is anachronistic - they are ‘ even unique in this way , as they can represent both the reality of their own sociohistorical moment as well as a fundamental humanness that transcends the boundaries of time , nation , and culture .’ 7 On the other hand , Osofisan is a prolific African playwright with over forty plays to his credit . He is primarily influenced by ‘ religion , education , his numerous contacts with the West , philosophies and aesthetic traditions of other nations and cultures , a product of the colonial accident and nostalgic longing for the ancient past .’ 8 The two
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