Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka
"Death and the King's Horseman" is a poignant play by Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka that explores themes of duty, cultural conflict, and the significance of ritual in the face of colonialism. The narrative unfolds in the context of Yoruba society, where the chief horseman, Elesin Oba, is called to fulfill his obligation to accompany the recently deceased king to the afterlife. This act of ritual suicide is steeped in cultural meaning, as it is believed to restore cosmic order. However, Elesin's resolve is challenged by the allure of life and desire, particularly after he encounters a young woman meant to be married to another.
As the story progresses, Western colonial authorities, represented by the character Pilkings, intervene, believing they are upholding the sanctity of life by preventing Elesin's death. This collision of values leads to tragic consequences, particularly when Elesin's son, Olunde, returns from England, embodying the tension between traditional beliefs and Western ideals. Ultimately, the play culminates in a clash of destinies, where Elesin's failure to fulfill his role results in a profound loss for both his family and community. The narrative invites reflection on the complexities of cultural identity, the nature of sacrifice, and the impacts of colonial rule on indigenous practices.
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Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka
First produced: 1976; first published, 1975
Type of work: Drama
Type of plot: Tragedy
Time of plot: 1944
Locale: Oyo, Nigeria
Principal characters
Elesin Oba , the king’s horsemanPraise-Singer , leader of Elesin’s retinueIyaloja , a senior woman of the Oyo marketSimon Pilkings , a colonial district officerJane Pilkings , his wifeSergeant Amusa , a colonial police officerJoseph , the Pilkingses’ houseboyBride , a young womanOlunde , Elesin’s oldest son
The Story:
The alafin (king) dies. It is time for his chief lieutenant, Elesin Oba, to will his own death, so that he might accompany the alafin on his passage to the next life. As Elesin enters the market, the Praise-Singer pleads with him to tarry a while, to enjoy the last fruits of life in this world. Elesin, a man of enormous courage, rejects this plea and boasts of his readiness to meet death without fear. He talks of the Not-I bird that sounds at the approach of death, echoed by people from all levels of society who seek to flee death—all but he, the king’s horseman, who was born and lived for this moment.
The women of the marketplace, led by Iyaloja, also ask whether he is truly ready to face death, praising him all the while for his strength of will. On this night, nothing can be denied him: rich clothing, fine food, beautiful women, all are at his pleasure. A beautiful young woman, the Bride, catches his eye. He determines that he will have her, even though she is already promised as a bride to Iyaloja’s son. Tactfully, Iyaloja suggests that he should not claim the Bride, just as an honorable man will leave food at a feast for the children. The insistence of the king’s horseman at this moment cannot be denied, however, and Elesin and the woman retire to the bridal chamber.
At the district officer’s house, the Pilkingses prepare to attend a costume ball in honor of the visiting British prince. They are modeling their disguises, ritual masks of the Yoruba dead cult, when Sergeant Amusa arrives to report a disturbance in the marketplace caused by Elesin’s preparations for death. A Muslim, Amusa is flustered by the Pilkingses’ blasphemous use of the death masks in a nonreligious context and cannot express himself clearly. The Pilkingses’ servant, Joseph, a convert to Christianity, explains what is happening, whereupon Simon Pilkings decides to halt the ritual suicide, upholding Western ideals of the sanctity of life. Pilkings orders Amusa to make the arrest while he and his wife go to meet the Prince.
Back in the marketplace, Amusa’s attempt to enter the bridal chamber and arrest Elesin is blocked by Iyaloja and the young women, who mock the policeman as a eunuch neutered by the white colonial authorities. Defeated by the women, Amusa retreats to seek reinforcement. Then Elesin emerges from the bridal chamber bearing bloodstained bedclothes, evidence of the Bride’s virginity and his success in impregnating her, creating a union of life and the passage to death. Filled with vitality and sexual satisfaction, he momentarily loses his will to die, but recovers and falls gradually into a trance. As his spirit moves away from this world, his body begins a heavy dance accompanied by the Praise-Singer’s ritual pronouncements.
Amusa arrives at the ball in tattered clothing to report his failure to arrest Elesin. Pilkings, admonished by his supervisor to maintain control, takes matters into his own hands, going off to arrest Elesin. While he is gone, Elesin’s son Olunde, whom the Pilkingses befriended and sent to England to study medicine, arrives, expecting to bury his father after hearing in England of the alafin’s death. As Jane Pilkings and Olunde speak of England, Olunde shows that he does not accept British values, despite his Western education.
Seeking a topic on which they might agree, Olunde and Jane discuss the progress of the war. Jane tells him of an English naval captain who died while destroying his ship, thereby saving the city. She finds his self-sacrifice difficult to understand, convinced there must have been another way. Olunde finds the self-sacrifice life-affirming, being death in the cause of life. Jane then informs him that her husband is en route to prevent Elesin’s suicide. Olunde explains that Pilkings’s success would be catastrophic because of the ritual importance of the horseman’s death. Pilkings returns and becomes nervous and distracted on hearing Olunde’s words. The mood is explained when a heavily chained Elesin arrives on the scene; Pilkings has succeeded. Olunde first ignores his father’s presence and then rejects him, calling him, like Amusa, an eater of leftovers.
In his prison cell beneath the resident’s palace, Elesin first blames Pilkings for arresting him. The moment at which Elesin should have joined the alafin on his journey to heaven passed with the arrest, and it is too late to restore the cosmic order. Elesin claims to have regained his sense of purpose after experiencing the contempt of his son, but Elesin is no longer able to carry out his own death. When Pilkings is called away, Elesin shifts blame to the Bride for tempting him away from his destiny. In truth, the white man only provided an excuse for him to succumb to his desire to remain in the world, enjoying its pleasures.
The Pilkingses return to the cell to announce a visitor, Iyaloja, who castigates Elesin for his loss of will and the betrayal of his people. She also announces that a volunteer is found to carry Elesin’s last message: that he will not come to the waiting alafin. When the body of this messenger is carried into the prison area, Pilkings and Elesin are both horrified to recognize Olunde, who takes his father’s place. In a final affront to Elesin’s lost honor, Pilkings refuses to allow Elesin to whisper the ritual message in his son’s ear, thus—from the Yoruba perspective—completing the destruction of the cosmic order. Left with nothing to salvage, Elesin strangles himself with his own chains before the colonial authorities can react. His death, however, comes too late to fulfill his hereditary function. What hopes remain lie with the unborn child the Bride carries, the only fruit of the night’s events.
Bibliography
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., ed. In the House of Oshugbo: Critical Essays on Wole Soyinka. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Twenty-six writers provide analyses of individual plays, biographical information, comparisons of Soyinka’s work with that of Bertolt Brecht and James Joyce, and discussions of literary theory, the art of writing, and Yoruba culture.
Jeyifo, Biodun. Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics, and Postcolonialism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Focuses on the connection of Soyinka’s works to his involvement in radical political activity, describing how he uses literature and the theater for political purposes. References to Death and the King’s Horseman are listed in the index.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗, ed. Conversations with Wole Soyinka. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001. A collection of Soyinka’s interviews with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Anthony Appiah, Biodun Jeyifo, and others. These interviews help clarify many aspects of Soyinka’s work.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗, ed. Perspectives on Wole Soyinka: Freedom and Complexity. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001. A collection of critical essays written during three decades. Its major contribution is its analysis of Soyinka’s work using several schools of critical theory, from feminism to phenomenology. The essays also discuss Soyinka’s postcolonial politics and aestheticism. The numerous references to Death and the King’s Horseman are listed in the index.
Katrak, Ketu H. Wole Soyinka and Modern Tragedy: A Study of Dramatic Theory and Practice. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1986. Extended study of the roots of Soyinka’s art in Yoruba ritual and Western dramatic traditions. Argues that Death and the King’s Horseman dramatizes the common fear of death that can be allayed only with ritual suicide, while criticizing the tradition itself and seeking a mythic revision suitable for the modern world.
Ogundele, Wole. “Death and the King’s Horseman: A Poet’s Quarrel with His Culture.” Research in African Literatures 25, no. 1 (Spring, 1994): 47-60. Treats the play from a social and political perspective, focusing on the social conditions influencing Elesin’s moral position.
Ralph-Bowman, Mark. “’Leaders and Left-Overs’: A Reading of Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman.” Research in African Literatures 14, no. 1 (February, 1983): 81-97. Emphasizes the spiritual aspects of the play, portraying Elesin as a failed Christ figure whose actions constitute blasphemy and Olunde as a redemptive figure, upholding his culture despite exposure to the West.
Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King’s Horseman: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. Edited by Simon Gikandi. New York: Norton, 2003. In addition to the text of the play, this edition provides information about Yoruba culture and religious beliefs, a map of Yorubaland, a discussion of the role of theater in traditional African culture, and several critical essays providing various interpretations of the play.
Whitaker, Thomas R. “Wole Soyinka.” In Post-Colonial English Drama, edited by Bruce King. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992. Describes Death and the King’s Horseman as a revision of Yoruba folk opera, under the influence of Western tragedy and Ibsen-like realism. Argues that all moral positions in the play are made problematic by the mingling of Western and African traditions.