King Hedley II by August Wilson

First produced: 1999, at Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

First published: 2005

Type of work: Play

Type of plot: Domestic realism

Time of work: 1985

Locale: The backyards of three houses in the Hill District, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Principal Characters:

• King Hedley II, an African American man in his thirties
• Ruby, King’s mother
• Mister, King’s friend
• Elmore, Ruby’s lover
• Tonya, King’s wife
• Stool Pigeon, King’s next-door neighbor

The Play

King Hedley II takes place in the backyards of the title character and of Stool Pigeon and in the vacant lot between the two houses. The play consists of two acts. A prologue starts the play, with Stool Pigeon entering to give some ham to a cat. He talks to the cat about a fish market as a means of discussing the broken state of the world. He prophesies that God will make things right, and everyone must play their part in the divine plan. He also mentions Aunt Ester, a woman who is 366 years old.

Scene 1 presents King Hedley II going into his yard to plant some seeds. He is having financial problems, because his boss did not get the contract for which he was bidding. King’s mother, Ruby, enters and argues about King’s need to get money and restore their phone service. She informs him that one of her former lovers, Elmore, is coming to visit. King becomes angry at Ruby for living in his house, as he was raised by her sister Louise. Ruby has been left the house by Louise, who died of leukemia, and Ruby is waiting for the city to buy it from her.

Mister arrives to get the brochure that he and King use to sell stolen refrigerators. King talks about a dream he had in which he wore a halo around his head. He is waiting for Tonya to get ready so they can go to have their anniversary picture taken. Mister tells King that Pernell’s cousin is in town; he wants to kill King, because King killed Pernell. Tonya enters and Mister compliments her appearance. Tonya reads out loud a letter that Elmore wrote, asking Ruby to forgive him. King gets a gun to keep him safe in case he runs into Pernell’s cousin. As King and Tonya are about to leave, Stool Pigeon enters to tell them that Aunt Ester has died.

Scene 2 opens with Stool Pigeon coming to see King. They both mourn Ester’s passing, and King shows Stool Pigeon a key ring that she gave him. Stool Pigeon tells him to find the key to the promised land. Mister arrives and discusses with King their plans to open a video store.

Elmore arrives and tries to start a crap game with King and Mister, but they end up discussing refrigerators, and Elmore offers to sell some. Tonya exits the house visibly upset, and King confronts her. She is pregnant, and she does not want to have the baby. She does not want to raise a child in such a violent world, knowing that King could be sent to jail at any time. King tries to follow her back into the house, but Ruby warns him not to push Tonya away. King leaves, and Ruby tells Tonya about how Aunt Ester convinced her to have her baby when she was pregnant with King.

Scene 3 begins as Ruby is making breakfast and Elmore is cleaning his gun. They discuss their past, establishing that Elmore has always loved her even though he left her, King’s father was not Hedley but Leroy, and Elmore wants to marry Ruby. Mister enters, and Elmore sells him a gun after much haggling. King enters, having gone to pick up the anniversary pictures from Sears. The store lost the pictures and would not accept his receipt. King got indignant, and the police were called, but he was not arrested. He says that the world is moving forward while he is moving backward. Elmore tells him that he has to make his own rules and steps on one of King’s seedlings. King smoothes the ground over, saying that if anyone messes with him he will start World War III.

Scene 1 of the second act starts with Stool Pigeon trying to bury Aunt Ester’s dead cat next to the seeds. He tells Tonya he will perform an incantation to raise it from the dead, but he will need blood. King arrives in a bad mood, but Stool Pigeon presents him with the machete that Hedley used to kill Floyd Barton. Stool Pigeon tells King that he has given him the key to the mountain. Mister arrives, and he and King prepare to rob a jewelry store, departing nervously.

In scene 2, King and Mister return from their robbery, having stolen $3,160, as well as a ring for Tonya. Stool Pigeon enters, talking about being robbed and having his newspapers burnt. He also makes cryptic comments about Aunt Ester’s return. Mister and King split the money, and Mister leaves to spend it. Elmore arrives and buys a refrigerator from King for Ruby. The two men discuss their time in prison, and King describes how Pernell gave him the large scar on his face. Ruby and Elmore decide to go out, and King tries to give Tonya some money. She fears that it is stolen and refuses it.

Scene 3 presents Tonya and Ruby discussing the men. Mister arrives looking for King, and he ends up giving his gun to Ruby. Stool Pigeon enters to lay flowers on the cat’s grave. King arrives, saying that his boss finally got the contract so he can go back to work. He talks privately with Tonya, telling her that he needs her to have her baby, because he is trying to persevere and succeed in the harsh world, like the flowers. She says that she does not need him to achieve financial success, she just needs him to stay alive.

In scene 4, King is polishing his machete. Elmore and Ruby enter, announcing their plans to marry. Elmore buys the stolen ring from King and gives it to Ruby. Ruby and Elmore dance a waltz, and Ruby tries to teach it to King. At a mention from Ruby about Leroy, Elmore becomes angry and talks about how he murdered Leroy over fifty dollars. At the end of this story, Elmore ends up revealing to King that Leroy was his father. King grabs his machete and exits.

Scene 5 opens with Tonya, Ruby, and Mister talking about King’s need to avenge the death of his father. King enters, looking for Elmore. Elmore enters, and King pays him the fifty dollars that Leroy owed him then challenges him to a crap game. He stomps on his seeds to make a space to play. They shoot craps for a while then start to fight. King throws Elmore to the ground, holding the machete at his throat. He spares his life, but Elmore pulls a gun on him. Elmore cannot kill King either, and he shoots at the ground. Ruby, who has fled into the house in fear, hears the gunshot and comes out with her gun and shoots King, whom she has mistaken for Elmore. As the play ends, King lies bleeding, while the rest panic. Stool Pigeon is excited that there is now blood on the cat’s grave.

Critical Context

King Hedley II opened on Broadway to mixed but largely favorable reviews. Most critics enjoyed the production but agreed that it was not one of Wilson’s best plays, citing its lack of a solid through line and its rushed ending.

Hedley was the ninth play written in Wilson’s twentieth century cycle of ten plays—one depicting African American struggle in each decade of the century. It takes place in 1985, making it the ninth chronologically as well as the ninth to be produced. The play is one of the few to share characters with other plays, as Ruby and Stool Pigeon also appear in Seven Guitars (pr. 1995, pb. 1996), set in 1948, in which Stool Pigeon is called Canewell. Also, Aunt Ester is featured in Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (pr. 2003, pb. 2006).

Bibliography

Bogumil, Mary L. Understanding August Wilson. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999. An in-depth look at six other plays in Wilson’s ten-play cycle.

Elam, Harry J. The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. Analyzes recurring elements in Wilson’s plays.

Elkins, Marilyn, ed. August Wilson: A Casebook. New York: Garland, 2000.

Whitaker, Charles. “Is August Wilson America’s Greatest Playwright?” Ebony 56, no. 11 (September, 2001). Includes both a profile and an interview with Wilson.

Wilson, August. The Ground on Which I Stand. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2001. Wilson’s 1996 speech to the Theatre Communication Group.

Wilson, August. “The Light in August.” Interview by Suzan-Lori Parks. American Theatre 22, no. 9 (November, 2005). Interview conducted hours after Wilson announced that he was terminally ill.