DEATH AND KING'S HORSE MANBY WOLE SOYINKA
SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
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ACTS SUMMARY
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CHARACTERS ANALYSIS
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SETTING
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PLOT ANALYSIS
Prepared by Rashidi, R. Mpella
rajmpella.blogspot.com
INTRODUCTION
Death and the King's Horseman is a play by Wole Soyinka based on a real incident that took
place in Nigeria during British colonial rule:
the horseman of an important chief was prevented from committing ritual suicide by the colonial authorities. In addition to the British intervention, Soyinka calls the horseman's own conviction toward suicide into question, posing a problem that throws off the community's balance.
the horseman of an important chief was prevented from committing ritual suicide by the colonial authorities. In addition to the British intervention, Soyinka calls the horseman's own conviction toward suicide into question, posing a problem that throws off the community's balance.
Soyinka wrote the play in Cambridge, where he was a fellow at Churchill College during his political exile from Nigeria.[2] He has also written a preface to the play, explaining
what he sees as greatest misconceptions in understanding it. In particular, he
says that the play should not be considered as "clash of cultures.
OVERVIEW
OF THE BOOK
When the play opens, the Yoruba king has just
died, and Elesin Oba (the king's horseman), according to tradition, must follow
his king to the great beyond. The move is important because it keeps the
universe spinning. Which sounds really important if you ask
us.
As Elesin enters the market to prepare for the
big plunge, he seems pretty ready—but the Praise-Singer who accompanies him is
a wee bit dubious that he'll be able to take things all the way. Elesin
reassures him, and the women of the market start getting him outfitted properly
for the big event.
However, Elesin is still interested enough in
life on this side of the eternal divide to demand that Iyaloja (a.k.a. the
"mother of the market") hook him up with a pretty girl he saw walking
by. Even though the girl is betrothed to Iyaloja's own son, and she's worried that
getting married will be a distraction from the task at hand, Iyaloja
agrees—after all, he's about to make a big sacrifice for their people, so how
can she turn him down?
Meanwhile elsewhere, Simon Pilkings and his
wife, Jane, are preparing for a masquerade party later that evening. While
they're dancing around in their costumes and getting ready, a local policeman
by the name of Amusa arrives to alert them about Elesin's plans. After some
deliberation (during which he manages to offend his servant, Joseph, pretty
deeply), Pilkings sends word to Amusa to have Elesin arrested—he is not going
to miss the masquerade ball, since the British Prince is going to be there.
Amusa goes to the market to try to prevent Elesin's
ritual from going off, but the women drive him away. And so the ritual starts,
and Elesin gets drawn into what seems like a deep trance.
Pilkings receives word at the ball that the
ritual is still a go, so he heads out to intervene. After he bounces, Olunde,
Elesin's eldest son, shows up and starts talking to Jane (who has been left
behind). With the Pilkingses' help/urging, Olunde went to medical school in
England, which caused a pretty big breach with his dad. Despite their
estrangement and the fact that he had left home to live in the West, when he
heard that the Yoruba king died, Olunde came back to fulfill the duties to his
father and community that are expected in these circumstances.
By listening to the drums in the distance,
Olunde concludes that the ritual has ended, and his father is now dead.
However, he soon learns that Simon and his accomplices intervened before the
ritual could be completed, and Elesin ends up stumbling in, handcuffed and
furious. For his part, Olunde is furious at his father for not having completed
the ritual before the Englishmen could intervene.
Later, Iyaloja visits Elesin in prison and
taunts him for his weakness in not getting to the other side quickly enough,
implying that his will wasn't strong enough. Elesin agrees that his will failed
him, but he also believes he would have gotten there had it not been for the
English intervention.
Iyaloja then mentions that someone else has
had to intervene to help pull the ritual off and prevent total cosmic chaos
after Elesin's failure. Hmm, we wonder who that could be? A large bolt of cloth
is brought in, and we soon find it contains Olunde's body. Apparently Olunde
sacrificed himself to try to redeem his father's failure. At this revelation,
Elesin strangles himself with the chains binding him before anyone can stop
him.
ACT 1 SUMMARY
- Elesin Oba, the late king's horseman, is entering the
market with his drummers and praise singers in tow.
- He banters with the Praise-Singer back and forth, and
they discuss Elesin's plans to go over to "the other side." It
appears that Elesin will soon die. The Praise-Singer mentions being
willing to follow, as necessary…
- The Praise-Singer then talks about how super awful it
would be if the world got knocked off its course, and Elesin assures him
that this won't happen.
- To reassure him, Elesin tells/chants the story of
something called the Not-I bird, which flew around to people who were
about to die. Elesin describes the way a bunch of people basically told
the bird to go away, saying "Not I" when it came to recruit them
to the other side. So, that's how the bird got that name: Everyone said
"Not I" when he came around.
- Elesin, however, says that he saw the bird that
morning, and he sent the bird back to its nest happy, thereby implying
that Elesin will not be trying to escape death. Which is
supposed to set the Praise-Singer's mind at ease as well, it seems.
- As Elesin has been dancing and chanting, some women
have arrived, including someone named Iyaloja.
- When Elesin and the Praise-Singer take a break from
their back and forth, the women start talking to Elesin about how
honorable he is. For some reason, though, Elesin acts extremely offended
by this.
- We're not the only ones confused—the women are, too.
They're not sure how they managed to offend Elesin.
- However, they soon realize he's kidding about being
mad, and they prepare some suitable clothes for him to wear for whatever
is about to happen.
- We then learn some more about Elesin and his career and
reputation as the king's horseman… and ladies' man.
- Fittingly, a beautiful girl walks in.
- Elesin asks Iyaloja about her. It turns out she's
engaged to Iyaloja's son, but since Elesin wants to, er, get to know her
better, he doesn't like this intel.
- Eventually, Iyaloja decides that she'd best give in to
Elesin's request and let him have her son's betrothed as a bride—after
all, he is about to sacrifice himself so the world
doesn't fall off its axis. She sends the women off to tell the girl.
- Like the Praise-Singer, Iyaloja seems a little worried
that Elesin is going to bail on going over to the other side, and that his
upcoming marriage might distract him from his duty, but he brushes her
fears off.
- The women return with the girl, who kneels in front of
Elesin.
ACT 2 SUMMARY
- Act 2 picks up in the bungalow of the District Officer
Simon Pilkings and his wife, Jane; they are tangoing and wearing costumes
in preparation for some big party that night.
- Amusa, who is described as a "native
administration policeman," comes in to tell Simon something, but he
gets too freaked out by Simon and Jane's get-ups to come out with it right
away. It seems that they are wearing costumes confiscated from local egungun men,
who used them for a masquerade representing the reincarnated spirits of
their ancestors. Despite the fact that Amusa has ostensibly converted to
Islam, he still seems to treat the costumes (and customs around them) with
respect… and is nervous that Simon and Jane don't.
- Because Amusa is too freaked out to tell Simon what he
came to tell him, Simon tells him to write it down on a pad of paper. Then
he and Jane leave.
- When Simon comes back to see what Amusa came to tell
him, he calls Jane back in and reads the note.
- Although he initially gets the precise details a little
funky because of the way Amusa phrased things, Simon gets the gist: some
kind of death is going to occur that night. At first, he thinks that means
a murder, and since this kind of thing is illegal under the English
administration there, he figures Amusa thought they should know.
- They call their servant, Joseph, in to ask him what he
knows about all this. He has the lowdown, and clarifies that the event
actually involves a local chief sacrificing himself.
- Simon is bummed by the news—and, in particular, the info
regarding which chief is involved. It seems that he and
Elesin have history; they clashed when Simon helped get Elesin's son into
med school in England.
- Joseph asks to leave, but they soon have him back in to
answer questions about the drumming they're hearing in the background.
Joseph is finding it hard to interpret the music, though, since it kind of
sounds like wedding drums and the kind of drums you'd use
to herald the death of a chief.
- While they're talking, Simon offends Joseph by being
sacrilegious, and Jane is concerned that their servant is now going to
quit. Simon ends up apologizing.
- Anyway, back to the rumors of ritual death happening
that night: To deal with the issue, Simon sends a note back to Amusa via
Joseph.
- Although Jane had kind of given up on going to their
own masquerade that night, Simon tells her to get her costume back on,
explaining that he's as instructed Amusa to arrest the chief and lock him
up to prevent the ritual from going off.
- Also, Simon reveals that he's so supercharged about the
ball because the Prince is in town and attending.
ACT 3 SUMMARY
- Amusa and a couple of constables have arrived in the
market to stop Elesin's suicide. However, when Amusa and the gang get
there, they are greeted by some women who taunt Amusa and demand that he
leave. Iyaloja isn't thrilled by their behavior.
- Elesin then comes in, apparently fresh from
consummating his marriage.
- He indicates he's now ready to head off to the great
beyond, and then Elesin and the women start dancing, the Praise-Singer
starts talking back and forth with Elesin, and the drummers drum. Elesin
falls into a kind of hypnotic state/trance.
ACT 4 SUMMARY
- Now we're at a masque, which is basically a European
costume party. The Pilkingses, the Prince, the Resident, and the
Resident's aide-de-camp are there; the Prince and the Pilkingses are
chatting. Congrats, Simon.
- A footman comes in with a note for Pilkings, which the
Resident snatches and reads before the servant can interrupt Simon's
conversation with the Prince. He then extricates Simon tactfully from the
convo so he can tell him about the note.
- As he's leading Simon away, the Resident gives an order
to his aide-de-camp.
- We don't know what's in the note yet, beyond the fact
that it was labeled "Emergency." The Resident wants to know if
something serious is going on, and Pilkings explains the ritual that
Elesin and the others are participating in. Apparently the Resident has
sent his aide to get Amusa for more details, so Simon sends his wife after
the aide to follow up and speed them back.
- After giving Pilkings a hard time for his handling of
this situation up to this point, and commanding him to keep things under
control and file a report the next day, the Resident returns to the party.
- Pilkings then dismisses the aide-de-camp. When Amusa
still can't look at him in his costume, Pilkings dismisses him for the
night as well, and heads out to intervene, leaving Jane at the party.
- After all the men leave, Jane is standing there on her
own when Olunde, Elesin's son, arrives.
- They're glad to see each other at first, especially
since Olunde is looking for Simon, but the conversation soon sours when
Jane realizes Olunde's time in England has made him less pro-English,
rather than more. Oops. They go back and forth as Olunde offers some
reflections on England and the English.
- He explains that he got word of the king's death and
knew that his father would have to die, per tradition, so he's come back
to fulfill his duty of burying his father. Jane is totally baffled that
Olunde would accept his father's death that easily and not want Simon to
stop it.
- They hear the drums change, and Olunde takes this to
mean that the deed is done; Jane is horrified at how casual Olunde is
about the idea that his father is now dead.
- Hearing Jane getting upset, the aide-de-camp runs in.
Thinking Olunde is to blame, he starts getting in his face and being super
insulting. Jane eventually gets him to back off and leave again, assuring
him she's better now.
- Jane and Olunde then discuss his reaction to believing
his father dead, and Jane seems to genuinely try to understand.
- Then Simon comes back and is surprised to find Olunde
there. He asks Jane to go get the aide-de-camp. (The aide-de-camp must be
getting tired from all this coming and going.)
- Olunde tells Simon he has no hard feelings about
Simon's attempts to stop the ritual from happening—but he also says he's
glad Simon didn't succeed, because the results would have been
catastrophic. Simon doesn't really seem to know how to react to this one.
- Olunde tries to scurry off to see his father's body
before it's cold, but Pilkings asks him to wait, since there were armed
policemen outside who had been told not to let people pass. He says he'll
send Olunde over to somewhere he refers to as "the place" with
the aide-de-camp and some other men.
- The aide-de-camp comes back at that moment. Simon pulls
him aside and asks him to get the keys to a cellar in the Residency's
annex (which is where enslaved people were housed in the slave trading
days).
- The two men also discuss logistics for making sure the
Residency is well guarded that night. Apparently they are worried about
rioting, and Simon mentions that he's taking "the prisoner" down
(presumably to the cellar) himself. Wait… what prisoner?
- Olunde is still trying to get Pilkings to let him leave
to be with his father's body, but Simon puts him off, saying that he's
still dealing with that situation and Olunde will just have to chill out
for now. He scuttles out, and Jane and Olunde are left there confused.
- Then they hear Elesin yelling, which is obviously kind
of a surprise, since, you know, he is supposed to be dead.
- Elesin runs in, having tried to escape his captors;
he's handcuffed and pretty angry about having his plans thwarted.
- He's shocked at finding his son there. Olunde is angry,
ostensibly because his father failed to complete his task, and tells
Elesin that he doesn't have a father anymore. Olunde leaves, and Elesin is
upset.
ACT 5 SUMMARY
- This act opens in the cell where Elesin is being held
prisoner. His bride is there (nope, she doesn't get a name). Simon enters.
- Elesin and Simon chat. Elesin laments the damage that
Simon's intervention has caused to his people, as well as the universe as
a whole.
- While they're talking, they hear Jane shouting for her
husband from elsewhere—Simon runs off to find her.
- While they're gone, Elesin kind of sorts through what
he thinks happened when he was prevented from fulfilling his duty. At
first, he thought his gods had failed him, and then he thought perhaps his
marriage (and by this, he probably means consummating his
marriage) drained him of strength and willpower.
- He definitely seems to think he would have overpowered
the "weights" keeping him from the afterlife, if he hadn't been
interrupted at that exact moment.
- Then Jane and Simon come back. Jane wants Simon to let
Iyaloja in to talk to Elesin.
- Once this is finally permitted, Iyaloja taunts Elesin
for his weakness and failure to complete his duty; she alludes to the dire
consequences of this failure.
- After lots of discussion between Elesin and Iyaloja,
women bring in a bolt of cloth covering something or someone.
- It's not immediately clear who or what is in the cloth,
but Elesin refers to it as a "courier." Apparently, he needs to
speak to the courier to fulfill what he can of his remaining duty. He's
not allowed to get close to the bolt, though, so he asks them to uncover
what is within so he can give "it" a message.
- Iyaloja removes the cover and reveals Olunde's body
lying there. It seems that Olunde sacrificed himself to complete his
father's mission.
- At the sight of his son's body, Elesin strangles
himself with his own chain.
- Iyaloja shames Simon for his continued failure to
understand their customs and for trying to help Elesin, now that he's
dead. She also yells at him for trying to close Elesin's eyes. She then
sends the bride to close and put dirt on Elesin's eyelids, as is
customary.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
ELESIN OBA
When the play opens, we learn that our protagonist is a dead man walking. According to tradition, as the
late king's horseman, Elesin must now commit suicide to join his king. The
entire play revolves around his preparations for this event… and the attempts
of local British authorities to derail it, of course.
A Brave and Honorable
Chief?
If Iyaloja and the other "women of the market"
are to be believed, Elesin has a rep for being an honorable dude; they tell him
"We know you for a man of honour" (1.45), a phrase that ends up being
a refrain as Elesin prepares for his journey to the afterlife.
That said, there seems to be some concern that Elesin,
brave as he is, will fall short of the finish line when it comes time to
actually die. For example, the Praise-Singer finds Elesin's behaviors and
questions a little suspicious leading up to the event:
ELESIN: I embrace it. And let me tell you, women—
I like this farewell that the world designed,
Unless my eyes deceive me, unless
We are already parted, the world and I,
And all that breeds desire is lodged
Among our tireless ancestors. Tell me friends,
Am I still earthed in that beloved market
Of my youth? Or could it be my will
Has outleapt the conscious act and I have come
Among the great departed?
I like this farewell that the world designed,
Unless my eyes deceive me, unless
We are already parted, the world and I,
And all that breeds desire is lodged
Among our tireless ancestors. Tell me friends,
Am I still earthed in that beloved market
Of my youth? Or could it be my will
Has outleapt the conscious act and I have come
Among the great departed?
PRAISE-SINGER: Elesin-Oba why do your eyes roll like a
bush-rat who sees his fate like his father's spirit, mirrored in the eye of a
snake? And all these questions! You're standing on the same earth you've always
stood upon. This voice you hear is mine, Oluhun-iyo, not that of an acolyte in
heaven. (1.74-75)
The Praise-Singer seems to think that Elesin's questions
and eye rolling mean he's nervous—which would obviously make the Praise-Singer anxious, since Elesin's waffling could
jeopardize not just the whole tradition, but the very balance of the universe.
Yikes.
The Praise-Singer isn't the only one with doubts about
Elesin, and Iyaloga also gets worried about his resolve when he indicates he
wants to get married on his final day on earth, possible indicating he's too
interested in earthly, er, pleasures to move on to the other side.
Elesin justifies his desire to marry and procreate as
part of a desire to "travel light" (1.98) to the afterlife, but
Iyaloja still slips in some words of warning/guidance just in case. She says:
"The living must eat and drink. When the moment
comes, don't turn the food to rodents' droppings in their mouth. Don't let them
taste the ashes of the world when they step out at dawn to breath the morning dew." (1.122)
Iyaloja's warnings rub Elesin the wrong way, and he
replies, "This doubt is unworthy of you Iyaloja" (1.123). But is the
doubt unworthy of Iyaloja, or is Elesin totally worthy of doubt? Because the
thing is, he does end up failing to cross over before
the ritual is interrupted, and he does blame his bride for his inability to
move quickly to the afterlife. So it looks like, perhaps, the concerns Iyaloja
and the Praise-Singer voice about Elesin's intentions and strength are not so
far-fetched after all.
Ladies Man
Elesin seems to have spent some serious time being quite
the ladies man. But don't take our word for it—just ask him. At one point,
Elesin exclaims:
"As Horseman of the King, the
juiciest
Fruit on every tree was mine. I saw,
I touched, I wooed, rarely was the answer No." (1.76)
Fruit on every tree was mine. I saw,
I touched, I wooed, rarely was the answer No." (1.76)
Well then. Looks like somebody was pretty popular with
the ladies, and pretty used to getting what he wants from them. We can tell how
popular Elesin is among the local women when he feigns being mad at them and
they are beside themselves trying to figure out why,
and then are super relieved when he reveals it was all a gag. They then leap
into action getting him outfitted in proper attire and ready for the ritual in
which he will sacrifice himself. Because, you know, they love him.
Doting Father (Not)
Of course, every hero has flaws and personal drama, and
Elesin is no exception, even before he fails to achieve his mission. We learn
pretty quickly that Elesin is estranged from his oldest son, Olunde, because
the kid wanted to attend medical school in England.
Apparently Elesin even locked Olunde up to prevent him
from leaving, but the local District Officer, Simon Pilkings, busted him out
and facilitated his passage. As a result, Elesin had disowned Olunde for
breaking from his family's customs and leaving the community.
However, the tables end up being turned when Elesin fails
to complete his duty, and Olunde is so ashamed that he disowns Elesin as his father. Olunde then sacrifices
himself to help complete the ritual that Elesin couldn't complete, thereby
bringing about a pretty complete role reversal. We know Elesin adores his son
because he immediately kills himself upon realizing what's happened, but
unfortunately for these two and their relationship, it's too little, too late.
SIMON PILKINGS
Simon Pilkings is a local District Officer in
Nigeria. Apparently part of his job is maintaining (British) law and order,
which means interfering with Elesin's plan to commit ritual suicide.
God Save the Queen, Er, the King's Horseman
Part of the reason Simon is so gung-ho to
prevent Elesin's suicide is that the British prince has come to visit. All the
local British folks are trying to put their best foot forward, which
means not having a "pagan" ritual going on while Mr.
Princey Pants is roaming about.
Culture Shock
Simon seems like he means well enough, but
he's kind of a bull in a china shop when it comes to navigating cultural
differences and conflict. First off, there's the whole not
understanding/wanting to stop Elesin's suicide. Without stopping to consider the
significance of the ritual—and what preventing it might mean for the
Yoruba—Simon throws all his effort into trying to keep it from going off. You
know, so his people won't get mad or be uncomfortable. Stay
classy, Simon.
He also seems to be talented at combining
cultural misunderstanding and stereotypes with blasphemy against his own
beliefs and traditions. For example, when he's trying to find out of the
drumming in the distance is related to Elesin's ritual, he gets impatient with
his servant's inability to give him a simple answer, and ends up shocking the
man with his irreverence:
"What do you mean you don't know? It's
only two years since your conversion. Don't tell me all that nonsense also
wiped out your tribal memory." (2.109)
Can we say stay classy again?
We're going to: Stay classy, Simon. Joseph is highly offended by Simon's
blasphemy—he majorly dumps of Joseph's religious beliefs—but after Jane
intervenes and explains to Simon why what he said was so objectionable, he ends
up apologizing. So… we guess being able to admit he is wrong = a point in
Simon's favor? It seems like more of a half-point, if you ask us.
With Friends Like These…
There's no doubt that Simon has good
intentions, but his total inability, and general unwillingness, to understand
the indigenous culture of the place he's living has created other problems
along the way—and in fact, as with the ritual suicide, Elesin is involved.
Partway through the play, we learn that Simon
was instrumental in helping Olunde, Elesin's eldest son, get into medical
school in England. Simon certainly thought he was doing a good thing, but it
caused a huge brouhaha with Elesin, who disowned his son for
leaving their community to practice Western medicine in England.
The eldest son has very specific duties in
Yoruba culture, so it's no wonder Elesin was peeved—importantly, though, Simon
had zero awareness of any of that, and instead was just focused on giving
Olunde the best opportunities possible… according to his own, British-based
understanding of what that looks like.
JANE PILKINGS
Character Analysis
Jane is married to Simon Pilkings, the District Manager
in the area where the play takes place. Like her husband, she is well meaning
but more than a little clueless about the culture and customs of the indigenous
folks where they live. Unlike her husband, though, she actually makes an effort
to learn about these topics, and she seems to end up translating quite a bit
for her hubs.
Cultural Sensitivity
101
For instance, when Simon manages to offend their servant,
Joseph, with a reference to holy water being "nonsense," Jane is the
one who clues Simon into the fact that Joseph is really upset, and why. She
says:
"It isn't my preaching you have to worry about, it's
the preaching of the missionaries who preceded you here. When they make
converts they really convert them. Calling holy water nonsense to our Joseph is
really like insulting the Virgin Mary before a Roman Catholic. He's going to
hand in his notice tomorrow you mark my word." (2.119)
Sure, she's still giving all the credit for the strength
of Joseph's beliefs to the missionaries (rather than Joseph himself) and
implying that his beliefs are "like" that of a real Christian (rather
than being the beliefs of a real Christian), none of which exactly
screams understanding of Joseph as his own human being. But she at least
understands that her husband has been offensive and tries to get him to
understand why he might want to apologize, so that's something, right?
Also, unlike her husband, Jane demonstrates actual
curiosity about the customs of the Yoruba people. When Olunde returns, Jane
draws him into a conversation to learn more about the ritual her husband is
trying so desperately hard to stop.
Of course, her efforts at understanding and inclusiveness
only go so far. When Olunde is super calm in announcing he believes his father
dead, she is appalled, exclaiming, "How can you be so callous! So
unfeeling! […] You're just a savage like all the rest" (4.127). And when
she does, we see that her treatment of Yoruban people as sub-human doesn't just
pertain to servants, but even to young men whose education her family has
actively been involved in.
Jane is almost immediately sheepish about her reaction,
and moves on to trying to understand Olunde's perspective. He tries to chalk up
his blasé attitude about his father's death to his medical training, but she is
dubious: "No. It has to be more than that. I feel it has to do with the
many things we don't really grasp about your people. At least you can explain"
(4.149). Olunde concedes that these "ungrasped" things could be part
of the picture as well. Maybe now would be a good time to explain the whole
keeping-the-universe-in-balance component of the rite? Just a thought…
In short, Jane seems to try a bit harder than her husband
to understand Yoruban customs and religion, but she only does so much better
than he does, and the results are, at best, mixed.
OLUNDE
Character Analysis
Olunde is Elesin's eldest son. Although he 's
left home to pursue his medical studies in England, he returns when he hears
that the king has died, since he knows this means his father must die, too.
When we meet him, he's come home to take care of the business that eldest sons
have to take care of in such circumstances.
So he's dutiful, right? But get this:
Apparently Olunde's departure to England caused some pretty serious conflict
between him and his father; in fact, his father disowned him. And yet he still
shows up pronto upon news of the king's death. He's like super dutiful,
then.
And you know that education that Olunde's
sacrificed so much for? Well, as it turns out, it's left him with a bad taste
about England in his mouth—and he says as much when Jane asks whether he is
"shocked" by seeing her in the egungun costumes she
and Simon have worn to the ball. He says no, but then adds:
"No I am not shocked Mrs. Pilkings. You
forget that I have now spent four years among your people. I discovered that
you have no respect for what you do not understand." (4.67)
Youch—what a burn. We're going to go ahead and
add outspoken to Olunde's list of attributes.
Initially, Olunde intends to return to England
to continue his studies after everything with his father is squared away—but,
as he explains Yoruban tradition to Jane, we get the sense that he still has a
lot of respect for the rituals and customs of the people he grew up with. And
because of this attention to tradition and custom, Olunde is super angry when
his dad fails to carry off the ritual suicide.
How angry is Olunde? Angry enough that he ends
up committing suicide to try to make things right, cosmologically speaking.
It's unclear whether he's successful in that aim, but what is clear
is this: The sense of duty is strong in this one.
IYALOJA
Character Analysis
She is known as the "Mother of the
Market" and, as such, seems to be the leader of the market women. She
starts out being pretty deferential to Elesin and his needs as he prepares to
make the ultimate sacrifice.
When he is pretending to be mad at her and the
other women, for example, Iyaloja's pretty much beside herself trying to figure
out how she offended him—and, even after she realizes he was just kidding
around about not being properly outfitted, she leaps into action to get him
some snazzy attire for his last day on earth.
Also, despite her reservations about
distracting Elesin with marriage and sex as he prepares for death, she ensures
that Elesin gets to marry a local girl that caught his eye. Even though this
girl is betrothed to her own son. (Good luck explaining that one at dinner,
Iyaloja.)
However, when Elesin fails to carry out his
duty to the late king and his community, Iyaloja's attitude turns around. So
instead of being deferential and sympathetic, she mocks and berates Elesin when
she visits him in the prison where Simon Pilkings has placed him to prevent any
further suicide attempts. She's his fan, but only so long as he's upholding his
duty.
To this end, Iyaloja does absolutely nothing to
soften the blow when Olunde kills himself. In fact, she really seems to revel
in building up suspense regarding the package or "burden" she brought
with her before eventually having the body carried in and revealed to Elesin.
It's a pretty cruel way to go about things, if you ask us. But then again, the
stakes of Elesin's failure are astronomically high. Literally. It's enough to
transition Iyaloja from completely subservient and deferential to Elesin to
taunting and outright mean.
MINOR CHARACTERS
Character Analysis
Sergeant Amusa
A member of the "native police,"
Amusa is the one who comes to Simon to alert him that Elesin is going to commit
suicide as part of a Yoruba ritual. Although he has converted to Islam, he
still maintains a healthy fear of, and respect for, Yoruba tradition, so he
gets super tweaky when he arrives at the Pilkings residence to
find Simon and Jane wearing costumes confiscated from local egungun men.
Simon gets really frustrated with Amusa for
maintaining such "superstitions" despite his conversion, but Amusa is
firm in not wanting (or perhaps, being able) to talk to the Pilkingses while
they're outfitted like that.
Praise-Singer
The Praise-Singer's primary function in the
play is to dialogue with Elesin and, through their banter, draw out information
about Elesin's state of mind and commitment to the task of committing ritual
suicide. We don't find out much about him or his inner life, but we do know
he's a bit doubtful that Elesin will achieve his goal. And, of course, he's
right.
Aide-de-Camp a.k.a. Bob
His primary goal is, as his title implies,
to aid the Resident and his fellow British administrators.
Like his fellow Englishmen, he isn't super sensitive to the indigenous
residents of the area and their traditions, and he gets very aggressive
and offensive with Olunde, dropping a racial epithet with ease just because
something Olunde says gets Jane emotional. Simmer down, Bob.
Joseph
Joseph is a servant to the Pilkingses. He has
converted to Christianity, so he is pretty offended by Simon's fondness for blasphemy.
Bride
She doesn't really get much to do in the play
(heck, she doesn't even get a name), but she's the girl Elesin sees wandering
around in the market and decides he's going to marry on his last day on earth.
She is kind of there in the background for a lot of the action.
H.R.H. The Prince
He doesn't play a major role in the action,
but the fact that he's visiting the area makes Simon extra upset
about the prospect of Elesin pulling off a ritual suicide, since he doesn't
want anything wonky happening to upset the applecart while the royal is around.
In this way, he's probably indirectly responsible for the intensity of Simon's
botched intervention.
Drummers
The drummers are a pretty constant presence in
the play, as their music is key to the rituals taking place. By listening to
their music, characters like Olunde and Joseph try to figure out what kind of
ritual is being performed and where the characters are at within the
ritual.
Women and Young Girls
The women and young girls of the market help
assist Elesin in preparing for his big crossover to the afterlife. To that end,
when Amusa comes to try to prevent Elesin from achieving his goal, they taunt
the policeman and, along with others, drive him away.
Dancers at the Ball
The dancers are just mentioned in passing, as
they are simply in the background. But they're there, and since we're here to
give you all the details you need, well, now you know they're there.
Constables who help Amusa go to confront
Elesin/the women
They don't really do much besides help Amusa
confront Elesin and the women. Go team.
The Resident
He is a local British administrator who is
hosting the Prince. He chews Simon out for his handling of the Elesin suicide
situation, since he's pretty concerned that such shenanigans (if successful)
could ruin the royal visit.
SETTING
ANALYSIS:
Where It All Goes Down
Oyo, an ancient Yoruba city/kingdom, Nigeria
The play is based on a real incident that took
place in Oyo in 1946. Although Soyinka warned critics against emphasizing
culture clash in their readings of the play, it's hard not to notice all the
tension going on between the British residents of Oyo and the Yoruba population
and their traditions.
The British residents clearly don't understand
the culture of the indigenous Yoruba—and yet they have a ton of
control over day-to-day life (including all that law and order jazz), so they
end up barreling over these traditions in their attempts to shape the
environment to fit their own vision of what is right or proper.
In a prime example of this kind of barreling,
Simon Pilkings tries to stop Elesin's suicide because it doesn't fit with the
British notion of morality and propriety. He reacts according to his
own values, without really ever stopping to consider those of the Yoruba
people.
Cultural insensitivity is also behind Simon
and Jane's decision to use some indigenous clothing with heavy-duty spiritual
significance as costumes for a masquerade ball. If that doesn't signal that
you're using someone else's lives and culture as a playground, what does?
The play toggles between the market, where the
traditions of the Yoruba are affirmed and celebrated, and British-controlled
locations like the Residency and the Pilkingses' bungalow (where the Yoruba are
decidedly not affirmed), so the structure itself plays out
this tension between two different worlds and their intersection.
So while Soyinka might claim that the
spiritual stuff is really the heart of the action, the culture clash is an
important part of the setting/backdrop. There's just no two ways about it.
PLOT ANALYSIS
Most good stories start with a fundamental
list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax,
suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the
recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
Long Live the King! Er, Wait…
Elesin Oba is a Yoruban chief and, until
recently, the king's horseman. However, the king recently died, and Yoruban
tradition demands that Elesin follow his king to the great beyond. So, when the
play opens, he is enjoying one final day before he fulfills that duty. And to
make sure he really enjoys himself, he arranges to get married
to a random beauty he sees roaming about the market.
Iyaloja, the woman who brings about the match,
is a little concerned that Elesin will be distracted from his duty by marriage
(okay, and sex), and the Praise-Singer following him around seems to have some
concerns as well. Elesin informs them both that he's more than ready to do his
duty to the king and his people, though, so for now, everything appears to be
copacetic.
Rising Action
Plays would be way too short
if things went according to plan, right? The local British authorities hear
about the upcoming Yoruban ritual and are less than enthusiastic about it;
Simon Pilkings, the local District Officer, sends word to the police to stop
Elesin. Naturally, the Prince (the British one) is visiting while all this is
going on and will be attending a ball at the Residency that evening, so Simon
does not want anything wacky happening—and ritual suicide, in
his eyes, is pretty wacky indeed.
Climax
The Pilkingses attend the ball at the
Residency as planned, but Simon soon gets word that local policeman Amusa did
not get far with his orders to stop Elesin. As a result, Simon has to rush out
to deal with the situation himself. You who what they say: If you want
something done right…
Left behind, Jane ends up chatting with
Olunde, Elesin's son, who has just returned from his medical training in
England after getting word that the king had died. Despite the fact that he
left the community and angered his father with his plans to go to England and
pursue a Western education, Olunde came back immediately to fulfill his duty to
his father as part of this ritual.
When he hears the drums in the distance stop,
Olunde believes that his father has achieved his goal and is now dead. However,
Simon and others return soon after, and it's clear something funky is still
going on… and then, Elesin stumbles in, handcuffed and very much alive.
Seeing that his father failed to make it to
the other side before the British could intervene, Olunde is angry and shuns
him, saying he has no father anymore. Ouch.
Falling Action
A World Upside Down
Thinking they've done a really good thing in
saving Elesin from (in their view) a barbaric custom, the British folks are
pretty puzzled by the intense anger and disappointment Elesin, Olunde, and
Iyaloja feel in the wake of their intervention.
Iyaloja comes to visit Elesin in prison and
basically chews him out for failing to achieve his goal. Elesin tries to
analyze what went wrong, pondering the possibility that his new wife made him a
bit too fond of life right before he had to abandon it. He claims that he
ultimately would have gotten it together and crossed over, had the British not
intervened when they did… but who knows?
Resolution
The Sins of the Father…
To try to right the wrong Elesin committed,
Olunde ends up sacrificing himself (that's polite for committing
suicide), and his body is delivered to Elesin in prison. Upon seeing his
son's body wrapped up in a bolt of cloth, Elesin takes the chains binding him
and strangles himself before anyone can get in his way. It's unclear, though,
whether Olunde's sacrifice (and Elesin's final gesture) will make any
difference in terms of averting cosmic disaster. Sigh.
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