Death and the King's Horseman

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1975

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Summary

Background

Act Summaries & Analyses

Acts I-III

Acts IV-V

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Acts IV-VAct Summaries & Analyses

Act IV Summary

The scene opens at the masque ball in the Residency. Everyone wears fancy costumes, and there is a band, but they play poorly. The Prince enters along with several companions. He begins dancing, and the rest of the party goes join in. Pilkings and Jane are introduced to the Prince, who is impressed by their costumes. Pilkings and his wife show off some egungun dance steps and chat with the Prince. As they talk, a messenger arrives and delivers a note to the Resident, who extracts Pilkings from a conversation with the Prince to discuss the content of the message.

The message warns of a riot in the market, and Pilkings explains the death of the King and Elesin’s intended suicide. The Resident doesn’t understand how this custom could be connected to a riot at the market, and Pilkings suggests that Amusa, the author of the note, could be exaggerating. The Resident is disappointed with Pilkings’s handling of the situation. He reproaches the district officer and worries about making a bad impression during the Prince’s visit. Pilkings assures the Resident that everything is under control.

Just then, Amusa and his constables enter. They are missing their hats and look a little disheveled, causing the Resident to mistake them for some of the rioters. Once again, Amusa refuses to address Pilkings while he wears the egungun costume, and Pilkings sends him away, deciding to go to the market himself. The clock strikes midnight, and Pilkings suddenly worries that he is too late to stop Elesin. Jane is also worried, but she suggests that the native people keep time differently, and the ritual might still be underway. Pilkings runs off with the constables, leaving Jane alone.

A stranger enters, and Jane is surprised to recognize Olunde, Elesin’s son, who left to study medicine in England. At first, Jane is glad to see Olunde. However, he openly critiques British culture and society, and Jane is surprised and disappointed to see that he has come back “with a chip on [his] shoulder” (51). Olunde denies this, saying he admires the English for many things, including their courage in the war. He is looking for Pilkings, and Jane suddenly remembers Olunde’s connection to the evening’s events. He tells Jane she has always been “somewhat more understanding” and asks for her help talking to Pilkings. After receiving a letter telling him the King was dead, Olunde knew immediately that his father would die and returned to bury him.

Jane explains that her husband is trying to help Olunde and his people by saving Elesin’s life. Olunde replies that it is a waste of time; he must speak with Pilkings to ensure his father can complete his duty. She argues with him, calling the custom of ritualistic suicide “barbaric” and “feudalistic,” but Olunde suggests it is not so different from the indulgence of a ball in the middle of a war.

Logically, Olunde argues, the war should end with all white people killing each other and their culture dying out. However, he has learned that white people’s greatest skill is survival. He suggests that the war is nothing but a mass suicide; “murderous defeats” are often framed as victories, which he believes dishonors the dead and their sacrifice. Jane argues that morale must be maintained, but Olunde says that the English are no better than anyone else and they have no right to judge others. Jane worries that Olunde developed a bad opinion of the British because he suffered from discrimination in England, but he replies that his time among the English helped him to better understand and appreciate his own culture.

The beat of the drums changes, and Olunde knows his father is gone. Horrified by his calm acceptance, Jane breaks down sobbing and calls him “a savage like all the rest” (55). Olunde excuses himself, saying he wishes to see his father’s body, but Jane stops him, asking him to help her understand the custom and his “unnatural” acceptance of Elesin’s death. Olunde explains that he has thought of his father as dead since receiving news of the King’s passing; he is focused on performing the duty expected of him so that no harm will come to his people.

Jane seems to accept this explanation and tells Olunde he may leave. He is stopped again, however, by the arrival of Pilkings. Olunde tells Pilkings that he understands why he tried to stop his father’s suicide but that succeeding would have been “a terrible calamity.” Pilkings isn’t sure how to respond and stammers in confusion. Olunde tries to leave again, hoping to reach his father’s body before it grows cold, but Pilkings tells him there are armed guards at the market with orders to keep everyone out. He offers to send Olunde with an escort, which Olunde accepts if it can be arranged quickly.

Pilkings calls over the aide-de-camp and asks if bars are still in the Residency’s cellar; he wants to keep “the prisoner” there for the night. He also asks the aide-de-camp to station guards that will keep any trouble well away from the Prince. Olunde asks to leave again, but Pilkings snaps that he is dealing with “a crisis” and hurries off. Confused that all the trouble results from his father’s death, Olunde asks Jane if any other conflict could be causing the riot.

From off stage, Olunde and Jane hear Elesin shout. Jane starts to understand what is happening and tries to usher Olunde away. Before she can do so, Elesin rushes in, handcuffed. Olunde refuses to look at his father, and Elesin collapses at his feet, crying out to his son. Olunde tells Elesin that he has no father and slowly walks away.

Act V Summary

The scene opens in the Residency’s cellar, where Elesin is held captive. He is handcuffed in his cell and looks out from the bars while his young wife stands nearby.

Pilkings enters, and he and Elesin talk. Elesin tells Pilkings that he has “shattered the peace of the world forever” (62) by preventing his suicide. He claims that Pilkings ruined his life rather than save it and jeopardized his people’s lives and the balance of the universe. Pilkings tells Elesin that he did his duty and has no regrets. They talk about Olunde, and Elesin says that he is glad his son went away; he believes he will use the secrets he learned in England to avenge his father. Pilkings tells Elesin that he has spoken with Olunde, and his son regrets his harsh words to Elesin and wants to say goodbye before he returns to England. Pilkings thinks it is best that Olunde leave, and Elesin remarks that Pilkings advises everyone but wonders where he gets his authority. Jane calls Pilkings from off-stage, and he hurries to find her, leaving Elesin alone with his wife.

Alone, Elesin considers the various factors that led him to fail in his duty. He feels abandoned by his gods but also blames his wife and the consummation of the marriage for draining his will to die. He even admits to “a weight of longing” (65) that held him to the earth. Despite this weight, Elesin tells himself he still would have departed if he hadn’t been interrupted by Pilkings.

Jane and Pilkings return. He carries a note that seems to be from Olunde. The note threatens more rioting if Olunde cannot see his father. Jane wants Pilkings to allow the visit, but her husband hesitates. However, he tells Elesin about the note and informs him that Iyaloja has arrived with a group of women hoping to see Elesin. Pilkings warns Elesin not to accept anything from Iyaloja. When she enters, Pilkings tells Iyaloja to keep her distance from Elesin before leaving them alone together.

Iyaloja is disgusted with Elesin for his failure, and he doesn’t try to defend himself. She accuses him of bringing an “abomination” on his people and berates him for planting new life in his wife while unable to let go of his own. Elesin explains that his strength left him when the moment came to die; he felt as if a stranger had taken his will away. Iyaloja continues to accuse him of betrayal, explaining how his people had trusted him and he let them down. Finally, Elesin tells her to stop; he has been shamed enough. However, Iyaloja announces she has a final “burden” for Elesin.

Before she brings the burden through the gate, she asks Elesin which shoot of the plantain tree withers so that the other can have sap. Elesin replies that the parent shoot is the one that withers. Iyaloja agrees but tells Elesin that sometimes the order of things must be reversed. She gets angry and crosses the line Pilkings set out, causing the guard to blow his whistle and Pilkings to rush in. Pilkings tells Iyaloja to leave, but she insists on delivering her burden first.

Accompanied by the Praise-Singer, a group of women enter with a cylindrical shape shrouded in cloth. Iyaloja tells Pilkings the burden is of his making, and Elesin asks Pilkings to let him out of the cell so he can perform his final duty. Pilkings refuses. Iyaloja tries to convince him, and even Jane tries to step in, but Pilkings holds firm. Referring to the bundle as the “courier,” Elesin decides to perform the final rites required of him in silence. The bundle is opened to reveal Olunde’s body. Iyaloja explains that Olunde took his father’s place to restore honor to his family and balance the universe. The Praise-Singer tells Elesin that he allowed their world to be swept off course. Olunde tried to correct Elesin’s mistake, but the child is not meant to care for the father, and the world is still off track. After staring at his son’s body, Olunde strangles himself with his own shackles and dies before anyone can stop him.

Pilkings tries to resuscitate Elesin, but Iyaloja demands that he stop, saying no one, not even Elesin, would thank him. She tells Pilkings that he meddled in affairs he did not understand, and because of this, Olunde is dead. Pilkings tries to shut Elesin’s eyes, but Iyaloja stops him with a shout. She gestures to Elesin’s bride, who shuts her husband’s eyes and sprinkles earth over his eyelids. Iyaloja tells the young woman to forget about the living and the dead; she must focus on the unborn. The lights come down, and Iyaloja and the bride exit.

Acts IV-V Analysis

Setting once again plays a key role in the final two acts of the play. Act IV opens on the masque ball in the Residency’s great hall. Although it is an important event with the Prince in attendance, the decorations are described as “tawdry,” and the band plays “badly.” The Resident is trying to recreate an elegant English ball, but the distance from home cannot be disguised. Like Pilkings in his desire to maintain order while the Prince is visiting, the ball is focused on producing the illusion of grandeur. However, this illusion is undermined by the reality of the colonial setting and the Yoruba ritual taking place just down the road at the market.

When Olunde arrives, his conversation with Jane helps reveal many of the key conflicts between the British and Yoruba cultures and illustrates the importance of Elesin’s ritual, once more invoking Cultural Conflict and the Impact of Colonialism. At first glance, Olunde’s manner of dress and speech reflect his time spent in England. However, the Westernization of his appearance is quickly placed at odds with the thoughts and ideas he expresses. Jane is disappointed that Olunde has “learnt to argue.” She assumed that his immersion in British culture would cause him to become more convinced of British superiority, and she becomes more and more uncomfortable as Olunde continues to express the contrary. In fact, Olunde’s commitment to his culture has grown even stronger. He tells Jane that his time in England helped him better understand Yoruba culture, and he “will never give it up” (54). He admires certain things about the British, but he points out that neither culture is objectively better and, therefore, neither has the right to judge and impose upon the other.

Death and the King’s Horseman is based on true events that occurred in 1946. However, for dramatic purposes, Soyinka chose to set the play’s events back in time a few years, so that the action takes place during the end of World War II. This choice allows Olunde to draw on the horrors of the war as an example of the hypocrisy of European culture. He argues that the British condone the “mass suicide” of the war yet condemn his father’s ritual suicide as “barbaric.” Due to duplicity like this, Olunde insists that the British have no right to judge other cultures and must find “the humility to let others survive in their own way” (53). This is perhaps the play’s most explicit critique of the colonial agenda, and even Jane begins to understand Olunde’s point of view. When Olunde sees that Elesin is still alive, his continued connection to his culture is confirmed: He is so ashamed that he cannot even look at his father. Like the women at the market, he accuses Elesin of eating “leftovers” (See: Symbols & Motifs) and claims that his father is dead to him.

The play’s final act is set in the cellar of the Residence, where Elesin is imprisoned in a cell that was once used to hold enslaved people before they were sent across the ocean. Although the days of slavery have passed and the colonial project is not directly responsible for Elesin’s failure, this setting implies the brutal legacy of colonialism and its lasting effects on Nigeria and Yoruba culture. Iyaloja insists that Elesin is unequivocally responsible for his Duty and Failure, but the cellar is a reminder that the Yoruba way of life has been under assault for centuries.

Desperate to hold on to a scrap of his dignity, Elesin tries to blame Pilkings for his inability to complete the ritual. However, he finally admits that his “weakness came not merely from the abomination of the white man” (65), but was also a personal failing. With his failure, all the glory that Elesin enjoyed in life has abandoned him. The life he loved and clung to in his last moments is gone. Women like Iyaloja, who used to cater to his every need, now accuse him of betrayal. Using the symbol of the plantain stalk, Iyaloja reveals Olunde’s death (See: Symbols & Motifs). Elesin has upset the balance of the universe, and Olunde tried to correct his father’s mistake. However, the child is not meant to care for the parent, so the balance remains compromised. Bereaved and ashamed, Elesin dies by suicide, now as reluctant to face life as he once was to face death.