Death and the King's Horseman

“PRAISE-SINGER. In their time the great wars came and went, the little wars came and went; the white slavers came and went, they took away the heart of our race, they bore away the mind and muscle of our race. The city fell and was rebuilt; the city fell and our people trudged through mountain and forest to found a new home but—Elesin Oba do you hear me?

ELESIN. I hear your voice Olohun-iyo.

PRAISE-SINGER. Our world was never wrenched from its true course.”

Here, the Praise-Singer refers to the history of Nigeria and the trials the Yoruba people have faced. He mentions Cultural Conflict and the Impact of Colonialism and the trading of enslaved people, which decimated their population. However, he says that none of these events have managed to change the course of the world. None of them have caused tragedy like Elesin’s failure to die would cause. His insistence that Elesin listen suggests further doubt of the horseman’s resolve. The Praise-Singer feels that he must remind Elesin of his duty and press upon him the importance of completing the ritual.

“How can that be? In all my life

As Horseman of the King, the juiciest

Fruit on every tree was mine. I saw,

I touched, I wooed, rarely was the answer No. 

The honor of my place, the veneration I 

Received in the eye of man or woman 

Prospered my suit and

Played havoc with my sleeping hours.”

Elesin reflects on his life as the king’s horseman and all of the luxuries he was granted because of his position. He has led a privileged life, full of earthly pleasures, which he took full advantage of. Elesin openly admits to his reputation as a ladies’ man, boasting about his success with women and the admiration he received from everyone in his community.

“Who speaks of pleasure? O women, listen! 

Pleasure palls. Our acts should have meaning. 

The sap of the plantain never dries.

You have seen the young shoot swelling 

Even as the parent stalk begins to wither. 

Women, let my going be likened to

The twilight hour of the plantain.”

Here, Elesin defends his wish to take a new wife before he dies. He argues that he is not motivated by a desire for pleasure. Rather, he claims that he wants to pour what is left of himself into a new life. He attempts to make the act seem noble, as if having sex with his new bride is his final act of service. His allusion to the “twilight hour of the plantain” to refer to the cycle of life will take on a new symbolic meaning later in the play, once he fails to go through with the suicide (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“ELESIN. You really mistake my person Iyaloja.

IYALOJA. I said nothing. Now we must go prepare your bridal chamber. Then these same hands will lay your shrouds.

ELESIN (exasperated). Must you be so blunt? (Recovers.) Well, weave your shrouds, but let the fingers of my bride seal my eyelids with earth and wash my body.

IYALOJA. Prepare yourself Elesin.”

Iyaloja finally agrees to Elesin’s request for a new bride. However, she also reminds him that the women of the market will simultaneously prepare for his wedding and funeral. Elesin doesn’t appear to appreciate the reminder. His exasperation suggests that he has yet to come to terms with his impending Death and Mortality.

“PILKINGS. Nonsense, he’s a Moslem. Come on, Amusa, you don’t believe in all this nonsense do you? I thought you were a good Moslem.

AMUSA. Mista Pirinkin, I beg you sir, what you think you do with that dress? It belong to dead cult, not for human being.

PILKINGS. Oh Amusa, what a let down you are. I swear by you at the club you know—thank God for Amusa, he doesn’t believe in any mumbo-jumbo. And now look at you!”

In Act II, Amusa refuses to speak to Pilkings while he wears the egungun costumes, even though he has converted to Islam. Amusa’s reaction to the clothes illustrates that his conversion is not as complete as Pilkings believed. The ceremonial outfits still hold a significant power for him, suggesting a failure of colonialism and the introduction of new religions. Pilkings, meanwhile, is baffled by Amusa’s fear, illustrating his complete lack of awareness regarding the complexity of local identity. The incident speaks to Cultural Conflict and the Impact of Colonialism within the characters’ dynamics.

“Olunde. Haven’t replied to his last letter come to think of it. The old pagan wanted him to stay and carry on some family tradition or the other. Honestly I couldn’t understand the fuss he made. I literally had to help the boy escape from close confinement and load him onto the next boat. A most intelligent boy, really bright.”

Pilkings refers to the last conflict he had with Elesin when he helped Olunde leave the colony to attend medical school in England. Instead of trying to understand Elesin’s objections to his son’s departure, Pilkings wrote them off as ridiculous. Now, having done nothing to rectify his understanding, Pilkings is in more or less the same position: He is trying to interfere in the lives of the Yoruba people without understanding the ramifications of his actions.

“JANE. Simon, you really must watch your language. Bastard isn’t just a simple swear-word in these parts, you know.

PILKINGS. Look, just when did you become a social anthropologist, that’s what I’d like to know.

JANE. I’m not claiming to know anything. I just happen to have overheard quarrels among the servants. That’s how I know they consider it a smear.”

Here, Jane steps in, telling her husband to be more careful about the way he speaks to the Yoruba people. Even her basic understanding of local customs is news to Pilkings, who snaps at his wife. Pilkings’s reaction illustrates that he has no desire to expand his knowledge of the local population. Furthermore, he thinks Jane’s interest is ridiculous and annoying, mocking her for being “a social anthropologist.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? It’s only two years since your conversion. Don’t tell me all that holy water nonsense also wiped out your tribal memory.”

Pilkings snaps at his houseboy, Joseph, revealing that he does not really care about the colonial agenda of Christianizing native populations. To him, believing in “holy water” is just as silly as believing in the “mumbo-jumbo” of Yoruba mythology. Furthermore, when Joseph forgets his traditional beliefs at a time that is inconvenient for Pilkings, he gets annoyed, illustrating that he only has his own interests at heart.

“You ignorant man. It is not he who calls himself Elesin Oba, it is his blood that says it. As it called out to his father before him and will to his son after him. And that is in spite of everything your white man can do.”

When Amusa goes to the market to stop Elesin’s suicide, a group of women block his way. Here, one of them insults Amusa for his ignorance of the ritual. She tells him that Elesin is meant to die, just like previous and future generations, in a tradition that has continued even with interference from colonial forces.

“Then tell him to leave this market. This is the home of our mothers. We don’t want the eater of white left-overs at the feast their hands have prepared.”

Again, the women at the market reject Amusa for his association with the colonial government. Accusing him of eating “left-overs” suggests that he has abandoned his honor and is content with settling for living off that which others would throw away (See: Symbols and Motifs).

“WOMAN. Did you hear them? Did you see how they mimicked the white man?

WOMAN. The voices exactly. Hey, there are wonders in this world!”

It is a group of young girls that finally banish Amusa and his constables from the market. They stand up to the men, humiliating them and talking in mock British accents. After, the older women celebrate the girls. Their strength is a sign that the Yoruba people are still alive and well. They are unafraid of their oppressors, and because they know them well enough to imitate them, they can outsmart them.

“This is where I have chosen to do my leave-taking, in this heart of life, this hive which contains the swarm of the world in its small compass. This is where I have known love and laughter away from the palace. Even the richest food cloys when eaten days on end; in the market, nothing ever cloys.”

Here, Elesin describes the market and his relationship with the place. His choice to die in the “heart of life” contributes to his ultimate clash with Duty and Failure. Surrounding himself with the reminders of everything he loved about his life reveals that Elesin is not, in fact, ready to die, and it makes it impossible for him to let go.

“OLUNDE (mildly). And that is the good cause for which you desecrate an ancestral mask?

JANE. Oh, so you are shocked after all. How disappointing.

OLUNDE. 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.”

Olunde’s character offers the most explicit critiques of Cultural Conflict and the Impact of Colonialism. Jane assumes that his time in England, along with his Westernized appearance and way of dress, means that he has abandoned his Yoruba beliefs. However, Olunde quickly illustrates that the two are not mutually exclusive. His association with British culture has taught him the value of his traditional beliefs.

“OLUNDE. I don’t find it morbid at all. I find it rather inspiring. It is an affirmative commentary on life.

JANE. What is?

OLUNDE. That captain’s self-sacrifice.

JANE. Nonsense. Life should never be thrown deliberately away.”

When Jane and Olunde discuss a ship captain who blew himself up with his ship to save the lives of innocent bystanders on the shore, the differences between Yoruba and British relationships with Death and Mortality become apparent. Olunde argues that death can be a good thing, a noble sacrifice for the greater good. Jane, on the other hand, asserts that death should be avoided under all circumstances.

“OLUNDE. And this? Even in the midst of a devastating war, look at that. What name would you give to that?

JANE. Therapy, British style. The preservation of sanity in the midst of chaos.

OLUNDE. Others would call it decadence. However, it doesn’t really interest me. You white races know how to survive; I’ve seen proof of that. By all logical and natural laws this war should end with all the white races wiping out one another, wiping out their so-called civilization for all time and reverting to a state of primitivism the like of which has so far only existed in your imagination when you thought of us. I thought all that at the beginning. Then I slowly realized that your greatest art is the art of survival. But at least have the humility to let others survive in their own way.”

Olunde uses the ball held during a brutal war as an example of the hypocrisy of white culture. He argues that certain British customs are also senseless and even brutal from an outside perspective. He knows that white society will endure, but letting go of illusions of superiority will allow others to “survive in their own way” too.

“Don’t think it was just the war. Before that even started I had plenty of time to study your people. I saw nothing, finally, that gave you the right to pass judgement on other peoples and their ways. Nothing at all.”

Here, Olunde again points out the hypocrisy of colonialism and the idea of British superiority. He argues that no society is objectively better than another and, therefore, has no right to impose their beliefs and way of life on another. The war aside, he still believes that there is nothing inherently better about the British. Once again, Olunde is reflecting on Cultural Conflict and the Impact of Colonialism.

“OLUNDE (he moves for the first time since he heard his voice, brings his head slowly down to look on him): I have no father, eater of left-overs.”

When Olunde sees his father alive, his reaction affirms his commitment to his Yoruba roots. He insults Elesin by implying that his father has chosen to scrounge for “left-overs” instead of dying with honor (See: Symbols & Motifs). This moment also illustrates the role reversal between father and son: Olunde is now disowning his father as his father once disowned him.

“No. What he said must never be unsaid. The contempt of my own son rescued something of my shame at your hands. You may have stopped me in my duty but I know now that I did give birth to a son. Once I mistrusted him for seeking the companionship of those my spirit knew as enemies of our race. Now I understand. One should seek to obtain the secrets of his enemies. He will avenge my shame, white one. His spirit will destroy you and yours.”

Instead of being shamed further by Olunde’s rejection, Elesin takes some comfort in his son’s harsh words. Olunde’s disgust shows Elesin that Yoruba rituals and traditions are still important to his son. Living in England has not made Olunde British, and Elesin feels like he succeeded in raising an honorable man.

“First I blamed the white man, then I blamed my gods for deserting me. Now I feel I want to blame you for the mystery of the sapping of my will. But blame is a strange peace offering for a man to bring a world he has deeply wronged, and to its innocent dwellers […] You were the final gift of the living to their emissary to the land of the ancestors, and perhaps your warmth and youth brought new insights of this world to me and turned my feet leaden on this side of the abyss. For I confess to you, daughter, my weakness came not merely from the abomination of the white man who came violently into my fading presence, there was also a weight of longing on my earth-held limbs. I would have shaken it off, already my foot had begun to lift but then, the white ghost entered and all was defiled.”

Here, Elesin speaks to his young bride, trying to explain his capitulation when forced to choose between Duty and Failure. He tries to blame the gods, the white man, and his new wife for holding him to the world of the living. He finally admits to his own longing as his weakness, but he still holds that he would have overcome it if he had not been interrupted.

“You have my honor already. It is locked up in that desk in which you will put away your report of this night’s events. Even the honor of my people you have taken already; it is tied together with those papers of treachery which make you masters in this land.”

Pilkings tells Elesin that he trusts him to behave well when Iyaloja visits his cell, and Elesin replies that Pilkings has already taken everything from him. He argues that the colonial government has taken his own and his people’s honor. He has nothing left to give. Elesin’s rebuke alludes to Cultural Conflict and the Impact of Colonialism, but his sense of defeatism contrasts with the strength and enduring cultural identity demonstrated by Yoruba like Olunde and the young women of the market, who successfully defy their oppressors.

“We called you leader and oh, how you led us on. What we have no intention of eating should not be held to the nose.”

Here, Iyaloja, who often speaks in Yoruba parables, accuses Elesin of enjoying the perks of being the king’s horseman without intending to fulfill his duty of ritual suicide. The Yoruba people revered him as a leader and cared for all his earthly needs. However, he abandoned them and did not hold up his side of the bargain, speaking to the high cost of Duty and Failure.

“There lies the honor of your household and of our race. Because he could not bear to let honor fly out of doors, he stopped it with his life. The son has proved the father Elesin, and there is nothing left in your mouth to gnash but infant gums.”

When Iyaloja reveals Olunde’s body to Elesin, she explains how he has taken his father’s place. Olunde’s convictions proved stronger than his father’s, and he took on Elesin’s responsibility. Elesin has been reduced to a child, while his son accepted the role of the father.

“Elesin, we placed the reins of the world in your hands yet you watched it plunge over the edge of the bitter precipice. You sat with folded arms while evil strangers tilted the world from its course and crashed it beyond the edge of emptiness—you muttered, there is little that one man can do, you left us floundering in a blind future. Your heir has taken the burden on himself. What the end will be, we are not gods to tell. But this young shoot has poured its sap into the parent stalk, and we know this is not the way of life. Our world is tumbling in the void of strangers, Elesin.”

Here, the Praise-Singer echoes Iyaloja’s accusations. He places the blame squarely on Elesin, claiming he did nothing to stop the destruction of the Yoruba way of life. Although Olunde did what he could to restore order, the natural way of things does not permit the child to become the parent. Thus, the world remains off-balance. The Praise-Singer’s use of the imagery of the “young shoot [that] has poured its sap into the parent stalk” echoes Elesin’s earlier use of plantain imagery, only now with the sap-giving forces reversed (See: Symbols & Motifs).