Death and the king's Horseman

Elesin has been serving as the king's horseman in the city of Oyo in Nigeria. The area is under
British control, so the British government has quite a presence… and a whole lot of power. Add a
general disinterest in understanding the Yoruban people they rule over.

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. 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.

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.

Death and the King's Horseman 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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Themes:

Mortality:For the British inhabitants of Oyo, death is to be feared and avoided, whereas for the
Yoruba, it seems like death is less scary and more something to be embraced as right at certain
times.

Principles: (duty) For the Yoruba characters in Death and the King's Horseman, being willing and
able to confront death—particularly when it's your duty to do so, as in Elesin's case—is kind of a
big badge of honor. However, by contrast, the British administrators in the region operate under
the principle that death is something to be feared and prevented, so they end up thinking that
their duty is to stop Elesin from doing his.

Fear and Courage: Fear and courage are big issues for Elesin and his community in Death and the
King's Horseman. As the late king's horseman, Elesin is duty-bound to carry out a ritual suicide,
and there's a lot of concern early on that Elesin's courage will falter at the crucial moment. Elesin
spends the early part of the play trying to reassure everyone that he's got the goods to carry the
whole plan out, but he does seem nervous and fearful… and of course, he ends up slipping in his
resolve long enough for the British to intervene and prevent the suicide. Meanwhile, the British
administration is more afraid of being embarrassed while the Prince is visiting than anything else

Cultural Conflict:Even though Soyinka tries to warn people away from a pure clash of cultures
reading of Death and the King's Horseman with his preface, it's hard not to focus on the
confrontations between the British and the Yoruba in here. After all, misunderstandings and
cultural differences drive all the major plot points, and are at the heart of the British
administrators' motives.

The British seem to have the lion's share of the power in the area, and they just don't understand
the values and customs of the Yoruba who live there—which is a big problem. And the Yoruba, for
their part, seem to feel pretty consistently bombarded with British ideals, which is definitely the
case on the day the play is set

Religion: Death and the King's Horseman isn't just about a clash of cultures—it's also about a clash
of religions. Yoruba spirituality and Elesin's attempts to confront mortality and the afterlife are
very much at the heart of the story, and Soyinka himself sees the spiritual dilemmas that the play
presents as the key thing going on. The play definitely prompts us to think about different religions
and customs and how they intersect and clash, dropping references to Islam and Christianity as
well as lots of discussion of Yorubam religious practices.

Race: In addition to being preoccupied with the twin notions of foreignness and otherness, Death
and the King's Horseman makes a ton of references to race and prejudice. The clashes between
the British and the Yoruba aren't just based on religion or even culture; there's lots of attention to
skin color, and race seems pretty important to the way the characters relate to each other and
how they are perceived by—and, in turn, perceive—others.

Gender: women not getting names and being told to shut up when they're expressing an
opinion—but they still contribute to painting a picture of the time and place our story takes place
in.

Characters

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
stop it

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.

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, 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.

Jane Pikiling: 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.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"

Olunde: 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.

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. 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. He is angry enough that he ends up committing suicide
to try to make things right

Iyaloja: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. 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 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.

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 angry 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.

Aide-de-Camp 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

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.
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 bad happening while the royal is around

The drummers are a pretty constant presence in the play, as their music is key to the rituals taking
place

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

The Not-I bird appears early on in the play, in a story Elesin tells the Praise-Singer to get him off his
back. It seems the Praise-Singer is worried that Elesin might fall down on the job and not be able
to sacrifice himself as tradition demands.

In response, Elesin tells a story about a bird who goes flying around on death's behalf,
basically telling people that death is coming for them. And every time, the response the
bird gets is "Not I". So, basically, the Not-I bird is a symbol—and a servant—of death,
and Elesin uses his welcoming of this bird to prove to the Praise-Singer and Iyaloja (and
anyone else who might be wondering) that he's up for sacrificing his life and meeting
death head on. However, the Not-I bird, with all the rejection of death associated with
him, can also be seen as a bit of foreshadowing that Elesin's death won't pan out
according to plan

Symbol: The captain and the ship

The captain and the ship symbolize the sacrifice the king's horseman will make for his
people.
Motif: Dancing
Dancing permeates the text. It is part of the ritual, and is directly connected to Elesin's
suicide. Elesin, the women, and the praise-singer dance to enact the ritual. However,
Pilkings and Jane also dance, but their dance is awkward and representative of their
outsider status.
Symbol: the egungun costumes
These costumes symbolize traditional Nigerian culture, and are improperly worn by
Pilkings and Jane.

The story is based on a historical event. In 1946, a royal

horseman named Elesin was prevented from committing ritual
suicide by the British colonial powers.