Summary ACT 1

Elesin and his drummers and praise-singers enter the market. The vendors are
packing up their stalls and getting ready to go home.The praise-singer asks
Elesin why he moves with such haste, and asks him if since he is going to meet
his bride, if he has forgotten the mother of his children. Elesin laughs and says
he must see his women because he has neglected them. The praise-singer
wonders if there will be anyone like himself on the other side. Elesin urges him
to remain at his side while they are in this world.

The praise-singer calls out that Elesin's name will "be like the sweet berry" and
the "world will never spit it out" (10). Elesin tells him to come along to visit his
women, and that he looks forward to smelling them and feeling them. The
praise-singer sings of the time when white slavers came and took the best of
their race –the "mind and muscle of tour race" (10). Despite this, he sings, "our
world was never wrenched from its true course" (10). Elesin says the world will
not leave its course during his time.

Elesin begins to speak of the "Not-I bird". First, he starts to dance, and the
drummer plays along. He chants the story in an easy, amiable manner. While he
speaks the women, including Iyaloja, arrive. In Elesin's story death comes
calling, and the farmer, the hunter, the courtesan, and others say "Not I" when
death seeks them. The refrain is even heard among the beasts of the forest, and
among the gods themselves. But when that same Not-I bird comes to Elesin, he
is not afraid and rolls out his welcome mat. The bird flies away and will not be
heard in his lifetime. Elesin concludes, "My rein is loosened. I am master of my
Fate" (14). He will not turn aside or delay.The women ask if anything will hold
him back and he says no, that he goes to keep his friend and master company.
They did great things together, but now, as Elesin explains, "Life has an end. A
life that will outlive fame and friendship begs another name" (15). Because life
is honor, it ends when honor does.

When the women say they know him for a man of honor, Elesin suddenly gets
angry. The women whisper and ask why he is offended. Iyaloja, the mother of
the marketplace, asks what they did wrong. Elesin asks them if his body looks
like a vagrant's. Iyaloja replies that she is confused. The praise-singer steps in
and warns him gently that when the child is remorseful, the strictest father
relents.

Elesin points to his ungainly clothes and laughs, and the women realize he was
joking and needs his rich attire. Iyaloja dances around him, pleased that he
forgave them. He is attired in elegant clothing while the women sing about
meeting him in the great market.Elesin, dressed in finery, states that the world is
good and the women tell him they know he will leave it as such. He knows he
will follow the umbilical cord of the world to its origin, and will find his roots.

He glimpses a beautiful girl, and stops to ask if he is still in the market he

knows and loves. Confused, the praise-singer tells him of course he is, and that
it is still his voice, not that of some acolyte in heaven. Elesin continues to muse,
saying his whole life he has always had whatever he wanted, especially with
women. The praise-singer replies that no one doubts his reputation.

Elesin turns to Iyaloja and asks about the woman he saw, waxing poetic on her
beauty. Iyaloja replies that she is betrothed. Elesin is annoyed and wonders why
she said that. Quickly, the woman says she did not mean to offend him. She just
does not see the need to ruin another's happiness. The women ask what is going
on and realize that the man the girl is betrothed to is her own son. She decides
not to make things difficult for Elesin as he travels to the next world, however,
and turns back to him to tell him he will not be burdened as he journeys on.

She tells him it is good that "your last strength be ploughed back into the womb
that gave you being" (22). Elesin is pleased, chiding her that her eyes were
clouded at first. She agrees but says the fruit of this union will be of both
worlds. She then warns him to make sure he goes through with his sacrifice, and
he is a bit piqued.She prepares to leave to get his bridal chamber ready, and
adds that "these same hands will lay your shrouds" (23), to which Elesin asks,
annoyed, if she has to be so blunt.The bride is led in and kneels before Elesin.

Analysis

Act I of the play is justly celebrated, but is often confusing for readers if they
have no prior knowledge of the text or Yoruba religious and social rituals. The
ritualistic language and referents are complex, with the praise-singer and
Elesin’s exchanges offering particular stumbling blocks for comprehension.
Nevertheless, the basic outline of the plot becomes clear –the King has died,
and Elesin, a local chief and the horseman of the King, is supposed to die after
him to join him in the afterlife. He does not just kill himself right away,
however (in fact, as the young houseboy Joseph puts it, he is just supposed to
die), but along the way also passes through engagements with the local women
in the marketplace, expressions of his own lack of fear and his willingness to
keep the world on course by fulfilling his duty, and song and dance with the
praise-singer.

The fact that all of this comes together in the marketplace, a metaphor for life
and the afterlife, is significant. Elesin came to bid farewell to the women,
proclaiming, “This market is my roost. When I come among the women I am a
chicken with a hundred mothers” (10). The marketplace is full of life and
vitality, just like the powerful, zesty, and sensuous Elesin. Elesin exhibits a
great deal of confidence and pride, and the reader/audience is left marveling at
the man’s power and ability to welcome his own death. The entire story of the
“Not-I” bird serves as a reminder that while most human beings are afraid of
death, Elesin welcomes it. He proclaims, “My rein is loosened. I am master of
my fate” (14).

Elesin’s apparent acceptance of his imminent death is somewhat belied by his

zeal for life. He seems just a little too happy to be surrounded by admirers; his
life seems to have been an unblemished series of events and it is possible to
read beneath his protestations of being ready to meet his fate that he would
prefer to stay alive. The best evidence for Elesin’s ambivalence comes in how
easily he is swayed by the (future) Bride, who is not supposed to be part of the
ritual at all. He notices a pretty woman and must have her, even though this is
not part of the ritual and she is betrothed to someone else.

ACT 2 Summary

The District Officer, Simon Pilkings, and his wife, Jane Pilkings, are dancing
together on the verandah of their bungalow. They are
wearing egungun costumes. One of the Native Administration
policemen, Amusa, comes up, sees what they are wearing, and accidentally
turns over a flowerpot in his distress.
Pilkings asks what the matter is, and Jane tells him it is their dress. Pilkings
takes off his mask and chides Amusa, asking if he really believes that nonsense.
Scared, Amusa replies that the outfit belongs to the cult of the dead. He begs
them to take the costumes off, but they refuse, as they are going to a ball soon.

Jane tells her husband it does not look like Amusa can talk to them like this, but
Pilkings, annoyed, says Amusa needs to remember he is a policeman in His
Majesty’s Government, and he orders Amusa to report his business.

Amusa stammers, “How can man talk against death to person in uniform of
death?” (25). Jane tries to reason with him, asking how he can be scared of the
costume, especially as he saw it confiscated from the egungun men who were
causing trouble in town. Amusa, quietly, says he will arrest the men but not
touch the costumes at all.
Pilkings is frustrated; he says that when they get like this there is nothing to be
done. They leave the room so Amusa can write on the pad. He then leaves.
Pilkings reads what he wrote and tells Jane. It seems a prominent
chief, Elesin Oba, is going to commit ritual suicide, which is a criminal offense.
Pilkings muses that he thought all this was stamped out, but it is always there
under the surface. He says it might be rumors, to which Jane replies that she
thought he felt Amusa’s rumors were unreliable.Jane asks if he ought to talk to
Elesin before arresting him, especially as this evidence seems uncorroborated.
Pilkings calls in Joseph, his houseboy. He asks Jane about the drums in the
distance, if they sound different. He knows the natives always want to make a
racket, but it seems unsettling.Joseph comes in and Pilkings asks if he is
Christian and if this outfit bothers him. Joseph replies that he is and it does not.
Pilkings asks about the chief, and Joseph says the man will not kill himself but
will simply die because it is the custom.Pilkings comments that he often has to
clash with that chief, and remembers having an issue before. He was helping the
chief’s son get into medical school in England, which the chief fought
passionately. He ended up having to help the boy escape without his father’s
knowledge.

Jane and Joseph tell Pilkings that there is perhaps more going on –if Elesin dies
before he can join the King, Olunde, the son, would have to take his place.
Pilkings says it is no wonder the son left, but concedes he does not know if
Olunde knew that.Jane responds that the natives are very private, but Pilkings
snaps that they are always willing to blurt out their secrets. Jane muses, “do they
really give anything away? I mean, anything that really counts” (29). Pilkings
mutters, “sly, devious bastards” (29) and Joseph asks if he can go. Pilkings says
he can, and he forgot he was there.Pilkings and Jane argue about using swear
words. It grows quiet but the drumming is heard. Joseph comes back and his
master asks him about the sound. Joseph says he is confused because it sounds
like the death and the marriage of a great chief. Pilkings offends him by making
a joke about holy water, and Jane rebukes him after the boy leaves, saying the
new African converts take religion very seriously.Pilkings scoffs that she is
ridiculous. The conversation turns back to the chief. Jane says he must stop it,
but he blusters that he does not care about their barbaric customs and he would
be embarrassed if it really was a wedding and he broke it up.Finally, he calls
Joseph back, who takes a while to return, claiming he did not hear. Pilkings
orders Joseph to take Amusa a note. He grudgingly apologizes about the holy
water comment.

Joseph leaves, and Pilkings tells his wife to get her costume ready because they
are going to the ball. He adds that his note said to arrest Elesin. As they prepare
to leave Pilkings shares that the Prince is touring the colonies and will be at the
ball later.
Jane replies that she now knows why he was so edgy earlier. Pilkings tells her to
shut up and come along. She jokes back and they depart.

Analysis

Act II of the Death and the King’s Horseman is very different from the first: the
language is simpler and more prosaic, the theatrics of ritual are replaced by the
mundaneness of bureaucratic colonialism, and the stirring figures of Elesin
and Iyaloja give way to the nonentities of Pilkings and his wife. That is not to
say Pilkings is not a significant character, for if there is one specific antagonist
to Elesin’s protagonist it is he, but critics largely view Pilkings as a “type”
rather than a fully fleshed character. Critic and professor Tanure Ojaide states
that “Simon Pilkings is portrayed as a typical district officer rather than an
individual” and is “symbolic of the colonial administrator rather than just a male
character.”
Indeed, this act is rife with examples of how Pilkings embodies the worst traits
of the European colonizer. First of all, he and his wife are completely culturally
insensitive, parading around in the egungun costumes without bothering to learn
anything about what they mean to the Nigerian people. When Amusa expresses
his trepidation about being near the costumes, Pilkings mocks him. Pilkings also
mocks the young houseboy, Joseph; interestingly, he mocks him for his
embrace of Western religion and “elephantine notions of tact” (27), which are
things that Europeans purportedly aimed to achieve in their colonial endeavors.
Other examples of this conspicuous lack of understanding of the people he has
supposedly come to “civilize” are his actions of sending Olunde away to
England without Elesin’s permission, and dismissing Nigerians’ extended kin
networks as mere opportunities to shield illegitimate children –“Elastic family,
no bastards” (30).
There are many examples of Pilkings saying offensive things about the Nigerian
people, and dismissing them as stupid, ignorant, and childlike. Pilkings also
seems to have a streak of misogyny in him, something not uncommon in
Western culture. His words to Jane at the end of the act, while ostensibly joking,
are still harsh: “Shut up woman and get your things on” (34).

Jane laughs along with her husband, but in other instances in the text seems to
be frustrated with her husband’s rudeness. Ojaide notes that while Pilkings is a
type –the colonial administrator –“Jane is more individualized” and “It seems
[students] see in her the humane and sensitive aspects of womanhood that are
lacking in Simon.” She cautions Pilkings not to be rash in concluding Elesin is
guilty, urges him to be kinder to Joseph, and defends the Nigerians’ “chatter” by
commenting that while they may talk a lot, “do they really give anything away?
I mean, anything that really counts. This affair for instance, we didn’t know
they still practiced that custom did we?” (29). Overall, Jane is more nuanced
and capable of thinking more deeply about the relationship between the English
and Nigerians, although it would be a mistake to claim that she is not still a
product of the dominant race.

Summary ACT 3

The front of a stall in the marketplace is covered with rich cloths. The
women are agitated. Amusa and his two constables have their batons out and
try to use them to push past the women, who hold firm. The women begin to
tease Amusa, calling him a eunuch and telling him to go back to the white
man who sent him
Amusa protests that he will come back with weapons, and tries to talk over
their jeers. The women say their husband and father will prove himself
stronger than the white man’s government tonight.Iyaloja arrives and Amusa
appeals to her. He says he is going to arrest Elesin for criminal intent, and
that the women need to stop obstructing him. Iyaloja replies that this is
merely a wedding. Amusa is frustrated with the insults lobbied at him.

Several younger girls break through and start threatening Amusa that he no
longer knows his mother or the ways of the marketplace. They knock off the
men’s hats, and then begin to pretend to be Englishmen, mimicking their
accents, affectations, and sentiments. At the end, one calls out “Sergeant!”
and Amusa actually snaps to attention. The girls collapse in hysterics.

Amusa is enraged and Iyaloja gently cautions the girls. Finally, Amusa and
his men leave, promising to come back.The women and girls begin dancing
and singing. Elesin, wearing only a white wrapper, emerges, holding a white
folded velvet cloth. He hands it slowly to Iyaloja and says it represents the
“union of life and seeds of passage” (40). He listens and says it is nearly time
to go.The Bride also emerges, Elesin says their consummation is not quite
done, and she must stay by him until he passes on. He then praises the
marketplace.

He listens again, and hears that the King’s dog and the King’s horse are
being killed before him. His eyes cloud and he smiles faintly. He says his
spirit is eager and he is ready. He seems in a state of semi-hypnosis. He asks
the mothers to let him dance into his next passage. His own dance now
becomes solemn and slow.The praise-singer joins him and asks if Elesin can
hear his voice. Elesin replies, faintly, that he can. The praise-singer
continues to speak to Elesin to make him ready. Elesin says, “I have freed
myself of earth and now it’s getting dark. Strange voices guide my feet”
(43). He appears in a deeper trance.Iyaloja speaks of death and its different
types –Elesin “dies the unknowable death of death…” (43). The praise-
singer tells Elesin he cannot sense his body anymore and that he has gone
ahead of the world.

Elesin is far into his trance. The praise-singer continues to speak to him of
the sounds he might hear and the sight of light at the end of the passage. He
asks if he sees the “dark groom and master of life” (45).The praise-singer is
overcome with emotion. Elesin dances on, heavily.

Analysis

Act III in many respects is akin to Act I, as the ritual continues with all of its
theatricality and traditional Yoruba references and folk sayings, but here the
outside forces of colonial authority permeate the bubble of the marketplace.
First Amusa and the constables come close to disrupting the ritual but are
momentarily staved off by the women and girls, and then, as we learn in the
subsequent act, actually do return and arrest Elesin before he can die
(although this happens offstage).

Important to note before continuing on to discuss the ritual is the stature of

the women and girls in this act. They are very powerful and assertive here,
keeping Amusa and the constables at bay with both their bodies and their
taunts. In particular, their aping of English accents and verbal/behavioral tics
is one of the most satisfying moments of the play. Even though they are not
ultimately successful in preventing Elesin’s imprisonment, through their
taunts they are able to demonstrate their power and wit. Interestingly
enough, their boldness and loudness is in striking contrast to that of the
Bride, who is mute not just in this act but in the entire play. It seems as if this
particular woman’s vital life force has been sacrificed for the desires and
whims of Elesin.

The rest of the act concerns Elesin’s putative carrying out of the ritual. He
proclaims his success at consummating the marriage, and that the fruit of
their union “is intermingled with the promise of future life. All is prepared”
(40). He speaks of how eager his spirit is to move on, and asks rhetorically,
“Do you know friends, the horse is born to this one destiny, to bear the
burden that is man upon its back” (41). The praise-singer and Elesin engage
in the same call-and-response, and Elesin sinks deeper and deeper into his
trance. It seems as if the ritual will be fulfilled.

This ritual is, of course, the main concern of the text. Scholar Adebayo
Williams offers interesting insights into its function in a critical article on the
text. He begins by noting how ritual is not something that is much practiced
or understood in the Western world, particularly in the modern age.
Soyinka attempts to depict just how important it is that Elesin carry out the
ritual, and how devastating it is when he cannot do so. Williams's analysis
reveals how Elesin, however, is not a particularly inspiring figure and how
the Nigerians, infiltrated so completely by the Europeans and their "various
fetishes of political authority and cultural power" can now "only produce an
Elesin, a pathetic but ultimately subversive caricature of his illustrious
forbearers." Williams sees Elesin as weak, posturing, histrionic, and prideful,
and argues that this is indeed because of the long history of imperialism in
Nigeria that renders the country's great men impotent.

Summary ACT 4

At the ball, everyone waits for the Prince, who finally enters with a
companion. The Resident and his partner enter behind. A Viennese waltz is
called for. Everyone hopes to be noticed, even though they are wearing
costumes. Pilkings and Jane get their turn, and are admired.A footman brings
a note to the Resident, who grabs Pilkings and takes him aside. He asks
about the chief and the market women rioting; he criticizes Pilkings for not
knowing about all this in advance.The native police officers approach, and
the Resident is confused, as he thought the English gave them some colorful
identifying pieces of clothing. Pilkings says their hats came off in the riot.
When Amusa sees Pilkings, he averts his eyes and mumbles about the dead.
Exasperated, Pilkings relieves him of his duties for the day. Pilkings
prepares to leave.The clock strikes midnight and Pilkings and Jane look at
each other in horror; they wonder if the act was completed. Pilkings and the
policemen leave in a hurry.

As Jane waits, the figure of Olunde emerges out of the darkness. He and Jane
greet each other, Jane effusive and friendly. Olunde says he came to see her
husband. He makes alight quip about her desecrating an ancestral mask, and
she is disappointed he cares about that. Olunde says he is not mad, but has
learned that the English do not respect the things they do not understand.
It is uncomfortably quiet for a moment. Jane says she is sorry he did not find
his time in England edifying. He corrects her and says he did, and he admires
the English for certain things, like their conduct in this war. Jane brings up a
captain who sacrificed himself for hundreds of other people. She does not
seem very condoning, but Olunde admires the man's self-sacrifice.

After a moment, Olunde urges her to tell him where he can find her husband;
he must talk to him. Jane alludes to what he husband is doing for him, and
for all black people. Olunde says he knows what is going on, that he
prepared to come home as soon as he received a cable that the King was
dead. He has come home to bury his father.
Jane is shocked. Olunde explains that there is no other protection needed
for Elesin besides the honor and veneration of his own people. Jane criticizes
him for his feudalistic and barbaric outlook and customs. Olunde responds
by gesturing to the ball, a party during wartime. Jane stiffly says it is for
therapy. Olunde calls it decadence but says he admires the white man's
ability to survive; by all accounts white men should have warred and wiped
themselves out but they know how to survive.
They argue over suicide, with Olunde taking the side that this war contains
mass suicide. He adds that at least Nigerians do not call something what it is
not. Eventually, Jane asks him if he will promise to resume his training and
become a doctor. Surprised, Olunde says of course he will.

Suddenly the drums change their tune and Olunde announces that his father
is dead. Jane screams that he is callous and savage. The Resident's Aide-de-
Camp rushes over, solicitous to Jane and cruel to Olunde. He threatens
Olunde, but Jane calms down and tells him everything is aright. The Aide-
de-Camp huffs that as soon as natives put a suit on they think they are high
and mighty.He leaves. Jane asks Olunde softly if he can explain how he has
this acceptance and peace of his father's death. Olunde kindly replies that he
started mourning for his father as soon as he heard the King died. He knew it
was his duty and he did not want to dishonor his people.
Jane is confused, saying to Olunde that his father disowned him. Olunde says
he was stubborn and did not mean it. Jane is calmer now and thanks him. At
this moment, Pilkings returns. He urgently asks for Bob, the Aide-de-Camp.

Olunde thanks Pilkings for not interfering. Pilkings looks uncomfortable. He

turns to the Aide-de-Camp when he arrives and starts discussing an old
storeroom where slaves were kept before they were shipped away.His
manner and words are confusing to Jane and Olunde. Olunde wonders if all
this fuss can be because his father killed himself. Suddenly they hear Elesin
far off, bellowing like an animal and yelling for the white men not to touch
him.Jane tries to pull Olunde away. Elesin is brought in. He stops like a
statue in front of his son. Jane cries that they should not hold him like that,
and he is released. Elesin collapses before his son. Olunde says coldly, "I
have no father, eater of left-overs" (61). He walks away and Elesin crumples.

Analysis

When this section opens the reader/audience does not yet know if Amusa
and his constables were successful, and they do not figure out that Elesin
was indeed prevented from ritual suicide until the end of the act. Of course,
Elesin's fate never was much in doubt, and there is some irony listening to
Jane and Olunde wondering why all the fuss if Elesin killed himself; it is
inevitable to us that the forces of the colonizer will succeed.
 Before addressing such matters, it bears looking at the character of Olunde,
who comes across as perhaps the most sympathetic and wisest character in
the play. First of all, his behavior itself suggests his composure and wisdom.
He talks politely to Jane but is not deferential or fawning to her; he
challenges her when he has cause to, but actually cares to help her
understand his point of view and that of his people. He is does not begrudge
the Europeans some admirable qualities, but is firm in his belief that many of
the things they do and say are deeply flawed.

Examples of Olunde's trenchant insights and rejoinders include his

comments "I discovered you have no respect for the things you do not
understand" (50and "You believe that everything which appears to make
sense was learnt from you" (53). The critic Adebayo Williams waxes poetic
about Olunde, writing, "He is armed with immense personal courage and
conviction; and his considerable intellect has been honed by a sustained
contact with the alien culture in all of its contradictions and foibles. He is
therefore a perfect match and counterfoil to the arrogance and chauvinism of
the colonial administrators." It is also quite appealing when he calls out the
decadence of the ball during a time of war, although Jane seems skeptical of
it as well.

This interlude between Jane and Olunde is fascinating, because it ably

depicts the fundamental differences between English and Nigerian society.
Jane's willingness to listen, albeit couched in outbursts and ignorance, is a
possible opening to understanding, but the difference would still remain. The
story of the captain in the war is emblematic of these warring viewpoints:
Jane sees the man's deliberate death as unwarranted, and Olunde lauds it as
self-sacrifice and an affirmation of life.

Finally, the most important moments of the play come at the end, when it is
revealed that Elesin did not kill himself but was instead arrested. Olunde's
reaction is decidedly harsh, and thus does not indicate what role he will play
in Act V. Soyinka ably creates a tension between the sympathetic nature of
Elesin's failure, prostration, and humbling, and the unwelcome yet
unsurprising awareness that the Europeans triumphed through the thwarting
of the ritual.

Summary ACT 5

Elesin is chained up in a prison cell. His bride sits mutely outside the
cell. Pilkings come in and observes the prisoner. He muses that Elesin seems
fascinated by the moon. Elesin replies to the "ghostly one" that he is indeed.
Pilkings thinks the night is peaceful but Elesin counters that it is not: Pilkings
shattered the peace forever and destroyed, not saved, Elesin's life.
Pilkings retorts that he was doing his duty, but Elesin sees that they have a very
different understanding of duty. Elesin ruminates that he is no longer mad at
Pilkings and wonders if this is part of some larger plan. Perhaps Pilkings meant
to push the world off course. What is most tragic is how the roles of father and
son are reversed. For Elesin, though, he is proud that he truly has a son; he
knows Olunde will avenge his shame.
Pilkings shrugs and relays Olunde's words that as he cannot judge his father, he
cannot despise him. Pilkings also adds that he advised Olunde to return to
England. Elesin sighs that this might be best because he lost his father's place of
honor.After a moment Pilkings asks Elesin about the contradictions of his own
race, as with the send-off Elesin was receiving. Before the chief can answer,
running feet are heard. Pilkings leaves to join Jane. Elesin turns to his bride and
speaks of blame. He says he blamed the white man, then his gods, and wants to
blame her, but he knows that she was more than a desire of the flesh, and that
she was "the final gift of the living to their emissary to the land of the ancestors"
(65).

Jane and Pilkings return, arguing about her possible interference. It

seems Iyaloja is here, and Pilkings is reluctant to let her visit. As Pilkings goes
to let her in, Elesin comments that his own wife is silent and Jane is too
talkative.Pilkings orders Elesin not to try anything funny, and the chief sighs
that there is no point and that his honor is entirely gone.
Iyaloja begins to speak angrily to the chastened chief, becoming more incensed
when she sees the Bride there. Elesin tries to defend himself, saying she saw
what happened when the shadow of the stranger fell upon him and how his
power was gone when the iron touched his wrists. Iyaloja speaks only of the
betrayal, and how he led them on as a leader. She says several times that she
came with a burden. She alludes to a reversal of the cycle of their being. Once,
she steps beyond the line drawn by Pilkings and is accosted by a guard. Pilkings
tells her she better leave.

Iyaloja speaks abstrusely, which annoys Pilkings . She tells him she is not there
to help him understand, and speaks more of burdens and asks him to release the
King so he can ride homeward by himself.

The Aide-de-Camp runs in and says a group of women and a few men are
coming up the hill. Pilkings is worried and frustrated, especially as he thinks
Olunde might be involved. Jane says her husband should trust Olunde. He tells
Bob to let them in and have Olunde be ready to leave for England. When he
comments that he will shoot if they make trouble, Iyaloja sighs, "to prevent one
death you will actually make other deaths? Ah, great is the wisdom of the white
race" (73).
The women come in, carrying a longish object covered in cloth. They set it
down. Elesin begs to be let out because he has a duty to fulfill but Pilkings
refuses. Elesin says he must speak softly and secretly.

The Praise-singer, who is also there, intones words about the journey to come
and tells Elesin to whisper to his shadow.

The object is revealed as the body of Olunde. Iyaloja says he intervened so

honor would not fly away, and the son is now the father. The Praise-
Singer criticizes Elesin for sitting on the side while the evil ones pushed the
world off its course.
Elesin is fixated on his son. Suddenly he strangles himself with the chain before
anyone can intervene. Iyaloja rebukes the white men for trying to stop him,
commenting that he has finally gone on even though it is so late.

Pilkings asks if this is what she wanted and she says no, but he brought it to be.
When Pilkings reaches to close Elesin's eyes she yells at him to stop treating
him like "pauper's carrion" (76), and the Bride steps in to do it.Iyaloja and the
Bride leave. The women sway and the dirge is louder.

Analysis

The play ends with two stunning, and perhaps surprising to some
readers/audiences, events –Olunde’s suicide to complete the ritual, and Elesin’s
suicide to attempt atonement for his failure. There are three important parts of
this last act, which include the conversation between Pilkings and Elesin,
Iyaloja’s chastising of Elesin, and the final moments of the play, in which
Olunde’s body is revealed, Elesin kills himself, and Iyaloja chastises Pilkings.

The conversation between Elesin and Pilkings is illuminating, as it offers

insights into Elesin’s character and failure, as well as the differences between
the two men. The main point of difference is duty, which Elesin believes was
tied to his role in the ritual and Pilkings believed was tied to his role as a
colonial administrator.

Elesin’s failure, which is absolute, occupies the thoughts of many critics, who
try to explain why this occurred as it did. Elesin himself wanders through
various avenues of blame, telling his Bride he blamed the white man, his gods,
and her, before he considered his own role. Indeed, many critics point to
Elesin’s own ties to the sublunary world as evidence for why the failure occurs.
Tanure Ojaide writes, “Elesin’s failure is not refusing to die, but not dying at the
appropriate moment. It is a ritual and there is a time for everything. However,
Elesin delays and provides the opportunity for his arrest and the excuse not to
die.” Olunde’s decision to commit suicide to fulfill the ritual has also provided
much fodder for discussion. Tanure Ojaide writes, “Generally, the Yoruba are
absorptive and borrow from other cultures what can strengthen theirs. Olunde’s
stay in England and his medical training only convinced him more about his
father’s responsibility of self-sacrifice”; clearly, he attained a greater “faith in
his culture and people.”

Elesin's own suicide ends the play, and Iyaloja has the last word against
Pilkings. It is an imperfect and no doubt fleeting moment of power for her as the
representative of the community, but it is something.

THEMES

Sacrifice
Sacrifice is a central component of the ritual. Only through Elesin sacrificing
himself can the ritual be completed. Of course, Elesin cannot complete this
successfully, due to both external and internal circumstances. It is Olunde who
makes the ultimate sacrifice by taking his own life so he can fulfill the Yoruba
ritual. This foreshadowed in the conversation regarding self-sacrifice between
Olunde and Jane, who have very different ideas about the nature of this act. Jane
finds the captain's sacrifice distasteful, but Olunde views it as a life-affirming
and heroic act.

Ritual
The central ritual of the text -- the king's horseman dying so he can join his
master in the afterlife -- is a fascinating component of Yoruba society, but
also functions here as a dying country's last gasp in the face of colonial
control and oppression. The ritual is important to the Nigerians in all times
and places, but there is special import here in that its success or failure seems
to say a lot about the status of resistance to the colonizers. When Elesin is
prevented from carrying it out, their world seems pushed off its axis; their
traditions and beliefs are deeply wounded. The colonizers, to put it simply,
have won. Even though Olunde completes the ritual for his father, there is a
sense that there is no going back; this culture's way of life is effectively over.

Colonialism
European imperialism/colonialism is ever-present in the text, lurking heavily
in the background of all the events. The English presence in Nigeria is by
now well established, but is still rife with instability and conflict. The central
events of the text are meant to symbolize the larger conflict: Nigerians do
not welcome this foreign regime and prefer to conduct their own affairs, no
matter how odd and "uncivilized" they seem to the English, but the English
believe their role their is positive and necessary, for while they are not only
growing rich from their colonial empire, they are supposedly bringing light
and progress to the benighted people of Nigeria.
Duty
Elesin and Pilkings represent two differing views on duty, which they both
claim to prize highly. Elesin's duty is to perform the sacred ritual that he was
meant to. It means dying for his people, and dying in the appropriate fashion.
Pilkings's duty is to enforce the laws of the English colonial empire in
Africa, which means not allowing the supposedly "barbaric" customs like the
king's horseman ritual to continue. He believes he is doing something
positive by preventing this ritual; he is saving Elesin's life as well as not
allowing the colony to remain uncivilized. Unfortunately, the duties of both
men conflict mightily with each other, and this conflict leads to the tragedies
of the last act of the play.
Music, Dance, and Poetry
Music, dance, and poetry are featured throughout the text. For the Nigerians,
they are fundamentally important parts of the ritual. They can tell stories,
induce trances and meditation and reverie, bring about transformation and
change, and overall, demonstrate great power and importance. The ritual
needs these elements to survive. The Europeans also have music and dance,
but they do not possess the same influence. The music is restrained, the
dancing stilted. The European dance/music is also sullying through its
existence in Nigeria, where it does not belong. It is alien, just as the
Pilkings's wearing the egungun costumes is an alien act.
Life and Death
Life and death, and the relationship between the two, permeate the text. The
entire ritual is concerned with the passage from one state into anther, and
Elesin's great failure is that he cannot properly make that journey. For those
of the Yoruba ritual, death is merely another state in which one can exist,
and are cycles interwoven with each other. The Europeans are also
concerned with life and death, but their perspective on it is different: life is
sacred, death is frightening and has no greater significance other than it must
come eventually -- but through God's timing, not man's.
Gender
Although it does not play as major a role as the other themes, gender
nevertheless is an important component of the text. Soyinka has several
things to say about gender. On the one hand, the women and girls of the
marketplace, particularly Iyaloja, seem to have a great deal of power: their
voices are loud and forceful. However, the Bride is completely mute and is
more or less an object that is given to Elesin to appease him. She is a cipher
who demonstrates how little power Nigerian women can possess. Jane, on
the other hand, who represents European women, may seem to have a bit
more power than her Nigerian counterparts, as she is able to talk freely with
 her husband about their various affairs and role in the colony. She does not
hesitate to offer her opinion; however, Pilkings's responses to such
utterances are telling. He often puts her down and yells at her, revealing his
misogyny. Jane may be loud, as Elesin notes, but that is where her voice
stops.

YORUBA RELIGION

The Yoruba religion informs Death and the King’s Horseman and therefore
merits consideration.Yoruba religion is found in Western Nigeria but varies
widely, even from town to town, no doubt because it was spread orally and also
incorporates parts of Christianity and Islam. The structure is referred to as
“diffused monotheism," where an omnipotent creator-god controls the universe
and lower gods preside over certain domains.

The all-powerful god is Olorun, or Olodumare. He is not actively worshipped

by followers and has no shrine for followers to worship him. He is seen as the
creator of everything but does not appear as a part of the Yoruba’s everyday
lives. Another legend posits that there were two creator-gods – Orishala and his
wife, Odudua – who may have been given the task to finish the world’s creation
after Olorun did most of it. Olorun and Orishala may also be conflated.
Occasionally Orishala is seen to rule over the 400-600 orisha (the minor gods)
as king. These minor gods and goddesses sometimes embody natural
phenomena such as rivers, or have cosmic attributes. Each deity has a shrine in
the Yoruba towns, and followers decorate them with the deity’s dress and
insignia, and bring gifts that correspond with the deity’s characteristics.

One of the most popular among the orisha is Shango. He is a god of thunder and
lightning; he throws “thunderstones” to the earth, and the Yoruba seek out those
stones for their special powers. Ogun is one of the most important gods in the
pantheon, as he is the god of war, of the hunt, of contracts and deals, and of
ironworking. He is perceived as powerful and revengeful. He is sometimes
combined with the trickster god Eshu, whom Europeans during the imperial era
identified as the Devil. This is a particularly erroneous association as there are
no “evil” gods in the Yoruba faith. Eshu, for example, may be mischievous, but
he is also the guardian of houses and villages. Orunmila is the Yoruba Grand
Priest and the custodian of the Ifa Oracle, which is the source of knowledge.
Yemoja is the Mother of Waters, the protector of women, and said to embody
the amniotic fluid in a woman's womb. Oshun also helps with childbearing, and
is said to represent sensuality, beauty, and gracefulness.Some gods belong to
particular regions only, such as Olokun (“owner of the sea”), a god or goddess
who lived below the sea and may have tried to control the earth by means of a
great flood.
The Yoruba people believe in reincarnation, but only within the same bloodline.
They believe human beings possess “Ayanmo," or destiny/fate, and can become
one with Olorun. All of their thoughts and behavior are interacting with all other
living things. They must attain spiritual consciousness on earth and then may
find communion with their “Iponri," their spiritual self. This can be done
through meditation and veneration of the gods. The Yoruba try to avoid the
wrath of the orisha and the attacks of witches and sorcerers in order to proceed
with this spiritual development. Other orisha, ancestors, and good religious
practices and rituals can assist in this in this process.