Elisabeth Thompson
Professor Helms
Global Literature
29 September 2021
Death and its various connotations has been a topic of much discussion throughout the texts we have thus far covered in class. Death and the King’s Horseman, a play written by Wole Soyinka, is an especially important example of this topic, though its coverage spanned across many of the other resources we looked at in class. In Death and the King’s Horseman, the perspectives of different cultures as well as the perspectives of different individuals within those cultures regarding death and dying can be seen. It also provides a comparison to ideas regarding death and dying in its various forms in the past vs. the relative present. Culture, as well as circumstance, majorly affect the way that people think about and view specific aspects of life and death.
In the play Death and the King’s Horseman, the main idea is suicide as a mode of dying. The main character, Elesin, the late king’s horseman, is all set to undertake a sacrificial ritual that will culminate in his own suicide. This event provokes many varied reactions from the other characters. The European characters in the play, the district officer Simon Pilkings and his wife Jane, have a very negative reaction to learning about the ritual. They are both unsettled by it, and Jane is shocked. They both see it as an evil, and something they cannot stand by and watch happen. Simon, because it is his job to prevent it. Although, thinking about someone going through with suicide does unsettle him. Jane, on the other hand, just feels deeply that they cannot allow a man to die that way. “JANE (laughs): I know you better than that Simon. You are going to have to do something to stop it- after you’ve finished blustering (Soyinka, pg. 31).” She does not see it as right and thinks of it as a tragic waste of life. Both of these European characters see death as a terrible thing, something to be avoided at all costs. They also see the ritual as a kind of barbaric tradition, as they, at least at first, refused to look at things from any other perspective than that of their own culture.
This kind of willful ignorance of other people’s culture can be connected to the episode of Nikole Hannah-Jones’s podcast, 1619. Her podcast talks about the whitewashing of American history, and about how the contributions black people have made for our country have not been properly recorded. For a long time, we ignored the death and the pain of the marginalized black people in our country. It isn’t until recently that our eyes have begun to be opened. Black people were, and still are, though less acceptedly, being killed in the streets for nothing other than expecting equal treatment and the same rights as white people. This happened because they were seen as different, and white people did not care to learn about those differences or try to understand them. Not until fairly modern times, as is illustrated in the podcast, did people begin to do this. The Pilkings’ were doing the same thing in the play. They ignored the cultural differences of the native people regarding death until they were forced to see and attempt to understand them. “PILKINGS (in a tired voice): Was this what you wanted? IYALOJA: No child, it is what you brought to be, you who play with strangers’ lives, who even usurp the vestments of our dead, yet believe that the stain will not cling to you. (Soyinka, pg. 76).” By trying to make things fit into their own mold, the Pilkings’, much like the white people talked about in 1619, just made everything worse for everyone involved.
For the most part, the native people celebrated the death that would result from the ritual Elesin was supposed to complete. They believed that the ritual would bring them prosperity, and if not completed, ruin and devastation. This can be illustrated with this quote from the play, “WOMEN: The world is in your hands (Soyinka, pg. 18).” As such, they lauded Elesin as a hero, the person who would be brave enough to venture into the next life and bring them to that prosperity. By dying in this manner, he would die with honor and the praise of his people. He would leave a legacy his family could be proud of. There was an exception, though, in the praise singer that was following him around. At first, he seemed sad that Elesin was leaving him and the rest of the world behind. He even stopped to cry. “…If the world were not greater than the wishes of Olohun-iyo, I would not let you go… (He appears to break down… (Soyinka, pg. 45).” But, later, he seemed upset along with the rest of the people when Elesin did not complete the ritual. He was acting as if he cared about him dying personally, but really, he just saw Elesin’s death as a means to an end.
Elesin himself saw the prospect of his life ending differently from all of the others. He understood that it was his duty to his people and was proud of the role he had to play. Especially since he got to enjoy all the benefits of said role the entire time he was alive. But, as the end neared, he felt hesitant. He did not want to leave his world of ease and pleasure behind. He even felt relieved, for a moment, when Pilkings came to stop him. He says as much near the end when he is talking to his new bride. “…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… (Soyinka, pg. 65).” That is until he realized that not completing the ritual destroyed his legacy and he would have no hope of a pleasant future among his people. Suicide, then, at the proper time, looked like the better option to him. It was the only way out of his life that would provide him any measure of peace. When that was no longer an option, he went through with suicide any way. Whether it was because he wanted to join his son who had made the sacrifice in his place, or because he did not see any hope of a happy future ahead of him, I don’t know.
This, I feel, is similar to how the slaves in The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, written by Olaudah Equiano, felt on the slave ship headed for Europe. They were living in horrific conditions, torn from family and friends, with no hope in the world and no hope for a happy life on the other side of the ocean. So, some of them jumped overboard when they saw a chance, thinking that suicide was the best option they had left. “One day, when we had a smooth sea, and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen, who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings, and jumped into the sea: immediately another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same… (Equiano, pg. 59).” This situation is different from that of Elesin because their living conditions and the way they were treated was inexpressibly worse. But, in a sense, Elesin was a captive to his fate. There was no option for him. It was death or misery. No one was celebrating the attempted suicide of those slaves on that ship though. At the best, they received pitied acceptance of the tragic choice from their fellow captives, at worst physical pain and outrage from the white slavers. Another difference in the connotations of death revolving around the slaves as opposed to Elesin is that the slaves were looked on as the property of the white men. And as such, they were not supposed to have the choice to kill themselves. They were treated like animals, to be slaughtered only when the white men chose to do so.
Olunde also had an interesting take on death. Like Elesin, he saw the ritual as a duty, and like the majority of the native people, he saw it as necessary for his people’s future prosperity. In addition to this, though, Olunde’s character put death into perspective. He made comparisons between the way his culture viewed death and dying and the way the European people of the time viewed it. His major point was the way Europeans viewed war. “JANE: Through ritual suicide? OLUNDE: Is that worse than mass suicide? Mrs. Pilkings, what do you call what those young men are sent to do by their generals in this war? Of course you have also mastered the art of calling things by names which don’t remotely describe them (Soyinka, pgs. 53-54).” This quote makes the reader think about the nature of war. In the play, Elesin was meant to make a sacrifice to provide the people of his country with a sense of security. Every day during the war, thousands upon thousands of men were asked to do the same thing under a different name in Europe. The only difference, at least where Jane was concerned, was that war was accepted and valued in European society while ritual suicide was not.
I believe that Olunde sees death as the natural order. Certain things need to happen at certain times, and he has accepted this fact. When Elesin failed to complete the ritual, he was upset because the natural order was not proceeding as it should have. Not because his father was still alive. Phillis Wheatley, in her poem “To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady’s Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name Avis, Aged One Year,” represented death as a happy and natural thing as well. She believed that people, when they died, went to a better place, namely, heaven. This is shown where she says, “Resign thy friends to that Almighty hand, Which gave them life, and bow to his command; Thine Avis give without a murm’ring heart, Though half thy soul be fated to depart (Wheatley, Lines 21-24).” This way of thinking is a notion not talked about much anymore. In modern times, death is seen as either tragic or cowardly, without much in between. Olunde and Wheatley’s perspective, in this way, is different from many of the other characters in Death and the King’s Horseman.
In conclusion, death has many different connotations throughout history. Many of these different connotations are highlighted in the play Death and the King’s Horseman on its own, though they are supported by many of the other readings and resources we have covered in class as well. Death is a controversial topic for many people. Different cultures have different perspectives on it, and, often, this can cause strife. Especially when there is a dominant culture present in the situation. These different resources represent the importance of seeing, not only death, but all things from other’s perspectives. One’s culture may affect the way they view and think about specific aspects of life and death, but that doesn’t mean it is acceptable for that person to only see one specific way of doing things as correct.
Works Cited
Equiano, Olaudah, and Vincent Carretta. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. Penguin Books, 2003.
Hannah-Jones, Nikole. 1619. 9 Feb. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOHvXHLNeM. Accessed 1 Oct. 2021.
Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King’s Horseman. W.W. Norton, 2002.
Wheatley, Phillis. “To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady’s Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name Avis, Aged One Year.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45467/to-a-gentleman-and-lady-on-the-death-of-the-ladys-brother-and-sister-and-a-child-of-the-name-avis-aged-one-year.
Sprockets and Springes 