Death and the Kings Horsemen

Mark Jeremiah

May 16, 2011

Eng 15

Death and the Kings Horseman

            This play was so complex, and had so many issues I barely know where to begin. The play "Death and the Kings Horseman" was written in 1975 by Wole Soyinka as a tragic, true story. The story is about the horseman of a king- Elesin, who must commit ritual suicide because the king has died.  The Yoruba people have this custom so that the soul of the king can be transported (by the soul of the horseman) to the afterlife. If the horseman either refuses or is in any way prevented from killing himself, bad luck and tragedy will befall the Yoruba people; and the horseman and his family will fall into severe disgrace. This is tragic enough by itself, but a bad situation became worse when the British authorities under Simon Pilkings decides that this custom is barbaric and will be deemed as illegal, and banned. That's when Elesin's son Olunde, a promising medical student studying abroad in Europe receives a telegram and decides to commit the ritual suicide in place of his father, to preserve the family's honor. So it seems like the folklore actually came true and was a self-fulfilling prophesy, since the town was in discord (from the horseman not killing himself); Olunde committed suicide and Elesin, devastated, also kills himself but the Yoruba people did not accept his sacrifice. A waste and a tragedy.