Character Clues

Character Analysis

Clothing

You know how they say to dress for the job you want, not the job you have? Well, the same principle is kind of at work in Elesin's life: On the day he's planning to sacrifice himself, he makes a big deal of trying to dress the part of the hot stuff horseman who's bravely headed to the afterlife without complaint or hesitation.

Yes, apparently there are clothes that can say all that, and they are made out of alari, which Soyinka's glossary describes as a "rich, woven cloth, brightly colored." Elesin jokingly gets mad at the women of the market for letting him hang out in his same old shabby clothes when he's destined for this great sacrifice, and so they hustle and bustle and get this fancy cloth together to make him some snazzy new duds.

So, Elesin's attitude about his clothes says a lot about him and his pride, and he definitely views his outfit as important for broadcasting how awesome he is.

Family Life

Elesin's character gets some additional fleshing out when we learn that he's disowned his own son for deciding to pursue medical study in England—even though, as Olunde notes, it's not really possible to "disown a child just like that" (4.152) among their people. Then, Elesin's opinion changes pretty drastically when Olunde returns to complete his part in his father's burial.

Family life tells us a couple of things in these examples. First, we get a sense of the strength of Elesin's opinions and beliefs; even if he isn't really able to disown Olunde, the fact that he says he wants to lets us know how dedicated he is to his community, and also clues us into how much pride is at work with him (which is, to be clear, a lot). On the flip side, though, Olunde's devotion to his family—even after having left for England and been disowned—tells us (and his father) a lot about where his values are these days.

For more on family life, be sure to read up about Elesin and Olunde over in the "Characters" section.

Speech and Dialogue

Naturally, since it's a play, we get a whole lot of our information from the dialogue that transpires on stage. For example, Iyaloja clues us into the fact that Elesin has fallen from greatness with his failure, having transitioned from a mighty warrior into a betrayer of their people when she says:

"Oh Elesin, see what you've become. Once you had no need to open your mouth in explanation because evil-smelling goats, itchy of hand and foot, had lost their senses. And it was a brave man indeed who dared lay hands on you because Iyaloja stepped from one side of the earth onto another. Now look at the spectacle of your life. I grieve for you." (5.98)

Even though Elesin already feels pretty low, Iyaloja really wants to make sure everyone knows that Elesin is not the man the market women draped in finery earlier that day. And so she comes right out and says as much.