Compared to some of the other issues at play in Death and the King's Horseman, gender doesn't seem like a major one at first. However, once you dig in, you definitely find a lot of blink-and-you-miss-it references to gender that actually end up telling us a lot about the characters and how they see themselves and others. Some of these moments definitely aren't comfortable—think: 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.
Consider this: It says just as much when women are excluded as it says when they're included. In other words, absence—be it of names, credibility, or autonomy—matters.
Questions About Gender
- What role do the female characters play in the story? Are they generally active or passive? Powerful or weak? Why does it matter?
- There's a healthy amount of sexism and mansplaining in the text. How does that behavior manifest differently among the British and the Yoruba? How about similarly? What does this tell us about these communities and their relationships to each other?
- A couple of different characters (like the Praise-Singer and Elesin) suggest that women could be responsible for sapping a man's heroism or power. Is this view ultimately affirmed or rejected? How do we know?
Chew on This
Soyinka's portrayal of women is pretty negative and sexist. In Yoruba culture—which is valorized—women play a secondary role, and Elesin tells Jane Pilkings to shut up when she's trying to assert herself. In this way, the play undermines the Yoruba people's claims to moral superiority.
Soyinka portrays sexism on both sides of the cultural divide, which ultimately—if unsavorily—highlights cultural similarities between the Yoruba and the British.