Death and the King's Horseman Analysis

The play is based on a real incident that took place in Oyo in 1946. Although Soyinka warned critics against emphasizing culture clash in their readings of the play, it's hard not to notice all the...

This is a drama, so there's not a narrative point of view going on, per se. That said, looking at how characters and their perspectives and opinions are presented can sometimes give us a clue to th...

Obviously, as a play that was written for theatrical performance, Death and the King's Horseman definitely fits into the drama category. However, insofar as this drama is filled with drama, there a...

Things get pretty dark when Elesin's ritual is interrupted and he is taken prisoner. Who would think that preventing death would touch off a story's most depressing moments? And hey, it's a pretty...

Okay, so this play is written in a dramatic style because it's a drama, yes (more on this over in the "Genre" section), but what we're referring to here is how dramatic the writing is—as in how o...

Perhaps Death and the King's Horseman isn't the most exciting title, but it sure does get right to the point: The play is about a horseman who must face death in order to fulfill his duty to the co...

Soyinka gives us a pretty legit tragic ending. Having failed to bring off the suicide, Elesin is completely disgraced—it's quite a fall from where he begins the story. This fall is embodied in a...

In terms of the language itself, this one's not a really hard slog—Soyinka generally keeps his sentences and vocabulary pretty simple and straightforward. However, there's a lot of discussion of...

Long Live the King! Er, Wait…Elesin Oba is a Yoruban chief and, until recently, the king's horseman. However, the king recently died, and Yoruban tradition demands that Elesin follow his king to...

Despite the fact that Elesin will have to commit suicide later in the day, he's in a thoroughly good mood when we first meet him. He claims he doesn't fear sacrificing himself (per Yoruban traditio...

Say hello to Elesin Oba, the king's horseman. Following Yoruban tradition, Elesin is supposed to sacrifice himself and follow his king into the afterlife—the play opens on the day that Elesin is...

Soyinka is extremely vocal about politics. For example, he had a lot to say about the Nigerian government's handling of the kidnapping of 200 girls in Nigeria in 2014. (Source.)Soyinka was the firs...

There is a wedding night (which comes with a lot of references to Elesin planting his "seed"), but it's all pretty PG and relatively non-steamy. However, because the aide-de-camp drops a massive ra...

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