Essay: Death and the King’s Horseman

Death and the King’s Horseman
The overall message in this play illustrates the cultural preservation as well as the rejection to agree to take colonization together with the culture that follows it. The conflict in this play symbolizes a large battle that was shaped by imperialism.The Yoruba conviction is widespread in Western Nigeria, as well as its stories were conceded from phase to phase by narrators. Over while the story variations replicating the beliefs that are prevailing. This play written by Wole Soyinka is founded on the actual event that happened in Nigeria all through British colonial rule. The horseman who came from Yoruba King was barred from pledging customary suicide by the foreign authorities as a result of British interference. This action brings in the question of rituals and race in the face of modernity. This is indicated when the British tries to hinder the Nigerians from undertaking their cultural rituals in their presence.
Wole Soyinka works have always garnered much criticism across the globe since he is one of the most illustrious writers from Nigeria. Death and the King’s Horseman is probably one of his most popular literary works of the many he has worked on. The play’s critical appeal enabled it to be staged in many international platforms. However, it faced several challenges such as the struggle to adapt to the foreign audience and the verbal dialogue because of the differences in language. The writing and language used plays a huge role in the pattern of communication of the play. The purpose of the paper is to look more into the writing and language used in the play and the critical analysis by Adebayo Williams.
The play Death and the King’s Horseman is a reflection of the events that took place in Oyo, 1946. It is evident that Soyinka did a good job trying to blend the Yoruba thoughts into the English language. However, there have been a growing number of students who have struggled with the indigenous background of Soyinka’s voice. Essentially, students who can only speak English often get confused by the fact that they can read a text in the latter language but fail to understand. It is therefore evident that these students expose the struggle of reading a literary work that needs more than fluency in English. Death and the King’s Horseman is therefore not only art of translation but also a masterpiece in the use of words which consequently changes the parameters of the language.
Although the British tried as much as possible to intervene and prevent Nigerians from performing their ritual suicide, the horseman of the king of Yoruba was ready to take up her life in order to ensure that they adhere to their culture and avoid culture erosion by the British colonial master. Anti-colonialism is well-thought-out theme by the majority of researchers founded on the features of the text, but Soyinka precisely calls the foreign factors “an incident, a catalytic incident merely” in the “Author’s Notes”. Prepended to the play every single character in this novel nearly at every point usages a traditional Yoruba proverb. The Case of “Death and the King’s Horseman” this is according to Adebayo Williams (p. 67-79). Through his massive acquaintance of Yoruba sayings, the author is intelligent to award his play with tough Yoruba ideas. This support how the culture is preserved although under tempting situations to ensure that they stick to their culture and really oppose the newly introduced culture.
Soyinka also uses source-language proverbs which have in-depth meaning compared to the contemporary literature proverbs. Adebayo William (1993) even suggests it is “a substantial part of complexity” he further explains “… derives from deep communion with the cultural pedigree of his people.” This implies that due to the deep communion between Soyinka and the Yoruba culture, he is not only able to come up with the indigenous people’s proverbs but also effective use of sayings, paraphrases, riddles and sayings.  Some of these proverbs in the play include “Elesin: When the horse sniffs the stable does he not strain at the bridle?” “When the wind blows cold from behind, that’s when the fowl knows his true friends” (Soyinka). Some of the proverbs cannot bring out the same meaning as the original Yoruba saying or proverb.
Various critics have put forward their opinions on Death and the King’s Horseman.  Even though the play may be full of lyrical depth and beauty, Adebayo Williams suggests that “By counterpoising the notion of honor in ancient Yoruba kingdom … against the cynical presumptions and calculations of the colonial officials, Soyinka exposes the absurdity inherent in all assumptions of cultural superiority” (Williams, 188). In Williams’s evaluation of the ritual aspects of the play, he argues that the play attempts to do away with the idea of cultural superiority. This is evident especially in the first two acts of the play where there is a change of language and contrasting beliefs. Soyinka employs a new method of presenting dialogues as evident in the way characters interact. For instance, in the first act, the dialogue is so much metric and lyrical compared to the fast-paced and interrupting nature of the dialogue in act 2.
Lastly, Williams also puts forward some aspects of race in his critical analysis of Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman when examining the role of Elesin. He suggests “In ‘Death and the King’s Horseman,’ then, the playwright is an unabashed horseman (“Elesin” in the Yoruba language of a besieged culture, fighting a desperate battle against the cultural ‘other'” (Williams, 194). Moreover, this analysis proves to be very significant especially in the depiction of the role of rituals in the play. This is portrayed by the character of Olunde when he had to step up to replace his father, Elesin, who according to Williams was a “critically misendowed character” (Williams 190). Since Olunde was an educated individual, his death symbolizes the racial and cultural superiority that is evident throughout the play.
In conclusion, evaluating the various transmissions of language in the play illustrates numerous indications of the state of each character in Death and the King’s Horseman. Before Simon Pilkings and Jane were introduced into the play, the people living in Oyo had already incorporated some of the linguistics techniques in their traditional methods of communicating. The merging of the English language into the culture of Yoruba implies an effort to combine the two cultures bearing in mind that the reader has to incorporate the English language and Yoruba language and culture as well. Williams’s criticism seems to focus mainly on the language, rituals and the culture of the Yoruba community. Generally, the play illustrates a combination of traditional and the western motifs which reflect the author’s take that literature is a combination of various traditions. The play by Soyinka truly poetries the main theme of cultural preservation through the death character of the horseman of the king of Yoruba. His betrayal by focusing on marrying that performing the ritual is accomplished by another character in order to ensure that culture is preserved and maintained. This play illustrates the cultural preservation as well as the rejection to agree to take colonization together with the culture that follows it. The conflict in this play symbolizes a large battle that was shaped by imperialism. In the play, the author puts some of the aspects of the African culture in English words.
Works cited
Williams, Adebayo. “Ritual and the Political Unconscious: The Case of” Death and the King’s Horseman”.” Research in African Literatures 24.1 (1993): 67-79.
Wole, Soyinka. “Death and the King’s Horseman.” London: Eyre Methuen Ltd (1975).