This paper analyzes Wole Soyinka's play Death and the King's Horseman, focusing on two central elements: the Praise-Singer's role as narrator and oral historian, and the symbolic function of ritual suicide within the drama. The paper examines how the Praise-Singer's lyrical, ritualistic language prepares characters for their destinies while preserving Nigerian oral literary traditions. It also explores how British colonial intervention — intended to prevent one death — ultimately causes two, and how Soyinka uses these events to critique cultural misunderstanding without straightforwardly endorsing the practice of ritual suicide. Olunde's death as a medical student is read as Soyinka's commentary on the broader cost of cultural imperialism.
Wole Soyinka's work as a playwright, essayist, and novelist earned him the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature. Many critics consider him the finest writer in modern Africa. One critic observed that "his unique style blends traditional Yoruban folk drama with European dramatic form." Death and the King's Horseman takes place in Soyinka's native Nigeria in 1946 and is based loosely on true events. He wrote it while a fellow at Cambridge, England in the early 1970s, and it was published in 1975.
The Praise-Singer serves as a type of narrator throughout the play. He moves the action along from the first page and helps prepare the characters — and the audience — for what is to come. He is part confidant, part soothsayer, and part storyteller, his beautifully written speeches woven throughout the story.
In the first scene, the Praise-Singer's narrative function is especially apparent as Elesin prepares for death. The Praise-Singer offers a flood of questions aimed at understanding the mystery of death. "There is only one world to the spirit of our race," he says. "If that world leaves its course and smashes on boulders of the great void, whose world will give us shelter?" Here he struggles to grasp what would happen if Elesin fails to carry out his death ritual — and what fate would then await them all.
Later, as Elesin moves further into his transition toward death, the Praise-Singer questions him about his experience, hoping to gain understanding: "Is there now a streak of light at the end of the passage, a light I dare not look upon? Does it reveal whose voices we often heard, whose touches we often felt, whose wisdoms come suddenly into the mind when the wisest have shaken their heads and murmured: It cannot be done?" He continues: "Your eyelids are glazed like a courtesan's — is it that you see the dark groom and master of life?" In these passages, the Praise-Singer voices our universal human questions, hoping that Elesin, in his half-earthly, half-heavenly state, can offer understanding. But Elesin cannot answer, and the mystery remains.
The Praise-Singer's language throughout the play is melodic, mysterious, and lyrical. It is also ritualistic and deeply rooted in Nigerian meaning and belief. He not only prepares the characters for their destiny; he tells the stories of the Nigerian people in beautifully crafted lines. Consider this passage: "There is only one home to the life of a river-mussel; there is only one home to the life of a tortoise; there is only one shell to the soul of man: there is only one world to the spirit of our race. If that world leaves its course, and smashes on boulders of the great void, whose world will give us shelter?" The Praise-Singer is asking Elesin what will happen to the world of the Nigerians if they abandon their beliefs and practices. The answer is implicit: they will lose their traditions, and with them the very qualities that make them unique.
Many cultures do not write down their stories but pass them on through storytellers and oral traditions. This oral literature is vibrantly alive in the Praise-Singer's tales and commentary. He is an oral historian, preserving the traditions of his people through language and delightfully crafted narrative.
The theme of ritual suicide serves several purposes in the play, and the Praise-Singer's words help prepare both Elesin and, later, Olunde for what they view as their ultimate destinies. The central plot revolves around Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman, whose fate is preordained: when the King dies, Elesin must commit ritual suicide so that he can lead the King's favorite horse and dog through the passage into the world of the ancestors. A British Colonial Officer named Pilkings intervenes to prevent this death and arrests Elesin, blocking him from fulfilling his duty.
Elesin himself articulates his sense of purpose: "The world was mine. Our joint hands raised houseposts of trust that withstood the siege of envy and the termites of time. But the twilight hour brings bats and rodents — should I yield them cause to foul the rafters?" He is not afraid of death; the "termites of time" have simply arrived. He has prepared for this moment and is ready. When the British intervene — driven by their own moral convictions — they deprive him of his destiny and his life's mission.
The Praise-Singer not only prepares Elesin but also offered to accompany him on his journey: "I have prepared my going — just tell me: Olohun-iyo, I need you on this journey and I shall be behind you." Yet he is not above criticizing Elesin when he is arrested and cannot complete his duty to his king. His role, therefore, is both supportive and morally demanding — an embodiment of the community's expectations and Yoruba cultural values.
"Olunde's death and the cost of intervention"
"Olunde as symbol of life lost to tradition"
Does Soyinka condone ritual suicide? Not in itself — and that is not the play's ultimate point. He clearly shows, through his use of language and cultural detail, that he does not condone the lack of understanding between cultures either. He wants us to learn from the play, and he does so by "presenting us with situations that we cannot understand at first — we are led to understanding only by thinking through what happens. While it might seem at first that the Yoruba are giving up the battle, they are really keeping their high ground without stooping to fight with the English."
Throughout the play, Soyinka consistently reminds us that our ways are not the only ways that are right, or good. The Praise-Singer, as his narrator, does more than simply move the plot forward; he uses beautiful and traditional language and stories to illuminate the lives and beliefs of the Nigerian people. His lyrical, questioning voice is the vehicle through which oral literature is kept alive — and through which Soyinka asks his audience to look beyond their assumptions and engage, honestly and humbly, with cultures that are not their own.
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