Critical Analysis: The Underlying influence of Women

Throughout Wole Soyinka’s play Death and The King’s Horseman, the focus is mainly aimed on Elesin who’s preparing for a ceremony in which he is to commit suicide and Simon Pilkings who’s duty as a district officer is to keep order in his sector of Yoruba land. Their destinies intertwine and the outcome results in the death of Elesin and his son Olunde, as well as the breaking of an important Yoruba tradition. Yet, there are subtleties throughout the play that indicate that the women in the play have a bigger role than you’d might expect. The Yoruban women in the play are more or less the keepers of time and Yoruba tradition. They are not only at the market place and ritual to celebrate Elesin’s passing to the other side, but to make sure that Elesin makes it to the other side and on time. As the praise singer said to Elesin, “They love to spoil you but beware. The hands of women also weaken the unwary (pg. 6)”. This reveals how the women may be indulging Elesin and complimenting him, but they are not to be messed with because they are there to keep things moving, especially Iyloja.

One scene in particular perfectly depicts the power of Iyaloja and the Yoruba women. The beginning of act 3 sees Amusa and his constables trying to get to the ritual but are stopped by the women who then taunt and emasculate them. It is quite surprising that the three colonial officers would have trouble with the women however, the women use their voice to turn their rank against them. When Amusa first tells the women to get out of his way, a woman retorts, “Official business you white man’s eunuch? Official business is taking place where you want to go and it’s a business you wouldn’t understand. (pg. 27)” There are two particularly interesting things about this quote. One is that in the line before the quote, Amusa says that he is on official business which prompts the woman to turn the tables in order to make it clear that what Elesin is doing and the ritual itself far more important than the colonials’ meddling in the affair. Second is that by her saying that the ritual is official business implies that she means to keep things on schedule. The women then proceed to make further insults about their manhood like making the assumption that they are eunuchs and probably don’t have sticks other than the ones issued to them by their boss. The significance of this is that realistically, the women do not measure up to Amusa and his constables in terms of authority. Yet, by making them feel like less than a man, the women are psychologically evening out the play field which plays in their favor since they seem to be more clever and sensible.

Then Iyaloja enters the scene to which Amusa is then relieved. Since Iyaloja is the mother of the market place and has a motherly vibe about her, Amusa thinks he can reason with her to let him do his job. However, Iyaloja herself cannot let Amusa fulfill his duty because her duty to make sure that Elesin goes through with the ritual so that he may guide the recently deceased Yoruban king to the afterlife. But why does Iyaloja have such a concern for the ritual to happen on time? Evidence from the previous acts in the play show that Iyaloja is quite serious about making sure the ritual happens according to schedule. She’d even go as far as relinquishing the bride that her son was betrothed to so as to appease Elesin. The other women in the market place even try to convince Iyaloja to refuse Elesin from her son’s soon to be bride but Iyaloja tells them, “don’t set this world adrift of your own time; would you rather it was my hand sacrilege wrenched it loose?” (pg. 16). The way Iyaloja probably sees the situation, she has doubts as to Elesin’s commitment to his role in the ritual. So, she does everything she can to make everything run smoothly because if the possibility of Elesin not completing the ritual comes true, the spirit of their deceased king will be lost in purgatory and she would feel as if she had caused it indirectly. Tying this back to the scene with Amusa and his constables, this gives more context as to why Iyaloja would stand up to a colonial officer. The fact that she let Elesin marry her son’s fiancée plays out in her favor and she decides to use the marriage to cover up the so called “illegal activity” that is the suicide ritual.

Another way to look at this scene is how the motherly Iyaloja steps up to defend her own. When Iyaloja first enters the scene, Amusa tries to tap into her more caring side a first time by asking her to let him do his duty and to stay out of his way. That attempt failed but later when Iyaloja tries to distract Amusa from the ritual with Elesin’s wedding, Amusa pleads for her to stop her women from chastising him for trying to do his job. That is when one of the women speaks up to say, “He’s out of his mind. It’s our mothers you’re talking to, do you know that? Not any illiterate villager you can bully and terrorize. How dare you intrude here anyway?” (pg. 29). This quote shows the duality of Iyaloja’s intentions for standing up to Amusa. Not only is she making sure that nothing stops the ritual but she is also acting in her role as the mother of the market place by protecting her own which are all the women.

This is an important scene in Death and The King’s Horseman in that it highlights true role of Iyaloja and the Yoruban women. The scene reveals how the women are more involved with the ritual of Elesin’s suicide more than just being present at it. The women along with Iyaloja are meant to keep everything on track so that the tradition does not break.