The Tragic Hero in Death and the King’s Horseman Essay Example
The Tragic Hero in Death and the King’s Horseman Essay Example

The Tragic Hero in Death and the King’s Horseman Essay Example

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  • Pages: 8 (1926 words)
  • Published: June 11, 2018
  • Type: Analysis
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TOPIC: Who is , Elesin Oba or Olunde? Please give reasons for your answer in a carefully written essay. Please use “Being, the Will, and the Semantics of Death” by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Criticism 155-164) and “Tragedy, Mimicry, and the African World” by Olakunle George (Criticism 207-222) in your essay. The Real Tragic Hero Of The Nation The drama “Death and the King’s Horseman” written by Wole Soyinka tells a story that relates to the burial of the dead king of the Oyo, which is held by the ancient Yoruba in Africa.

According to the tradition of the Yoruba, after thirty-day of the king’s death, his horseman Elesin must commit suicide in the rite in order to accompany the king passing through the holy passage towards the world of the other side. Moreover, Olunde, the eldest son of Elesin, who is sent to the

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medical college in England by the colonial government, returned home in time in order to burying his father who is dead of the traditional accompanying custom.

However, since Elesin is sentimentally attached to the mortal life, Pilkings, the chief executive of the colonial area, seizes his hesitation and gets the opportunity of preventing him from fulfilling the obligation which is regarded as an uncivilized convention in the western culture. Furthermore, after doing his utmost persuading Pilkings not to intervene the rite, Olunde replaced his father resolutely as the accompanier of the king on his passage to the holy paradise.

What’s more, by losing the honor, dignity, and the respect from the public, Elesin commits the suicide with sheer shame. For this article, it is clear that Elesin should be the tragic hero in

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the drama and I will discuss the point that Elesin’s tragic fate is not merely caused by the Yoruba society itself and the colonial inference but also by himself, through explaining some exact proof from the original drama and evaluating some thesis from the article “Being the Will, and the Semantics of Death” written by Henry Louis Gates, JR. nd “Tragedy, Mimicry, and ‘The African World’” written by Olakunle George. On the one hand, a part of Elesin’s tragic fate stems from the double background-the nation and the colonial government. Firstly, the tradition of racial Elesin is born with decides his tragic life. Since Elesin’s family inherits the status as the King’s horseman generation by generation, he must perform the ordained duty—accompany the King to die so that he earns the honor and is of great eminence in the community. It seems that everything he has is based on the holy mission under his shoulder.

In the drama, Soyinka suggests that the importance of the collective social and psychic aspirations of the Oyo community. It is indispensable for the Yoruba that chooses a person to mediate the world of the living, the dead, and the unborn. According to Olakunle George, Elesin plays the role as a ritual scapegoat who accedes to the world of the dead on behalf of the living and the unborn (208). That is to say, his death is a reflection of the communal will to ensure renewed harmony between the constitutive of traditional Yoruba cosmic order and the continuity of Oyo social-spiritual harmony.

Although it seems reasonable that Elesin can get everything including power, status and wealth as the repayment of his sacrifice,

he cannot get the right of his life freely. Praise-singer illustrates that the world is never tilted from its groove and this principle should not be changed in his, and also the world is never wrenched from its true course, this forces Elesin to achieve his duty firmly and brings him the hero title from the public(6).

Secondly, during that period of time, the local colonial government has the opposite religious opinion on the birth and death with Yoruba so that the interference of the death ritual from the government stimulates the final tragedy. With regard to Yoruba, the captain’s self-sacrifice is an affirmative commentary on life (42) and it is extreme glory to sacrifice for the nation, but to the white races, it is a barbaric and feudal custom which should be abolished. That is the most contrasting concept under a common society.

For some degree, it is reliable that this colonial factor is catalytic merely, but leading to the final conclusion, it is an indispensable element which embodies the spirit of resisting of Yoruba through their metaphysics against the ideology control from the western. The traditional Yoruba people believe in their own collective culture and fight against the conflict western perception unswervingly. Accounted for this, Elesin’s fail becomes more unacceptable for the sake of the racial conscious, in other words, it is a kind of betraying of the public towards his fail and hesitation.

This insults in his miserable condition ultimately-to be humiliated and despised by the public. On the other hand, the main part of Elesin’s tragic fate originates from his own flaws. Elesin is just an ordinary person who has the pursuit of various

things such as food and wine, dance and women. However, everyone believes that Elesin is the hero born with his mission to lead them peace and also with no selfish motives. When he is in the market with women and Praise-singer, he indicates that the others compare his eyes into a hawk in perpetual hunger. Split an iroko tree in two, hide a woman’s beauty in its heartwood and seal it up again-Elesin, journeying by, would make his camp beside that tree of all the shades in the forest. ”(14) This is a vivid description of Elesin’s desire of the living world. Even in the farewell, he forces the market women into allowing his marriage to a virgin, who has already betrothed to another man, on the very night he is supposed to die (209).

Olakunle George narrates in his article that Elesin’s failure to die at the point time is due more to his own human weakness than to the agency of British colonialism (209), and I have the same standpoint with him. Elesin lingers for every second in the world, and he finds a proper excuse for his hesitation that the white man comes violently into his fading presence, and he would have shaken off the weight of longing, already his foot has begun to lift but then, the white ghost enters and all is defiled (53).

From the individual tragic consciousness, it is the instinct that when the life suffers from the destruction, everyone will put self-protection into practice spontaneously to get the probability of living, and Elesin is not special. In that case, if he lost the desire of preventing himself from death

and the will of being alive, he must be the man without human nature- the pursuit of living. Thus, from the prospect of being respect for the life, Elesin is rational fighting against death which is the mission arranged by his nation and ordinated by family and he has to fulfill it.

In the meantime, although the traditional sense of calling and the sense of honor leave no place for him to hesitate a bit, he is still trying his best seeking for the causes of putting off the arriving of death, this thoughts and behavior are the challenge towards tradition and also the resistance of fate. The fame and prestige, the enjoyment, make him reluctant to accomplish his obligation, which results in his fail at the due time. Owing to his failure, his son Olunde chooses the way of replacing him to die.

To avoid facing a tremendous disaster towards the whole nation because of Pilkings’s obstruction, Olunde performs the death which is the customary rule proceeding with no hesitation, and it indicates the fighting spirit in opposition to the intrusion of African affairs from the colonialist. Furthermore, the sense of responsibility of him is supernormal and the action from him is inflexible, and these precious features make the power of Olunde’s personality have a further promotion, which deepens Elesin’s shame.

Although Elesin is an eminent person, he cannot control his weakness and allows his flawed nature to keep him from fulfilling his fate ordinated duties. According to Henry Louis Gates in his article, he suggests that Elesin’s inevitable fall results from a convergence of forces at work within the will and without, which conspire to reinforce

the subliminal fears (158). Have to say, it is the evasion that pushes Elesin to the edge of tragedy and makes him become the sinner of the nation.

Just because of being unwilling to leave from the incentives of the world, Elesin pushes his son to the side of death, what a tragedy it is. At the time getting the new of Olunde’s death, he is in real despair and commits the suicide in the end. But he realizes too late what he has done so that the cost is heavy- losing the reputation among the public, as well as under the taunt from the people. “He is gone at last into the passage but oh, how late it all is. His son will feast on the meat and throw him bones.

The passage is clogged with droppings from the King’s stallion; he will arrive all stained in dung. ” These are words cited from Iyaloja, it conveys a deep resentment towards Elesin instead of a piece of sympathy. Elesin is not a sublime leader in their minds no more, and he deserves his punishment which only can be death. The essence of Elesin’s tragedy is, when the nation confronts its difficulties, he has no idea of making the self-sacrifice for the benefits of the public and even shrinks back.

What is more, Elesin does not regard his race as the first place, at the critical time, his mind is filled with his own needs which is the mentality determining the tragic ending of himself- becoming a coward in his son and clansmen’s eyes. And his status has been changed from a racial hero into a man having

“left-over” as food, treasuring his individual life excessively, and unwilling to make sacrifice for the benefit of the generation and race. Above all, Elesin becomes a tragic hero from the two main aspects, one is the background of the current society and the other is the foibles from his own.

Equally significant, Olunde, who gives a vivid annotation of national consciousness through his behaviors, plays a role as a crystal contrast with Elesin. That makes it more apparent the tragic character Elesin has. Having an overview of the whole story, it can be concluded that the most misfortune in this world is that a man who cannot achieve his mission firmly, however, Elesin is aware of that until the death of Olunde. It is the thing that destroys Elesin’s desire and hope through the honor Olunde having.

In the origin, it may just need one person to make sacrifice, but finally it turns to be two for the sake of man-made, that is exact a tragedy which is more brutal than the natural custom of Yoruba. Moreover, from this drama, it is necessary for everyone to realize that the importance of owing a steady will and the whole national culture should be maintained through each individual in that community. When the nation confronts its dilemma, everyone ought to put the benefit of community in the first place and make some sacrifice as requisite. It is not only the responsibility, but also an obligation born with us.

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