Category: Death and the King’s Horseman

Death And The Kings Horseman by Wole Soyinka tells the story of the importance of tradition in African culture. The play follows the life of Elesin Oba, who had the career title of The Kings Horseman, and his obligation to follow an African tradition of a ritualistic suicide following the death of their king. As…

The Death and the Kings Horseman play is based on a real incident that took place in Nigeria when it was under the British colonial rule, where a Horseman of a Yoruba King was prevented from committing ritual suicide by the colonial authorities. In growth to the British interference, Soyinka calls the Horsemans own fervour…

As in other plays, reflecting a specific culture, Death and the Kings Horseman has kept close to religious and traditional issues, but it has shaped culture into a great tragedy. Aristotle defines tragedy in his book poetics as: A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete…