PORTRAYAL OF THE YORUBA METAPHYSICAL WORLD IN WOlE

SOYINKA'S DEATH AND THE KING'S HORSEMAN AND, THE STRONG

BREED

BY

ANNA KULA MITI

C50/11265/04

A Research Project submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the

degree of Master of Arts.

Kenyatta University

Literature Department.

JULY 2006.
1VI1l1. Anna
rvura
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Portreyel of (he
Yoruba metephysicel

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08/322057

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 11

DECLARATION

This research project is my original work and has not been presented for a

degree in any other university.

Candidate__ ----.:~~~~· _

Anna Kula Miti

Date: ~I 07 IQ.oo (0

This research project has been submitted for examination with our approval

as university supervisors.

Supervisors:

Prof. O. Obura & -..,---L-

Date: f l/:r (Db

I .

?
Date:
 11I

DEDICATION

To Kula, my father, another of the strong breeds.

 IV

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work acknowledges my supervisors, Prof. Oluoch Obura and Prof. E.

Mbogo for their advice and direction. Its completion depended so much on

their cooperation, availability and readiness to read my work in time.

I further acknowledge the support of my colleagues Wahome, Mac, Barasa

and Flora with whom I shared in an academic venture. This work is one of the

products of our journey together. I am equally grateful to Kenyatta University

for according me the opportunity to carry out my studies.

I am further indebted to my family and friends especially Ngungu, Tiku, Frida

and Chris, for their encouragement and moral support. God bless them.
 v

ABSTRACT

This study is an investigation of how the Yoruba metaphysical world has been

portrayed in Wole Soyinka's Oeath and the King's Horseman and The

Strong Breed. It involves an examination of which of the Yoruba myths, how

and why they have been incorporated in the two texts. The central position

given to the Yoruba myths and rituals issues from the view that these myths

and rituals are media through which a people's conception of the universe

(metaphysics) is revealed.

The study set out to achieve its objectives through utilisation of three

theoretical approaches: Sociological Theory, Myth Criticism and Stylistics.

The sociological theory looks at the two plays and their author as products of

a society. The same theoretical position also view literature as a means

through which society can learn from its past and present, and get direction

into the future. Myth criticism aids the study by analysing the myths and

rituals while stylistics handles the dramatic techniques employed in the plays.

The study makes use of library and Internet research. It employs extensive

reading of secondary texts to aid in the understanding and analysis of the

primary texts. The content analysis of the plays involves close textual analysis

which links details of style and characterisation to the metaphysical theme.

 VI

The conclusion of the study is that Soyinka uses myths and rituals as raw

material for his creative work. Soyinka however does not bow fully to the

prescriptions of his' people's myths and rituals. He introduces a new

dimension to the people's social order. At the end of the plays, he has

replaced the old order of subjection of the individual's will to societal

prescriptions, with individual choice and freedom. This act indicates a clear

readingof the times; the modern era whose hallmarks include insistence on

freedomfor the individual.

 Vll

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Item Page

Declaration , '" ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgement. iv

Abstract. v

Table of contents vii

1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

Yoruba Metaphysical World 3

Yoruba Drama 7

1.2 Statement of the problem 9

1.3 Research objectives 10

1.4 Research questions 10

1.5 Justification of the Study 11

1.6 Assumptions 11

1.7 Theoretical framework '!f

1.8 Literature review 18

1.9 Scope and limitation 25

1.10 Research Design and Methodology 25

1.11 Outline of the Study 26

 V III

2.0 CHAPTER TWO: MYTHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF DEATH

AND THE KING'S HORSEMAN AND THE STRONG BREED............... 28

Ogun and the Tragic Characters 32

The Archetype and its Faces... 44

3.0 CHAPTER THREE: THE SCAPEGOAT THEME 45

Self-sacrifice 45

. Ritual Cleansing 56

The Role of the Scapegoat.. 68

4.0 CHAPTER FOUR: A NEW SOCIAL ORDER 71

Eman Versus Ifada 71

Olunde Versus Elesin 76

The New Versus the Old Order. 85

5.0 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 90

Bibliography 94
 1

PORTRAYAL OF THE YORUBA METAPHYSICAL WORLD IN WOLE

SOYINKA'S DEATH AND THE KING'S HORSEMAN AND, THE STRONG

BREED

1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Drama is an artistic expression in which the participants - actor and audience -

relive their experiences. Such experiences could be personal or communal or

both. The human experiences are relived in drama directly by the actor and

vicariously by the audience through the actor. Joe de Graft (1979) establishes

that the roots of African drama lie in a community's religion - the body of beliefs

and ritual practices which in the view of the members of the community ensured

their moral sanity and communal survival. Human life is charged with such

threats associated with elemental phenomena as lightning, darkness, floods,

cold, holocausts, drought, earthquakes, storms etc., as well as interior forces of

hunger, thirst, and suffocation. There are threats too from one's fellow creatures -

beasts as well as people of ill will, hatred and envy. Moreover, there are threats

that are deep within our own souls - forces like pride, anger, greed, lust, jealousy,

fear etc. It is the awareness of these threats which led ancient people 'to those

rituals of apprehension, propiation, purification, and exorcism of which

impersonation was often a cardinal feature' (p.4) The same awareness

dominated the drama in such widely different cultures as those of fifth-century

 2

Greece(B.C) and medieval Europe. In both cases (ritual and medieval European

drama)the aim was to restore the society to heath and sanity as de Graft states:

Drama... is - a reaching out by the whole man toward sanity through

vicarious experience, whether as an impersonator who himself assumes

the identity of the inimical forces or their more powerful opposites, or as a

celebrant who seeks identification with an impersonator acting as a

mediator between him and the forces concerned (p.5).

A historical review of West African drama, shows that this drama developed on,

and from, myth and ritual. Soyinka (1976) notes that myth arises from a people's

attempt to extemalise and communicate their inner intuitions. These attempts

themselves issue from a consciousness that the human person exists in a

cosmic totality. Myth undoubtedly, has a crucial role in African metaphysics.

Goldschmidt (1960) observes that a ritual (ceremony) is a meaningful formal act

that signalises an occasion of special importance. It is a little drama to underlie

the significance of a person or a moment which is out of the ordinary and that the

society wishes to recognize. Rituals are representations of beliefs which people

hold; they are ways in which people together show that they care for about

something. Myths are stories which correspond to rituals. They are ways in

which the institutions and expectations of the society are emphasized and made

dramatic and persuasive in narrative form. Myths show that what a people has to

enjoy or endure is right and true - true to the sentiments the people hold. The

religious myths are true to the moral and sacred ideas that inspire them; they
 3

neednot be true as legal evidence must be. Myths and rituals, like much of art,

are collective and traditional forms in which people of a society remind

themselvesof what matters to them and why it matters. In other words, myths

andrituals carry a people's values.

To understand African drama, which develops from myth and ritual, the

knowledge of African people's philosophy must be brought to the fore. Such

philosophyembodies the understanding, attitude of mind, logic and perception

behind the manner. in which African people think, act, or speak in different

situations of life, in short, the African metaphysics. Since the two texts under

study, Death and the King's Horseman and, The Strong Breed, have been

greatly influenced by Soyinka's conception of Yoruba metaphysical world, it is

importantto summarise the aspects of the world.

Yoruba Metaphysical World

The key aspects of Yoruba metaphysics are summarised here under three (3)

headings:areas of existence, concept of the pantheon, and the concept of moral

order.Each of these is briefly explained below.

The Yoruba metaphysics recognises four areas of human existence: the worlds

of the ancestor, the living, and the unbom, and the abyss of transition (gulf). In

most African metaphysics the first three worlds are clearly defined. The

relationship between the three worlds can only be understood if viewed in a

 4

cyclic reality so that neither the child nor father is a closed or chronological

concept. In some circumstances the child issues from the father while still in

others,the child is order than the father. This is the principle behind instances in

which a child in African society greets an elder person as though s/he were

herselfI himself the adult. Consequently the world of the unborn is older than the

worldof living as the world of living is older than the ancestor-world. Similarly, the

world of the unborn precedes the ancestor-world in this cyclic reality. (Soyinka,

1976)Soyinka further notes that the fourth area of existence is less explored in

African metaphysics. He refers to this fourth space as 'the dark continuum of

transition' which 'houses the ultimate expression of cosmic will' (p.26). This is

betterclarified, as is evident below, by examining the essence of Ogun.

The basic cornerstone of Yoruba thinking, Roscoe (1971) observes, stems

directly from their conception of the pantheon (in itself a divine, though 'human'

representation of cosmic order) as a grouping and balancing of forces in which all

subsistsby elemental strife. The three significant deities here are Obatala, Sango

and Ogun. According to Yoruba belief, Obatala is the god of creation, the father

of peace and laughter, who was sent by Oludumare, the Supreme God to come

downand create the earth. However, under the influence of too much palm-wine,

hiswork was bungled up and he created the blind, albinos and hunchbacks. As

punishment for this error, Obatala was imprisoned in the city of Ife and when

creation.began to suffer, he was released from prison and his sufferings enable

him to emerge morally triumphant and purged of guilt. He is therefore in Wole

 5

Soyinka'swords, associated with virtues of social and individual accommodation:

patience,suffering, peace, and all imperatives of harmony in the universe, the

essence of quietitude and forbearance; in short, the aesthetics of the saint.

(Soyinka,1976)

Sango is the Yoruba god of lightning and thunder, who, like all Yoruba gods, led

an earthly life among people before his death and deification. He was the king

and founder of modern city of Oyo. (Roscoe, 1971) It is in Sango's hands that

Obatala faced torture and imprisonment. Sango places himself beyond

reciprocation and beyond caring. According to the myth thus, Sango is

associatedwith destruction; the awesome essence of justice.

The Ogun myth encompasses the totality of Yoruba metaphysical world. When

the original godhead and primogenitor of both god and human beings was by his

slave's rebellion fragmented into multiple godhead; there was unrest among the

gods. None of them felt complete in himself and therefore a joumey to seek

human beings began. But the way was impassable owing to long isolation from

the world of human beings. So the gods tried and failed to break this primordial

barrier. It is Ogun, who at last 'armed with the first technical instrument forged

from the ore of mountain-wombs clears the primordial jungle', plunges through

theabyss and the other gods follow. Later he was crowned the king of Ire and led

his people to war and like Obatala, he took too much palm-wine and slew his

own men. Ogun, Soyinka (1976) observes, is the symbol of challenge. the
 6

principle instinct in man constantly at the service of the society for its full self-

realization.He is also the master craftsman and artist, farmer, warrior or essence

of destruction and creativity, a recluse and a reluctant leader of people and

deities.

Significantly, Ogun becomes a key figure in understanding the Yoruba

metaphysicalworld because of the reality of the gulf, the fourth area of existence.

As Soyinka notes, 'The gulf is what must constantly be diminished (or rendered

less threateningly remote) by sacrifices, rituals, ceremonies of appeasement to

the cosmic powers which lie guardian to the gulf (1976:31). Ogun makes the first

fundamental bridge across this gulf and therefore he is the 'father' of those who

seek the way.

The information on the four areas of existence and the vital roles played by the

three important deities lead to another important aspect of the Yoruba

metaphysics: the moral order. Wole Soyinka constantly asserts that since society

co-exists with nature, regulating its existence by natural phenomena with evident

process of continuity - sea tide, waxing and waning of moon, rain and drought,

planting and harvesting - the highest moral order is seen as that which

guarantees a parallel continuity of the species; that which makes the entire

society survive. (Soyinka, 1971 :52; Louis Gates, 1975) Moral order in this sense

should not be reduced to a society's code of ethics dictating its people's conduct.

It should rather be understood within the framework of what Wole Soyinka terms
 7

as metaphysics of the irreducible: knowledge of birth and death as the human

cycle; the wind as a moving, felling, cleansing, destroying, winnowing force; the

duality of the knife as blood-letter and creative implement; earth and sun as life-

sustaining verities, etc. These provide the matrices within which customs and

conventions, personal relationships and even communal economics are

formulated and reviewed. Moral disorder in Yoruba world-view, like in all African

world-view, threatens not only the shared reality but also the existence itself

since the individual is intertwined in the fate of the entire community.

It is within the metaphysics of the irreducible that cosmos balance is maintained.

Obatala, Roscoe (1971) observes, balances Ogun (creator versus slayer) as

Ogun balances Sango (in competing degrees of the sense of justice) just like

birth balances death. There is balancing of cosmic forces and this way, harmony

is maintained.

Yoruba Drama

The Yoruba metaphysical world as summarised above has found expression in

the hands of artists (writers, dramatists) as the following discourse shows. What

should be noted as essential at this stage is that Yoruba drama has evolved from

myth and ritual. Three significant steps in the development of Yoruba theatre and

drama are recognizable: ritual drama, Yoruba Folk Opera, and English-language

drama (written).
 8

In relation to the first stage, Adedeji says that drama is evident during the

observance of most of the principal divinities of Yoruba especially during the

annual festivals when everybody in the community is involved either as a

participant or as a spectator. (Quoted in Roscoe, 1971:180) Adedeji further

illustrates this point by analysing the annual festival of Obatala as having three

acts: initial conflict, his capture, and his release. The ritual performance creates a

religious experience but not without an artistic form which is created by the

presence of a procession of the ritual participants and the utilisation of music and

song, chants and drumming. It is important to clarify the point at which ritual

becomes drama. Michael Etherton (1982) argues that whether ritual or festival

(or both) is historically and in essence 'African drama', the answer lies primarily

with the aesthetics of the particular performances being studied. Ruth Finnegan

(1970) too opts to stylistic expression evident in song, dance and mime to

establish that African indigenous artistic forms are, in some way, drama. De Graft

(1979) draws the distinction between ritual and drama by looking at the function

of the performance. He observes that the Egungun and Gelede masquerade

drama of the Yoruba had originally, religious functions - for example, the Gelede

cult is aimed at placation of witches. But there has been dramatic evolution with
'S
~
the movement from the original religious function of the Egungun and Gelede

masquerader to that of entertainer. This has come about with the involvement of

a spectator-audience of uninitiated in what formerly used to be secret rituals. This

is a movement towards secularisation (as opposed to religion), which leads

naturally to the theatre of entertainment.

 9

The second stage in the development of Yoruba theatre, Yoruba Folk Opera, is

characterised by performance (and in later stage, scripting) in vernacular. An

example here is Duro Ladipo's Oba Koso ('The King Does Not Hang') which is

an eight-scene dramatisation of the death of Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder.

Roscoe (1971) notes that this play is 'theatre' as opposed to 'ritual' and it would

often be acted for, and perhaps by, Sango worshippers themselves, for whom it

must partake a religious experience. Plays in this second stage could be

available in English language but only as translations.

Lastly, the third stage in the development of Yoruba drama is modern African

drama written in English language. The development of African drama shows a

transition from embryonic drama (ritual) through vernacular performance and

writing to drama in English language. Common to the three stages is the use of

ritual based on Yoruba myths. The written stage builds on a cultural inheritance:

ritual, drumming, singing, dances, etc. while at the same time incorporating

elements of Western drama.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The task in this study is to investigate how the Yoruba metaphysical world has

been portrayed in Death and the King's Horseman and, The Strong Breed. It

involves an examination of how and why the Yoruba myths and rituals have been

incorporated in the two texts. Such examination is important since myths and
 10

rituals embody a people's values as well as their conception of the universe

(metaphysics). Myths and rituals represent a consensus on social behaviour.

Moreover, these myths and rituals are key to understanding Wole Soyinka's

works. A writer does not always remain faithful to his people's myths. S/he may

express ingenuity in utilising myths in a novel way to explore problems of his

society and suggest some solutions. The analysis of the works in the light of

particular myths and rituals therefore aims at discovering meanings (of these

myths and rituals) which relate to the community's metaphysical realities.

1.3 Research Objectives

The study has the following objectives:

a) To establish the mythological foundation of the two plays.

b) To examine how Soyinka uses the structural framework of rituals to further the

metaphysical theme.

c) To evaluate Soyinka's treatment of Change in societal morality and identify its

signification to Yoruba metaphysics.

1.4 Research Questions

The study seeks to answer the following questions:

a) What Yoruba myths are incorporated in Soyinka's Death and the King's

Horseman and The Strong Breed?

b) What and how does the ritual framework reveal (about) the Yoruba

metaphysical world?
 11

c) Howdoes Soyinka treat changes in societal morality?

1.5Justification of the Study

This study sheds light to the crucial role played by myths and rituals in Wole

Soyinka's works. It highlights cases of societal dysfunction. It is thus important in

its attempt to shed light on cosmos relations - how people relate to both material

and spiritual environment and the consequences of disrupting these

relationships. In this way, the study contributes to an understanding of the

Yoruba society in particular and African societies in general. The research is also

important as it shows how a modern writer turns to his culture and tradition for

material to achieve his goal of educating as well as entertaining his audience.

This way it contributes to the knowledge co_ncerningthe relationship between oral

and written literature. The study further contributes to our understanding of how

literature, as a discipline, responds to society's cultural, social, political and

historical matters. It is hoped that this study will cover areas not reviewed before

by previous research. The study intends to examine the metaphysical theme at a

greater depth than the one evident in the reviewed literature

1.6 Assumptions

The study makes the following assumptions:

a) Soyinka's works have their basis in Yoruba mythology.

b) Rituals communicate the prescribed societal morality.

c) Soyinka artistically introduces a new order to the existing morality.

 12

1.7Theoretical Framework

This study utilises three theories: Sociological Approach, Myth Criticism and

Stylistics. Proponents of sociological approach to literature maintain that

literature occurs only in a social context, as a part of culture, in a milieu.

According to James Barnett (1959), the intellectual roots of sociology of art are to

be found in the writings of a number of 19th century Europeans. Accounts of the

beginnings of the social interpretation of art cite the writing of Madam de Stael,

who in 1800 discussed the relation of race and climate to literary styles, as well

as the effects of women and religion on art. She asserted that the literature of a

society should be brought to harmony with its prevailing political beliefs.

Literature should portray important changes in social order especially those,

which indicate movement toward the goals of liberty and justice.

Further contribution to sociological approach to art is found in the writings of Karl

Marx who as early as 1845 provide a more specific thesis concerning the relation

of art and society. Marx held that the system of production in existence at a given

time determines both the content and style of the arts of a society. For Marx, art

preferences differ according to class, position and outlook. Influenced by Marx,

Ernest Grosse wrote The Beginnings of Art (1893) in which he offered the

thesis that art reflects the stage of economic organisation of a society.

A more influential precursor of contemporary sociology of arts was Hippolyte

Tain, whose History of English Literature (1871) advanced the thesis that 'a
 13

workof art is detennined by an aggregate which is the general state of mind and

surrounding circumstances'. Taine attached special importance to the social

'medium' or milieu which produces the 'state of mind' necessary for artistic

creation. For Taine, this state of mind is accounted by three aspects: race,

environment and time.

Another French scholar of 19th century, Jean-Marie Guyau, espoused the thesis

in his Art from tn« Point of View of Sociology (1887), that social integration is

embodied in works of arts. Great art was necessarily social and the isolated artist

who created for his private pleasure was decanted. According to Kallen, in Harry

Levin, 'Literature as an Institution' Guyau's theory of art 'the artist's images, the

sensations they stir, the recollections they call up, the emotions and judgments

they awaken, are but symbols and communications of the collective life.'

During the 20th century, sociological interest in the relations of art and society

has persisted, and scholars in Eastem Europe as well as in the rest of Europe

and in the US have undertaken both theoretical discussions and specific

research in this field. This is evident in Marx Webber's essay 'The Rationale and

Social Foundations of Music', Charles Lalo's L 'Art et la vie sociale, Ernst

Kohn-Bramstedt's Aristocracy and the Middle Classes in Germany, and, Levin

Schucking's The Sociology of Literary Taste.

 14

The above 19th and 20th century influential figures have struggled with the

questionof how art and society are related. Their answers were varied, but none

deniedthat art, society and culture were inextricably tied together, although the

natureof the connections was obscure. As Walter Goldschmidt (1960), laughing,

joking, improvising with language, story-telling, praying, arranging flowers,

painting pictures, dancinq are all expressive forms which give each society its

own special character. Different societies may have the same tools and the same

work·habits, but if their art and story telling are different, the societies are then

different. Ruth Finnegan (1970) agrees with Goldschmidt in her assertion that a

society cannot be fully understood without its songs and for assessment of the

society, its oral art is important.

Under the Sociological theoretical framework, literature is interpreted from the

point of view of its societal importance, its social function of storing and

transmitting the values of a given society. The theoretical framework holds that a

writer writes with a purpose and that his/her works reflect the social and related

experiences s/he has undergone.

Abiola Irele advancing sociological approach in the criticism of African literature

summarises this approach as

... attempts to correlate the work to the social background to see how the

author's intention and attitude issue out of the wider social context of his

art in the first place and, more important still, to get to an understanding of
 15

the way the writer or each group of writers captures a moment of historical

consciousness of society. The intimate progression of the collective mind,

its working, its shapes, its temper, these - and more - are determinants to

which a writer's mind and sensibilities are subject, to which they are

responding all the time and which, at a superficial or profound level, his

work will reflect in its moods and structures. (Quoted in Christopher

Heywood, ed., 1971)

In sociological criticism one studies the text as well as the social situation which

determines the creation of the text. Omafume Onoge asserts that 'the very

sociality of literature requires that criticism go beyond the literary text to include

the very structures of its manufacture' (quoted in Gugelberger, 1985:62)

The researcher in this case justifies the use of this theoretical framework

because the study essentially raises a social issue: how the Yoruba world- view

is portrayed in Wole Soyinka's works. Wallek and Warren (1949) indicate that

literature has a sociological function bordering on the social issues affecting

humankind:

...a large majority of the questions raised by literary study are, at least

ultimately or by implication social questions: questions of tradition and

convention, or norms and genres, symbols and myths (1949:95)

It is expected that within this framework the content of Soyinka's plays (Death

and King's Horseman and The Strong Breed) can be examined in the light of
 16

Yoruba mythology. In mythology, as Goldschmidt (1960) observes, the

expressiveside of life appears in forms related to the persistence of society.

It has often been admitted that mythologies, Greek, Roman or otherwise, have

greatly influenced our literature. This means that for such literature to be

appreciated, knowledge of the myths is mandatory. (Guerber, 1995) The critic

however works with the knowledge that a writer displays his originality by

exercising creativity while writing about old myths. (Ruthven, 1976) Soyinka

shows a deep scholarly interest in Yoruba culture and indeed 'some knowledge

of Yoruba culture is necessary for any serious study of this author's work' (Eldred

Jones, 1988:4). It is within sociological theory of literature that such examination

of culture in relation to literature can be examined.

Myth Criticism is employed in this study in terms of the tenets stated by Ruthven

(1976), David Sidney (1966), Clyde Kluckholm (1966) and William Righter

(1975). Myth critics make an assumption that writers are in someway possessed

by the myths they recount (or invent) by virtue of some unique ability to think

'mythically' in an age which has aspired since Socratic times, to think 'rationally'

(Ruthven, 1976:74). The central task in myth criticism is to establish a system of

reductive monism for the reintegration of many into one. This means that there

is only one hero or villain with many faces (or manifestations), the one being the

archetype. Upon increasing fascination with the archetypal images, some critics

have intensified their reductive approach by seeking to locate the archetype

 17

behind the archetype, what Joseph Campell calls the monomyth. This

information is important to the current study in which Soyinka's patron deity is

viewedas the archetype behind the tragic heroes. Also, very important in myth

criticism is the awareness of the historical context in which archetypal images

occur. Thus in the study at hand, the historical context of Ogun needs to be

established.

Bidney (1966) notes that myth like rituals have a social function which 'is

essentially practical and social, namely, to promote a feeling of unity or harmony

withthe whole nature or life.' Kluckholm's view too, point to the social function of

rituals. He observes that both myth and rituals 'provide cultural solutions to

problems which all human beings face' (1966:41). Myth criticism is important to

this study because as Righter (1975) explains, rituals and their supporting myths

are 'at varying levels of consciousness and decrees of articulation, a way of

describing the foundations of social behaviour' (p.11). The study examines the

use of myth and ritual with the view of understanding the Yoruba (and hence,

African) worldview.

In a work of art, content and form are inseparable. The two theoretical

approaches explained above - sociological and myth criticism - put a lot of

emphasis on the content of the texts. Stylistics considers the form. As Stephen

(1991) observes that Stylistics concentrates on the style of a work and how an

author chooses to express himself. Stylistics also considers a work of art as a

 18

reflectionof the author's appreciation of his own cultural environment. Stephen

further argues that a Stylistic interpretation of a work of art can be related to

author,or sociological, historical and biographical features, the stylistic approach

is adopted in this study for its relevance in describing aspects of the two literary

texts such as Symbolism, foreshadowing, flashback etc, and their effects in the

works.

1.8 Literature Review

Manystudies related to the use of myths and rituals in literature have been done.

An example is Machayo Olilo's PhD thesis on eight (8) of Francis Imbuga's texts.

The researchers conclusion is that myths are indeed vital trope for a modern

African writer in an endeavour to explain current issues in the society. The study

informs the one at hand in its concretisation of the central position occupied by

myths and rituals in literature. The current study however, relates the events in

Soyinka's two plays to Yoruba metaphysics whose media of manifestation are

the myths and rituals.

Another relevant study is Milton Obote's M.A Desertation, The Vision of Heroic

Self in Soyika's Tragic Drama (1989). The study evaluates the heroic self

alongside Soyinka's view that the hero is fashioned closely along the line of

Ogun's primal act of going through the transition. This is a point to which the

current study retums at some stage.

 19

In relation to Soyinka's two texts: Death and the King's Horseman (1975) and

The Strong Breed (1975) significant contribution has been made by several

critics. Eldred Jones Durosimi lists a number of influences on Soyinka: Yoruba

cuhure. his education, work on theatre and Christianity. He comments on

Soyinka's reliance on Yoruba mythology and religion in relation to A Dance of

the Forest in which is evident the Yoruba concept of the pantheon; the poem

'Idanre'in which Soyinka celebrates the fragmentation of the unified essence of

God to many essences; and, Soyinka's adaptation of The Bacchae of Euripides

in which Soyinka sees similarities between Dionysus and the Yoruba god Ogun

making him 'to look at the functioning of a god in another mythological tradition

who also had more than a hint of waywardness in his nature.' (Jones, 1988: 125)

Jones' analysis of The Strong Breed, centres on the value of sacrifice in the

salvation of the society from its 'evil'. For him 'Eman's sacrifice is modelled on

the sacrifice of Christ' (1988:72). He draws parallels between Eman and Jesus

Christ (a teacher and healer) and their manner of death on a tree, between the

sick girl and Judas, the reaction I response of the people present at the death of

the two men (Eman and Jesus). This way, Jones hints at the ritual sacrifice

without contextualising it, as this study intends to do, within the Yoruba cultural

practices and looking at its signification in the wider Yoruba society.

Elsewhere, Eldred Jones observes that Soyinka in The Strong Breed utilises the

'African idea of ritual cleansing through a victim' so as to create a vision of the

 20

kindof sacrifice through which society is saved. Jones' reference to 'the African

ideaof ritual cleansing' ties the practice to African society therefore overlooking

oneimportant fact: that the idea of ritual cleansing is not unique to Africa. What

wouldJones say about the Jews and their various cleansing rituals one being the

scapegoatpractice which is similar to the case in The Strong Breed? However,

what is important to this study is Jones' recognition that a customary ritual is

usedas a framework within which the play progresses.

Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi sees parallels between Eman and Jesus as

saviours. He refers to Eman as 'Christ-like figure'. He says that Soyinka

'superimposes African religion on Christian mythology, each vying for supremacy

in a rather disconcerting manner.' (Jones, (ed., 1981 :31-31) But it also seems

probable that Ogunyemi's analysis imposes Christianity on Yoruba mythology

contrary to the claim in the above quotation. Why for example, would he

(Ogunyemi) see Eman as Christ-like and not Jesus Christ as Eman-like? In other

words, just like Jones, Ogunyemi fails to realize and treat Yoruba Traditional

religion and Christianity as different and independent. Such view recognizes, as

this study does, that the concept of salvation is a universal one - one community

need not be influenced by another to seek its own salvation through an individual

who is charged with the saving task through suffering.

In the same way Kolawole Ogungbesan recognises the Christ-like figure in Eman

as he (Eman) is hunted down like 'an animal' by an 'evil community' which is

 21

hostileto strangers. The phrases in quotes show how Ogungbesan's analysis is

judgemental - the ritual sacrifice is portrayed as negative, contrary to the

intended argument of the current study that the ritual sacrifice is necessary

community's continued survival. Ogunyemi's analysis informs the current study

in its assertion that the text reflects the mood of crisis in Nigeria and the entire

Africaand that it presses forth for selfless sacrifice which counters 'other general

cannibalismof human beings. (King and Ogungbesan (eds., 1975)

Esslin Martin's short analysis of The Strong Breed emphasizes the grim side of

Eman's sacrifice. The hostile community 'beat, harry to distraction' and cruelly

sacrifice Eman. The spark of hope lies perhaps in the majority of villagers'

realization of the brutality of the old tradition. A similar view is held by Obi

Maduakor who refers to Eman only as 'a burnt offering at the altar of custom'.

(Beier, (ed., 1970) These studies, like the current one recognize the case of

sacrifice but depart from it in their negative attitude towards the practice.

While Adrian A. Roscoe acknowledges the ideas of scapegoat, and like the

above two, Esslin and Maduakor, emphasizes not the noble idea of self-sacrifice

for the society, but rather on the hostility of the society. For him, Eman 'nobly

substitutes' Ifada and 'dies in a manhunt that ensues, ... an appalling affair ... [in

which he suffers] the same humiliation [as his father], (Roscoe, 1971 :246).The

words 'appalling', 'manhunt', 'humiliation' express an idea contrary to Jones'

concept of saving mission being noble.

 22

GarethGriffiths points at the King's Horseman's role in maintaining the cosmos

balance. He observes that the Yoruba cosmology involves a close relationship

between the world of the past (ancestors and gods), the present (the world of

human beings), and the future (the unborn) and that the passage between the

worlds is crucial. Life's own task is to maintain the links between these worlds

throughthe proper maintenance of ritual. Thus unlike Pilkings, for the Elesin and

his people (the Yoruba people) the ritual death is an act of great honour,

essentialto maintain the links which permit the present world to continue from it.

(Griffiths,2000)

Sharing Griffiths's opinion is Gerald Moore for whom in terms of the play, Death

and the King's Horseman, the future is not separable from the past and must

suffer whatever contamination the present events may spill upon it. It is thus to

safeguard the cosmos relations that the Elesin is called to offer his life as the

'King's Horseman'. The Elesin's response has cosmic significance and he (the

Elesin) faces two polarised choices - his personal extinction or the community's

destruction. (Moore, 1980) The analysis further focuses on the question of social

expectation on an individual to save the society but, regretfully, without any

particular reference to existing moral order. The concern further dwells on the

preservation of African culture in general as a task for an individual and not

collective will. David Kerr's analysis of the play reinforces this latter interpretation,
 23

by Moore, with particular reference to the young generation led by Olunde as

'savioursof the African Civilisation'. (Kerr, 1995)

Jones shares Griffiths's and Moore's concept of cosmos balance. He observes

thatby failing in his task, the Elesin not only endangers the lives of the living, but

he has threatened the unbom by fathering a child in these circumstances. This is

importantbecause the current study examines the close relationship between the

four worlds of existence. In his analysis, Jones (1988) further lists the external

features of a Yoruba festival such as songs, dances, and drumming. This study

explores these features as well as others to a greater depth to bring out the

artisticcreativity through which the rituals in the two plays are explained.

James Booth similarly recognises the idea of ritual death (human sacrifice) and

places it in its proper religious context among the Yoruba. 'The Yoruba religion

prescribes sacrificial death'. He follows to suggest a forgetting of the whole

western tradition of individual tragedy if the central issues of Death and the

King's Horseman are to be understood. Gibbs and Lindfors (eds.,1993:127) He

further observes that the religious motive of Olundes's self-sacrifice is not

intended to command the audience's approval on literal level. For Booth, very

few will be inclined to accept that the gods or 'cosmic totality' really requires self-

immolation of the kind prescribed by Yoruba tradition. (p.136) Of great

significance to this study is the face that Booth establishes from a Yoruba

historian, Rev. Samuel Johnson, that this form of human sacrifice did exist in
 24

largenumbers until 19th century when it was abolished (even then it continued

butat reduced levels). This information aids the current study in placing the ritual

sacrificewithin its historical context. Booth's analysis further embraces a stylistic

approach,engaging the exploration of the dramatic techniques through which the

play'smetaphysical theme is realised.

Lastly, the contribution by D.S. Isevbaye notes the gravity of the King's

Horseman's death in the Yoruba religious history. He demonstrates that the

Yoruba community demands the Elesin's death failure to which his close

relativescould strangle him to death. The analysis also takes a stylistic approach

majoringon the dramatic style of the play. (Gibbs, (ed., 1987)

The review has established gaps existing between what has been done in

relation to the metaphysical theme and what this study intends to achieve. The

current study sets out to treat the two texts, The Strong Breed and Death and

the King's Horseman, with the intensity of centring their content within the

Yoruba metaphysical world to examine the signification of such content in the

Yoruba community. It aims at dealing with the metaphysical theme at depth, a

task which will involve drawing from Yoruba cultural practices so as to unveil the

meaning of the events in the two plays. Soyinka himself has been quoted as

saying; 'metaphysical quest is not of itself a static theme, not when it is integrated

by real proportions, into individual or social patterns of life' (Soyinka, 1966:55).

As the study shows in later discussion, the metaphysical theme does not just rely
 25

on unchanging prescriptions of tradition. It allows for dynamics in thought and

acceptschanges in perspectives.

1.9Scope and Limitations

Thescope of this study covers Wole Soyinka's two texts: Death and the King's

Horseman and The Strong Breed. The study is limited to examination of the

two texts in relation to the metaphysical theme and its implication in the society.

Whereasother works of Soyinka such as A Dance of the Forest also treat the

sametheme, the two texts in this study have been selected particularly for their

useof the significant rituals of self-sacrifice and ritual cleansing. These rituals are

viewed as having important implication in Yoruba metaphysics. Other aspects of

the texts such as style and characterisation are examined in relation to their

contribution in furthering the central theme. The study is further limited to library-

based research and the Internet.

1.10 Research Design and Methodology

The research engages a qualitative research design. It involves a textual study in

which data presented for analysis is collected from primary texts (selected works

of Wole Soyinka). Data from secondary sources would help in the

comprehension and qualitative analysis of the primary texts. Infonnation from

primary texts is to be collected by reading the selected works of Wole Soyinka.

For secondary data, the research has access to materials from Kenyatta

University Library and other libraries within the Nairobi City. The materials are to
 26

be read, reviewed and selected in respect to their relevant and significant

contribution to the research study. Such relevant material includes Soyinka's

essay, 'The Fourth Stage' and other texts which expound on Yoruba

metaphysicalworld.

Thestudy engages the content analysis approach to study the two texts. In this

approachdetailed information about the phenomenon being studied is obtained

and then attempts to establish patterns, trends and relationships from the

information gathered are made. Thus the researcher intends to show how

Yoruba myths, rituals and festivals relate to the content of Soyinka's two texts.

The conclusion ensuing from the analysis must of necessity link the writer's use

andmanipulation of these myths and rituals to the society's metaphysics.

1.11Outline of the Study

Thework is organised into four main chapters and a conclusion. This introduction

forms the first chapter. The second chapter establishes the mythological

foundation of the plays putting emphasis on the similarities between Ogun and

the tragic characters. The third chapter focuses on the artistic measures which

add up to the scheme of scapegoat within which the rituals in the two plays are

designed. The chapter further explores the overall signification of the scapegoat

model in the Yoruba cosmology. In chapter four the argument concentrates on a

new order, which Soyinka introduces to societal morality. Finally a review of the

main discussions carried out in the preceding chapters is provided in the last
 27

chapter, which. comprises significant conclusion. The chapter also bears an

attempt at making recommendation for further research.

 28

CHAPTER TWO: MYTHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF DEATH AND THE

KING'S HORSEMAN AND THE STRONG BREED

This chapter explores the mythical framework of Death and the King's

Horseman and The Strong Breed. It examines elements of Yoruba mythology

evident in these two texts. Particular emphasis is laid on the Ogun myth and its

significance in communicating societal realities. The character of Ogun is

compared to that of the tragic characters in the two texts.

The Yoruba are reputed to have the biggest number of divinities (god). No one

knows the actual number but ranges from 200 to 1700 and even more, have

been suggested. (Mugambi, 1990) Since, according to Yoruba tradition, the

Orishas (gods) were initially unhappily separated from human beings, Yoruba

myths are stories about the efforts made to cross the gulf, which brought about

the separation. (Soyinka, 1976) In mythological terms, the orishas eventually

descended from the sky and spent their lives in relationship with human beings -

as kings, chiefs, leaders at war etc. Soyinka transfers this mythic world into his

literary texts. This is evident in the many references he makes to various gods in

Death and the King's Horseman. These gods dictate and direct every human

affair so that the Praise Singer says to the Elesin: 'In their [ancestors'] time the

world was never tilted from its grove, it shall not be in yours', the Elesin twice

replies, 'The gods have said No' (Soyinka, 1964: 10). At a later stage in the play,

the Elesin says to the white man (Mr. Pilkings), 'You advise all our lives although

on the authority of what gods, I do not know' (p.64). The gods thus wield power
 29

over human dealing so that all leadership is in their name. As Wande Abimbola

observes,such authority is not the case just in Soyinka's literary texts but also in

Yoruba life. He writes: 'In indigenous Yoruba culture, Ifa has governed almost

every aspect of Yoruba life from the birth of a child through his or her childhood

days to marriage and old age and finally death' (Blakely, 1994:6). Ifa is both the

name of the god of knowledge and wisdom as well as his divination system (the

oracle). This orisha also known as Urunmila, gives divine guidance and counsel,

through his oracle, to those who consult him - and many consult him on

important matters. Hence Soyinka's reference to the deity in Death and the

King's Horseman:

'And Ifa spoke no more that day ....

But for Osanyin, courier-bird of Ifa's heart of Wisdom' (p.13)

Other mentions of orishas are evident in the following citations:

'That Esu-harassed day slipped into the stew-pot' (p.9).

'I saw the ivory pebbles of Oya's river bed' (p.19).

'Not even Ogun-of-the-farm toiling dawn till dusk on his tuber patch ...

Not even Ogun with finest hoe he ever

Forged at the anvil could have shaped the buttocks ... ' (p.19).
 30

'Whenthe river begins to taste salt of the ocean, we no longer know what deity to

callon, the river-god or Olokun' (p.44).

It is observable in the above citations that Soyinka's work is so steeped into

Yoruba mythology that it takes a matter-of-fact approach in the deployment of the

orishas. The names of the gods are not given typographical highlight to show that

they are foreign to the language of the play (they are not English). Even the

glossary bears no such information. Soyinka's reader would therefore, need to

dig deep into Yoruba mythology for the knowledge that the names stand for gods

and to understand the function of each deity. Thus Esu is the orisha of chance,

accident and unpredictability. Because he is Olorun's (Sky God's) linguist, and

master of languages, Esu is responsible tor carrying sacrifices from humans to

the Sky God. He is also known for his phallic powers and exploits. He is said to

lurk at the gateways, on the highways and the crossroads, where he introduces

chance and accident into the lives of humans. (Coulander, 1973) This being

Esu's character, the Elesin appropriately refers to 'Esu-harassed day to mean a

day plagued by misfortunes.

Oya is both the name of a river as well as the deity who plays patron to it. Oya

was one of Sango's wives and she is the orisha of the Niger River. Ogun, whose

myth is explored shortly after this, is the orisha of iron, and consequently the

patron orisha of all humans for who iron has particular significance, such as
 31

smiths,hunters, and warriors. The quotation above makes reference to Ogun as

thepatron of farmers who use iron hoes to accomplish their tasks.

In the last quotation, Soyinka just refers to the river-god without mentioning the

nameand refers to Olokun by name. This is because each river in Yoruba land

has a patron deity. For instance, the wives of Sango, Osun and Oba, are orishas

of rivers bearing those names. (Abimbola, 1994) Since in the quotation the river

is not specified, the orisha name is not specified either. However, the orisha of

the ocean, Olokun is singled out for she is the only deity that presides over seas

andoceans.

Unlike Death and the King's Horseman, The Strong Breed displays a paucity

of references to particular orishas. Even then the relationship between gods and

people is still portrayed as crucial. When the Old Man fears what might become

of the ritual cleansing, his Attendant replies, 'The gods will not desert us on that

account' (Soyinka, 1979: 103). Consider yet another citation: when the 'chasers'

do not seem to be able to control Eman, the carrier, the latter gets thirsty and as

he heads to the stream for water, the following is the dialogue:

Jaguna: And it works so well. This surely is the help of gods themselves Oroge.

Don't you know at once what is on the path to the stream?

Oroge: The sacred trees.

 32

Jaguna: I tell you it is the very hand of gods. (p.11S)

A short while later, Jaguna explains, 'When the carrier steps on the fallen twigs, it

is up in the sacred trees with him' (p.117). What is evident in the extract is not

just the strong claim on the help of gods, but also another element of Yoruba

mythology - people's relationship with the environment. Abimbola (1994)

observes that in traditional Yoruba thought, there is a deep respect for nature as

an important part of the universe. Two reasons are responsible for this place of

nature in the thought system: There is a belief that when the orishas finished

their assignment on earth, most of them tumed themselves into objects of nature

such as trees, rocks, hills, mountains, rivers, lagoons, and the ocean. Moreover,

the Yoruba believe in the ancient covenant between human beings and nature.

This covenant compels mutual respect. They believe that every object of nature

has an ancient name, which is used to communicate with it and command it to do

their will. Abimbola's explanation lays the basis for Jaguna's optimism and faith in

the sacred trees in helping to trap the carrier. It is as though nature would fully

cooperate with the human community to ensure the well being of the other.

Besides, the sacred trees might also be deified to aid humans from their position

as gods.

Ogun and the Tragic Characters

Soyinka argues that Yoruba tragedy acts out the suffering caused by the gulfs in

existence and by the painful acts of will or assertion performed to bridge them.

His assertion presupposes an essential relationship between the Yoruba tragic

 33

drama and the Ogun myth. Soyinka in 'The Fourth Stage: Through the

Mysteriesof Ogun to the Origin of Yoruba Tragedy' asserts:

The first actor ... for he led others ... was Ogun, first suffering

deity, first creative energy, the first challenger, and

conqueror of transition. And his, the first art, was tragic

art ... (p.34)

Soyinka's strong assertion is that modern African tragic drama 're-creates

through the medium of physical contemporary action' the first experience of

Ogun through the transition abyss. Thus in the discourse that follows below, we

attemptto relate the tragic characters in Soyinka's two texts with the character of

Ogun.We seek to establish ways in which Eman (in The Strong Breed) and the

Elesin (in Death and the King's Horseman) are modelled on the character of

Ogun. Before this, it is necessary to supply some more information on the Ogun

figure to understand his character.

Oba Ofeimun (2003) establishes that there is a relationship, or better, a

synchrony between Ogun Ewuare, King of the Edo Kingdom in the 15th Century

(1440 - 1485) and Ogun, the god of iron who, in spite of Christianity and Islam, is

still worshipped across much of Southem Nigeria, the West Coast of Africa, and

the African Diaspora - the West Indies and the Americas. Ogun the King was

described by his subjects as powerful, cruel, wicked, autocratic and surrounded

by mystery. He conquered and re-built the city of Benin constructing well-paved

streets, which were greatly admired by the Portuguese adventurer who first
 34

visited Benin in 1472. He was partial to ironworkers so that even when captured

in the war, they were never to be killed. Ogun Ewuare was also a musician

inventing a fife-like wind instrument. His artistic venture also led to the

introduction of royal beads and the scarlet clothes that he stole from the

Portuguese ships with help of the Ifa priest. Later, the historical figure was deified

and worshipped in Benin as well as in the surrounding lands of Nigeria and the

present day Ghana. These activities synchronise the two Ogun figures so that

one may see the mythical figure as a product of the historical one. Soyinka's

Ogun is purely mythical - existing at the beginning of time but the relationship

with history is unmissable. He (Soyinka) frees the deity from local politics and

geography so that he (Ogun) affects not only Yoruba land but also a far wide

terrestrial space.

The operations of Ogun can be pieced together to form a salvation story. The

Orisha plays a redemptive role when he sets out to better the lives of the other

orishas - from the lonely, isolated and incomplete selves to communion with

humans with whom they share their origin. Eman, Soyinka's protagonist in The

Strong Breed, is a saviour too. When we encounter him at the beginning of the

text, he is at a 'modest clinic'. He runs a medical clinic, which ensures a kind of

redemption in its endeavour to restore people's health, therefore bettering the

physical lives of the members of the society. He offers his medical services even

when he is rejected: Sunma observes, 'you are wasting your life on people who

really want you out of their way' (Soyinka 1979:83). When the girl who goes
 3S

roundwith a carrier comes to him and claims to be 'unwell', Eman responds, 'But

I have never seen you here. Why do you come to the Clinic?' (p.85) The girl who

is isolated because of her disease stands at a distance from Eman as lepers in

the gospels do when they meet Jesus. The kindness and fearlessness of Jesus

to the leper's parallels Eman's when he says, 'I am not afraid of catching your

disease' (Soyinka, 1976:86; Luke. 17:11ff). The association of Eman with the

Christ makes him fit in with not only great healers but also saviours. The clinic

therefore is hope and help for the 'unwell' who too, like the orishas, are

incomplete seeking wholeness.

It is Eman too who clears the bush for the handicapped Ifada for a farm, just as

Ogun clears the first bush with his iron knife when the god and human population

wishes to expand their dwelling. (Coulander, 1973) records this part of Ogun

myth thus:

... orishas and humans alike ... hunted, cleared the land so that they

could plant, and they cultivated the earth. But the tools they had

were of wood, stone, or soft metal, and the heavy work that had to

be done was a great burden. Because there were more people

living at Ife than in the beginning, it was necessary to clear away

trees from the edge of the forest to make more room for planting.

(p.33)

The rest of the account has every orisha trying unsuccessfully to clear the bush

with his poor tool and it is a voice of despair and disappointment when they
 36

(orishas) say to each other, 'what kind of a world are living in? How can we

survivein this place? Their survival is ensured by Ogun who emerges with tools

of new technology (the Iron Age) to save them from modem problems - of

overpopulation -, which old means (technology of the past) cannot solve. Eman

who is modelled on Ogun is equally progressive-minded. He takes the initiative to

think and act for lfada whom despite his incapacitated self must have a means of

livelihood hence the need for a farm. He encouraqes lfada to like fanning. Eman

is unlike Sunma who. thinks Ifada should be very thankful for merely 'being

allowed to live' (p.83).

Perhaps Eman's ability to provide remedy or wholeness to incompleteness is

more evident in Sunma's plea. In the initi~1 pages of the text, she pleads with

Eman to take her away from the village as she 'demand[s] some

wholesomeness' which can only be granted by or through Eman. She tells him, 'I

swear to you, I do not mind what happens afterwards. But you must help me tear

myself away from here. I can no longer do it by myself ... ' (p.88). Her inability to

save herself in the situation is the inability of the conquered self, which

authenticates Eman's role as saviour. She desperately clings to him, 'you see, I

bore myself to you. For days, I had thought it over; this was to be a new

beginning for us. And I placed my fate wholly into your hands ... '(p.91). Evidently,

Sunma's redemption lies with Eman. However, give the Yoruba communal

aspect of life, Sunma's individual plea is rejected for Eman must stay in the

village to contribute his share to the well being of all people.

 37

For Soyinka, the society is always in need of salvation from itself. The required

act of salvation is not a mass act but it comes through individual vision and

dedication. The individual undertakes the saving mission in spite of the

oppositionof the very society s/he seeks to save. (Jones, 1988) Like Eman, such

individualsend up as victims of the society, which benefits from their vision. The

society thus depends on the exercise of the individual will. Soyinka celebrates

this individual will power in the poem 'Idanre' which he refers to a 'passion poem

of Ogun elder brother to Dionysus'. Atunda, in Yoruba mythology, is the slave of

the first deity, who carried out the first revolutionary act by rolling a bolder on his

master and hence fragmenting the first unified essence to many individual

essences or gods as well as human beings. Soyinka praises him: 'All hail Saint

Atunda, first revolutionary / Grand Iconoclast at genesis' (King, ed. 1975). By

exalting Atunda, Soyinka exalts ' the individual who sets out to redeem his

society whether or not the process involves an act of rebellion. The poem further

associates Atunda with Ogun and the Greek god Dionysus. To their class, by

extension, belongs Eman who seemingly joins the drama of gods. As Jones

(1988) observes, the Yoruba figure is paralled by figures from all universal

religions. Atunda is a symbol for a universal idea which Yoruba mythology and

religion conveniently supplies. That is why Eman relates not only to Ogun

(another Yoruba figure) but also to Jesus Christ (a Christian figure who is a

healer and a saviour).

 38

Emanby birth belongs to a family of carriers, to a 'strong breed' that can 'take

thisboat to the river year after year and wax stronger on it. I [Eman's father] have

taken down each year's evils for over twenty years' (p.103). The imagery of the

boat and the carrier denotes a purification and for people who depend on Eman

for the washing away of the evil of the old year and therefore assurance of

wholeness (as opposed to incompleteness caused by their sins) in the New Year.

As Sunma puts it, the New Year 'is the time for making changes in ones life'

(p.89) but the individual change requires communal cleansing, which must be

ensured by one person - Eman.

Elesin Oba, the tragic character in Death and the King's Horseman is also

comparable to Ogun in several ways. Iyaloja describes him as he 'who now

bestrides the hidden gulf and pause to draw the right foot across end into the

resting-home of the great forebears' (Soyinka, 1975:22). The archetype on whom

Elesin is modelled (Ogun) is always described, in Soyinka's interpretation of

Yoruba mythology, as breaching the 'gulf between the gods or/and ancestors

and human beings. Therefore, Elesin's is a great task as Iyaloja further describes

him as 'stand[ing] at the gateway of the great change' (p.23). As Ofemun (2003)

notes, Ogun and in deed all orishas, function within what Nietzsche describes as

the chthonic realm, the fourth stage in Soyinka's terms. This is a zone in mythic

space which is distinct from but which encompasses the world of living, the dead,

and the unborn. It is an in-between world, in which all the suffering of gods and

humankind are experienced, transformed and re-incribed for the fortification of

 39

humanwill. Soyinka clearly observes that this chthonic realm is periodically in

needof a challenger, a human representative, to breach it on behalf of the well

beingof the community. In terms of drama, as it developed from ritual, the stage

came to represent the symbolic chthonic space and the presence of the

challenger (the protagonist, the tragic hero) within it is the earliest physical

expressionof people's fearful awareness of the cosmic context of their existent.

Givena secular interpretation, the 'gateway' I the gulf of transition I the chthonic

realm, within which Elesin operates (stands), is a zone of difficult choices and

hard decisions. In the making of these difficulty decisions, uncertainties are

breached, an act, which thereafter affects the present and re-shapes how the

community relates to the past and the future. Thus for the intended change to be

attained, Elesin's cooperation and self-sacrifice like Eman's, is mandatory. As

already observed, Ogun is at the heart of changes in the society. The society in

the world of the text (Death and the King's Horseman) is in the throes of

political colonisation and cultural imperialism. We encounter the Pilkings

desecrating the ancestral masks, which are central to traditional Yoruba culture.

The DC (Mr. Pilkings), who represents the colonial government displays his

authority over the natives by disrupting the ceremony I ritual in which Elesin is

meant to die to ensure the society's continued well being. Both acts seek to kill

the past and severe cords which like it to the present. The changes, which have

occurred in the society (foreign interference), call for Elesin who impersonates

Ogun, to provide vision and direction. In his lecture, 'In Search of Ogun:
 40

Soyinka, Nietzsche and the Edo Century' (2003), Odia Ofemun resonates this

role of Ogun in the following words:

... Ogun, as a theme, is particularly fortuitous in [that] it brings

together core issues that have plagued African societies since the

first European landed on our shoes: issues concerning the

displacement of nature gnosis by alien epistemologies, the role of

leaders not just politicians but also writers and artists and other

professionals, in re-mobilisinq or failing to mobilise a defeated

people. (p.9)

Ofeimun's outlook on Ogun finds parallels in both the mythical as well as the

historical Ogun who bears the following praise names 'Master of the world; the

one who shows the way for others; the deity who brought fire; the first hunter, the

opener of roads; the clearer of the first fields; the warrior; the founder of

dynasties, kingdoms' (Obafeimun, 2003:33). All the praise names suggest a case

of a leader who leads others into building a new civilisation than the one in

existence.

Elesin Oba should be judged against the standard set above. Does he measure

up to the praise names given above? Does he even measure up to the title of 'a

man of honour', which the women have given him in the text? Does he mobilise

or fail to mobilise the 'defeated people' to respond adequately to the changes of

their time? This however, is the subject of discussion in chapter four.

 41

The language used in relation to Elesin also hints at the intention to model him

on the mythic Ogun. Consider the following:

The gourd you bear is not for shirking

The gourd is not for setting down ... (Soyinka, 1975: 15)

The symbol of a gourd is picked from the myth about Ogun. The deity (mythical

character) as well as the historical Ogun, ruler of the Edo kingdom, is described

as going to war with three gourds; one for palm wine (victory and celebration),

another for sperms (creativity) and the third for gun powder (war and

destruction). (Ofeimun, 2003) The gourd which Elesin should not 'shirk' may be

viewed in all the three senses: His creativity is necessary in the battle that lies

ahead, as Iyaloja indicates that the 'hand of foreigners threaten to tear the world

apart'. After the cosmic balance has been assured, the third gourd of palm wine,

for celebration would be in use.

Consider yet another extract which links Elesin to Ogun: 'They have slain the

favourite horse of the king and slain his dog. They have borne them from pulse to

pulse centre of the land receiving prayers for the king' (Soyinka, 1975:74). Of the

two animals mentioned here, the horse provides Elesin's full title, 'Elesin Oba'

(the King's Horseman) as such was his traditional role, but it is of interest why the

other animal is a dog. Ofeimun (2003) has the answer: the historical Ogun (Ogun

Ewaure) was once, as a crown prince, exiled from his homeland, Benin. As he

escaped, he ran into other dangers, he killed a leopard and a snake and planted

an evergreen on the spot to commemorate it. This act of bravery is celebrated in

 42

mythology save for the fact that the tradition of killing of a leopard every year,

although continued by his successors, has been replaced by the sacrifice of dogs

morereadily available. The dog is the so-called meat of Ogun. The reference to a

dog having been killed in the play therefore evokes the sacrifice to Ogun and by

symbolism, represents appeasement for Elesin. Since the role of a sacrifice is to

honour as well as reconcile the parties involved, the sacrifice of a dog is meant to

exhort Elesin to undertake the dangerous task of self-sacrifice for his

community's well being - now that the favourite animal has been sacrificed.

Another similarity is still evident in the creative use of language. Soyinka says of

his own patron deity, Ogun:

... the shard of origina loneness which contained the creative flint

appears to have passed into being of Ogun who manifests a

temperament for artistic creativity matched by technological

proficiency. His world is the world of craft, song and poetry'

(1976:36).

This, being Soyinka's conception of Ogun, forms the grounds upon which he has

matched the god with Elesin Oba. The language that Elesin Oba is given is

largely poetic. He not only uses rich imagery, proverbs, but also speaks in verse

as opposed to prosaic language of other characters such as, the women, Amusa,

Joseph, and the Pilkings among others. The only other character that matches

Elesin Oba is the Praise Singer, another artist whose function is to prepare

Elesin Oba sufficiently for his task, by use of song. But even the praise singer
 43

marvelsat Elesin's use of proverbs: 'The elesin's riddles are not merely the nut in

the kemel that breaks human teeth; he also buries the kemel in hot embers and

daresa man's fingers to draw it out' (Soyinka, 1975:11). The Singer proudly says

that 'a man is either born to his art or he isn't' (p.10) Elesin Oba however, uses

poetic language only when he relates closely to his redemptive role (of self-

sacrifice). Otherwise he uses the commonplace conversational language. Just to

demonstrate the case in point, consider the following:

Who does not seek to be remembered?

Memory is master of Death, the chink

In his armour of conceit. I shall leave

That which Makes my going the sheerest

Dream of an afternoon. Should voyagers

Not travel light? Let the considerate travel

Shed, of his excessive load, all

That may benefrt the living. (p.20)

The elevated language in the above extract is unmissable. Soyinka succeeds in

making his protagonist artistic to measure up to the world of 'craft, song and

poetry' to which his patron deity belongs. The language raises Elesin to the level

of kings; for it is to royalty that the refined levels of language historically belong. If

Elesin Oba is raised to such kingly status, it is still to make him frt with the

mythological Ogun on whom Elesin is fashioned.

 44

The Archetype and its Faces

The discussion in this chapter has allied the tragic characters - Eman and Elesin

- to Ogun. This means that Soyinka chooses the deity as the archetype and all

the protagonists in this tragic drama are faces or manifestations or actualisations

of this archetype. The role that these characters play in the drama of the two

texts is paralleled to the role played by Ogun in the Yoruba mythology. The role

in both cases is redemptive. The archetype and the tragic heroes are saviours

who seek to better the lives of their respective societies.

 45

CHAPTER THREE: THE SCAPEGOAT THEME

This chapter explores the events in Death and the King's Horseman and The

Strong Breed in relation to the concept of the scapegoat. It involves a close

examination of the rituals employed in the two texts; paying particular attention to

stylistic and dramatic techniques which contribute to a successful portrayal of

these rituals. Finally the discussion shows the overall implication of these rituals

in the entire Yoruba cosmos.

The Yoruba cosmology involves a close but disrupted relationship between the

past (the world of the ancestors and gods), the present (the world of the living)

and the future (the world of the unbom). The passage between these worlds is

crucial. In fulfilling the obligation of a ritual, the balance of forces is maintained so

that the actions of people do not bring about their own (people's) destruction.

(Griffths, 2000) According to Soyinka, the function of a ritual is to diminish the

gulf that lies between one area of existence and another. In this chapter, two

rituals utilised in Soyinka's two texts are examined: ritual sacrifice (self-sacrifice)

in Death and the King's Horseman and ritual cleansing in The Strong Breed.

As the discussion shows, both rituals frt into the framework of a scapegoat.

Self-sacrifice

In an interview with Louis S. Gates, Soyinka has the following to observe about

self-sacrifice in relation to the African society:

 46

In our society, this kind of event [self sacrifice] is inbuilt into the very

mechanism, which operates the entire totality of society. The

individual acts as a carrier. .. who knows very well what is going to

become of him is really no different, is doinq nothing special, from

the other members of the society who build society and who

guarantee survival of society in their own way ...there is one

principle, one essential morality of African society which we must

always bear in mind, and that is, the greatest morality is what

makes the entire community survive. (August 1975)

Therefore, self-sacrifice is aimed at ensuring the well being of the community. In

most cases, rituals and sacrifice involve death or transition with the latter aspect

involving death at a symbolic level. Elesin in Death and the King's Horseman is

supposed to undergo the experience of ritual sacrifice lest the actions of people

'wrench the world adrift' (Soyinka, 1975:17). Before we examine the elements of

ritual and its implication, we need to trace the historical origin of ritual sacrifice

among the Yoruba.

Human sacrifice was a practice among the Yoruba people just as it was common

in many pre-technological societies. The Ijebu sub-tribe of Yoruba (Soyinka

belongs to this ethnic group) is further divided into two branches - Ijebu ode and

/jebu Remon. The Ode branch used to be ruled by a chief whose title was

Awujale while the Remon branch used to be governed by a chief who ranked

below the Awajale. Before Nigeria came under British protection, this subordinate
 47

chief used to be killed with a ceremony after a rule of three years. (George

Frazer, 1959) The chiefs death was ritualistic and it must have had a great

signification in the Yoruba cosmology. In relation to the alafin's (king's) funeral,

theYoruba historian, the Rev. Samuel Johnson, establishes that such funeral, as

it was conducted at Oyo until late 19th century, involved a large number of

sacrifices, which included 'honourable suicide' of the King's Horseman, Or Ona-

Oluku-esin, whose title implied that he must die with the king. Other than this

suicide, the rest of the elaborate ritual includes sacrifices which are described

thus:

At certain stations, on route between the palace and the Bara,

eleven in all, they halt and immolate a man and a ram, and also at

the Bara itself, four women each at the head and at the feet, two

boys on the right and the left, were usually buried in the same

grave with the dead monarch to be his attendants in the other

world, and the last of all, the lamp-bearer in whose presence all the

ceremonies are performed. (Gibbs, 1993:55)

Johnson's further observation is that the death of Elesin Oba (chief) had such

grave moral implication that reluctance (to die) necessitated an intervention.

There are cases in which members of the offending chiefs family strangled him

to save themselves the disgrace. The case described above is not particular to

the Yoruba community. Other societies like the Egyptians buried their monarch

together with his household. The practice was based on a belief in continuation

of life after death (though in another form) so that the monarch required his
 48

servantsand subordinates in the next life. Evidently, Soyinka picks an aspect of

the ritual described above to form the framework of Death and the King's

Horseman. Joseph explains to his employer: 'It is native custom. The king die

last month. Tonight is his burial. But before they can bury him, the Elesin must

dieso as to accompany him to heaven' (Soyinka, 1975: 36).

It is characteristic of Soyinka to use a festival framework as a form to carry the

intended content. Jones (ed., 1972) says that perhaps the most significant

traditional element in Soyinka's plays is the use of the overall design of a festival.

For example, in Kongi's Harvest, Soyinka uses the festival of the New Yam as

framework to develop the plot. In Death and the King's Horseman, he uses the

traditional ceremony of a king's burial and the consequent passing away of a

chief. It has been established from Soyinka himself (in his introduction to the text,

Death and the Kin's Horseman) that he (Soyinka) is using historical material to

build the play. The play is based on well documented historical events which took

place in Oyo, the ancient Yoruba city of Nigeria, in 1946 - in which a son died on

behalf of his father (Olori Elesin). The presence of the colonial district officer is

the same. The royal visit by the Prince of Wales and the war are historical facts

too. Soyinka has however, rearranged these historical materials and added

other details to bring the intended dramatic effects. He is therefore not just

reproducing history. He mythicises history and weaves a dramatic piece which

possesses the appearance of fiction.

 49

Elesin'sjob is that of a saviour. The women clearly define it: 'The world is in your

hands' (p.18). Iyaloja clearly warns him not to 'set this world adrift in [his] own

time' (p.21). If Elesin Oba is to achieve this, certain elements of the ritual must be

respected. All his requests are granted because the community fears that

offending him is to mortify the gods. "We offend heaven itself says Iyaloja. That

is why the women grant his wish for new clothes and a girl already betrothed to

Iyaloja's son. It is clear that the success of the ritual depends on the contribution

of all members of the society even if such contribution is only at the level of

support. Such communion binds the community together so that they share their

achievements as well as their failures and disappointments. Only then can they

face life threats together.

Aesthetically, Soyinka employs strategies, which are aimed at aiding Elesin to

perform his duty well. Language is used artistically to bring out the position and

response of various characters in relation to the ritual of self-sacrifice at hand.

There are three categories of language use. The first category is characterised

by Yoruba traditional expressions namely, proverbs or wise sayings. Three

characters comfortably use proverbs in their speech: Elesin, Praise Singer and

Iyaloja. When the Praise Singer asks Elesin why he has ignored his wife on the

morning of is death, the latter answers with a proverb: When the horse sniffs the

stable, does he not strain at the bridle?' (p.9). The proverb bring out Elesin's

personal feelings over the ritual; he is already afraid of his impeding death. He

has 'sniffed' death and therefore he feels 'strain' - anxiety, over the whole ordeal.
 50

A while later, when Iyaloja doubts Elesin's commitment to the cause, she uses a

proverb to reason with him: 'Eating the awusa nut is not so difficult as drinking

water afterwards' (p.22). Elesin has just demanded (and in fact has been given) a

girl for his bride before his death. Iyaloja fears that when the moment of death

('drinking water afterwards') comes, Elesin will waver having indulged in pleasure

of flesh with the girl ('eating the awusa nut'). The proverb therefore seems to be

development on the saying that 'things are easier said than done'. Elesin

consequently responds with another proverb: 'The waters of bitter stream are

honey to a man I Whose tongue has savoured all' (p.22). This is an assertion that

he does not fear death ('waters of bitter stream' given his wealth of experience

('savoured all'). He has therefore re-affirmed his commitment to his traditional

calling.

The second category of language use involves Nigerian Pidgin English. Sergeant

Amusa in most part speaks in pidgin. For example, when Iyaloja tells him not to

stop the chief from performing his duty, Amusa responds: 'what kin' of duty be

dat one Iyaloja?' (p.36) There is similar language in the rest of his dialogue with

the women and the girls.

The third and last major category in language use is the 'perfect' or refined

English employed by the girls in the play within a play semi-scene to ridicule

Amusa as well as the Westem mannerisms. The girls speak in "an 'English'

accent" (p.37). The speech together with the dramatic technique (playacting of
 51

the girls) which supplements it, emerge successfully in drawing contrasting views

to the ritual at hand. The West is trivialised in speech; and when Sergeant

Amusa is embarrassed at the end of this scene, the class he represents is

embarrassed too.

Each of the above categories of language use is representative and symbolic of

part of the society in Death and the King's Horseman. The three characters

who speak in proverbs represent the custodians of the Yoruba culture. The

wisdom coded in, and the linguistic difficulty posed by the proverbs, symbolise

the richness of culture which the Yoruba tradition intends to preserve in the

intended ritual sacrifice. This is opposed by the second category in which

Nigerian pidgin, even though a modern characteristic of their language is a

deviation from the original version (of language). The development of pidgin

implies an interaction of the Yoruba with Westerners. The birth of a 'confused'

language mid-way English and native forms is a characteristic of a conquered

people. Amusa represents this class of a confused people who are gradually

losing touch with their culture. It is no wonder he takes instructions from his

conqueror, Mr. Pilkings, to interrupt the ritual. He is unlike the third part of the

society represented by the girls (and perhaps, Olunde), which has mustered the

foreigner's language so well that they can subvert the Western prescribed

etiquette as the girls do. The first and the third cateqories propel the ritual

sacrifice forward, though each in a different way.

 52

Jones (1988) lists the external features of Yoruba festivals: drumming, singing,

dancing, feasting and sacrifice. Poetic praise songs (oriki) and prayers are

recited, and mimetic dances re-enact events whose originals are lost in

mythological gloom. Sacrifices are also offered and pent-up spirits are released

in general dancing. All these elements are evident in the ritual re-enactment in

Death and the King's Horseman. Soyinka employs several songs, chants and

dances. For example, Elesin breaks into a chant and a dance about the Not-I bird

and the drummer attempts to draw 'a rhythm out of his steps' (p. 11). The women

sing and dance around Elesin as they dress him with rich new clothes (p.16);

they also sing and dance in praise of the girls (p.40) and Elesin, as well, dances

to the Praise Singer's dirge (p.41).

Soyinka utilises the expertise of a Praise Singer whose function is to praise,

caution, as well as exhort and encourage Elesin to undertake the difficult task of

delivering the audience (participants of the ritual) through the transitional gulf. His

(the Praise Singer's) role is so crucial that he begins the drama of Death and the

King's Horseman and his presence is required up to the very end of the play.

Significantly, he appears with Elesin and strictly addresses only him. In other

words, he is fashioned specifically for his service in the ritual, which involves

Elesin's death. Evidently, his role, like Elesin's, is inherited. He says to Elesin: 'I

don't know for certain that you'll meet my father, so who is going to sing these
J
deeds in accents that will pierce the deafness of the ancient ones?' (p.1 0). These
 53

two characters (who represent the present) inherit their roles from their ancestors

(who represent the past) and the need for continuity is unmissable.

To highlight the Praise Singer's role, the following may be considered:

'They love to spoil you but beware. The hand of women also weaken the unwary'

(p.10)

'Your name will be like the sweet berry a child places under his tongue to

sweeten the passage of food. The world will never spit it out' p.10)

'Elesin, we placed the reins of the world in your hands yet you watched it plunge

over the edge of bitter precipice' (p.75)

The first quotation bears a warning that the women who pamper him could also

be his downfall. Apparently, Elesin fails to heed to this waming and the Praise

Singer's anticipation comes to pass. In the second citation, the Singer paints a

very good future for Elesin after a successful completion of his task hence

encouraging him to go ahead with it. The third quotation bears a voice of

reproach for the failed Elesin. These roles show that the Praise Singer is an

indispensable element of the ritual. Further more, the very use of the character

'Praise Singer' suggests that the whole dramatic piece can be largely sung hence

a conclusion that the plays owes much to the Yoruba opera, an earlier stage in

the development of Yoruba theatre.

Similarly, the role and effects of the drums is moving. The drums 'talk' to Elesin

. directing him as well as to the whole Yoruba community. When the foreigner (the
 54

Pilkings) think that 'all bush drumming sounded the same', (p.27), the Christian

convert, Joseph, is capable of identifying the two-fold implication of the drumming

on the night of Elesin's death. He says, 'It sounds like the death of a great chief

and then, it sounds like the wedding of a great chief (p.31)

The aesthetic effect of the drums on Elesin requires some exemplification. After

the consummation of his marriage, there is a 'steady drum-beat from the

distance' and Elesin's response is 'Yes. It is nearly time' (p.4D) From this point

onward, the progression of the ritual relies almost solely on the drums as

summarised below:

The Elesin listens to the drums again and observes, 'They have begun to

seek out the heart of the king's tevoutite horse... They know it is here I

shall await them.' As he continues to listen to the drumming 'his eyes

appear to cloud'. This marks an initial step into a trance, which is meant to

unite his spirit and that of his king's in the 'great passage'. 'He listens to

the drums. He seems ... to be falling into a state of semi-hypnosis; .... His

voice a little breathless'. He begins to dance to the drumming: 'let me

dance into the passage, , he says. 'He comes down progressively among

them ... the drummers playing. His dance is one of the solemn, regal

motions'. At this stage, the degree of trance has intensified for when the

Praise Singer calls him, he only hears 'faintly'.

TJe drumming, the singing and the dancing combine and gradually weave into a

climax, which only the stage directions can communicate well:

..
 55

Elesin is now sunk fully deep in his trance; there is no longer any

sign of awareness of his surrounding. ... He dances on, completely

in a trance. The dirge wells up louder and stronger. Elesin's dance

does not lose elasticity, but his gestures become... even more

weighty. (p.45)

Olunde, still with his Western education, listens to the drums at this stage and

realises 'there is a change in of rhythm, it rises to a crescendo and then,

suddenly, it is cut off' (p.55). He must understand the implication of the climax of

ritual for he says: 'There. It's all over' (meaning' the father has died).

Unfortunately, this is the same time that Mr. Pilkings interrupts the ritual and the

intended does not happen.

This description of ritual adheres to Soyinka's recognition of the integral nature of

poetry (song) and dancing in the mimetic rite and the individual's withdrawal to

an inner world, the primal reality or the hinterland of transition. The inner world is

a collective experience in which all the participants experience through the tragic

hero, the agonies of their cosmos existence; and release from these agonies, so

that as Jonathan Swift puts it, 'the community emerges from the ritual experience

charged with new strength'. The strength issues from the hero's (like Ogun's) raid

on the durable resources of the transitional realm. (Soyinka, 1976:55) Elesin

therefore, is charged with the responsibility of taking the community through the
)
ritual and obtain for them new insights, strengths for living their present time .

..
 56

Theexamination of the ritual sacrifice and its signification in Yoruba metaphysics

cannot be complete without drawing the contrast with the Western case. Jane

Pilking's unquestionably Euro-centric view of the captain who blows himself up to

save hundreds of people who would have died, other ships and a city, dismisses

the act as 'nonsense. [For} life should never be thrown away deliberately. For

Olunde, the same case amounts to self-sacrifice - and so is his father's (Elesin's)

case. On the contrary, Elesin's death to Jane (therefore to the West) is nothing

but 'ritual suicide'. While the West tends toward self-preservation, Africa moves

in the opposite direction toward self-giving - spending oneself for the community.

This is Soyinka's strong advocacy to counter what he refers as a 'cannibalistic

society that is evident in his home in Nigeria as well as else where in the world.

(Duerden and Pieterse, ed.s, 1972) The main ingredient for this cannibalism is

selfishness, which exists at the opposite axis with self-sacrifice. The

understanding of the ritual forms the basis for Yoruba (African) tragedy in which

the death of a tragic hero is not a sorry sight, evoking pity and sympathy. It is

rather a celebratory act, which brings happiness to the participants of the ritual

(drama) because they understand the great significance of the death.

Ritual Cleansing

The Strong Breed develops within the framework of the idea of scapegoat which

Adrian Roscoe (1971) describes as 'one of the most ancient conventions devised
)
by social man for easing of his collective conscience' (p.246). Contrary to Eldred

Jones assertion that Soyinka uses the African idea of ritual cleansing, the

..
 57

scapegoat practice is a universal one. Many religions and societies of the world

had a kind of purification ceremony, which would frt into the scapegoat scheme.

Judaism is one of these religions and the ritual is thus described:

When Aaron has finished performing the ritual to purify the Most Holy

Place, the rest of the tent of the Lord's presence, and the altar, he

shall present to the Lord the live goat, chosen for Azazel. He shall put

both his hands on the goat's head and confess over it all the evils,

sins and rebellions of the people of Israel and so transfer them to the

goat's head. Then the goat is to be driven off into the desert by a

man appointed to do it. The goat will carry away with him into some

uninhabited land. (Leviticus 16:20-22)

Elsewhere the Jews carried out purification for people with skin diseases

(leprosy) with birds in which one bird was let to flyaway with the evil/sin of the

sick person. (Leviticus 14:4-7) Jews associated sickness closely with sin. In the

New Testament, Jesus the founder of Christianity purifies a man possessed with

demons by sending the evil spirit into pigs. (Mark 5:6-13) The ritual cleansing

employed in The Strong Breed clearly fits into this scapegoat scheme. The

pattern in the cited examples has the following elements: presence of evil, an

animal to carry away the evil, the carrier animal moves away from the purified

community. The ritual in The Strong Breed has the same pattern. It is

appropriately developed in a festival design in which the community must start a

)
New Year clean with the evil gone with the carrier. The only difference is that, the

_~rrier is not a goat, or a bird or a pig but a man.

 58

Aesthetically, Soyinka employs techniques which add up to the message he

intends to communicate in relation to a comprehensive view of the ritual

cleansing in The Strong Breed. Of these techniques is flashback. The first

flashback puts Eman together with his old father and in this we are treated to the

knowledge of the task he (Eman) is charged with by birth. In the flashback,

Eman's character growth is evident from the idiotic child who at first argues that

he is 'totally unfrtted for [the old man's] call' to adherence of his fathers warning:

'Stay longer and you will answer the urge of your blood' (p.104). Before the

flashback Eman is already a carrier and therefore the father's prophecy has

come true with his character growth to accept community responsibility.

Even though Eman plays scapegoat in an environment different from his father's,

his participation in the ritual can be described as Old Man's:

He [the old man, Eman's father] sits perfectly for several moments.

Drumming begins somewhere in the distance and the old man

sways his head almost imperceptibly. Two men come in bearing a

miniature boat, containing an indefinite mound .... The old man

gets up slowly .... He motions to the men to lift the boat quickly

onto the old man's head. As soon as it touches his head, he holds
)
it down with both hands and runs off; the man gives him a start,

then follow at a trot. «emphasis mine) Soyinka, 1979: 105).

 59

The highlighted words describe the purification rite in which Eman is the central

flQure.The indefinable mound is the evil, which must be carried away. It is not

defined hence leaving room for multiple interpretation of the many faces of evil,

shortcomings and incompleteness which society must be rid of. There is

conscious and deliberate act by representatives of the society to load their

problems on the designated saviour after which he runs and the men give a

chase. Unlike other cases where drumming is an important aspect of the Yoruba

festival, this element is played down and a lot of emphasis is put on chasing the

carrier. The description of the ritual above is compounded by a dramatic

technique of freezing on stage by Eman as he stares at the distance scene of

himself and his father in the past. The freezing effect has particular effect on the

ritual. It offers Eman a kind of introspection in which he can evaluate his

performance of the ritual in relation to his father's. This way, he is strengthened

to go on. Also the freezing catches Oroge's attention and from this moment

onward in the play, he contemplates the possible meaning of Eman's behaviour.

He (Oroge), unlike Jaguna, does not treat Eman just as a mere carrier. As he

says at the end, Eman 'was no common sight' (p. 119).

The second flashback takes the play to a time in the past with Eman, a teenager

and her equally young bride, Omae. This flashback develops the plot by filling in

the gaps with details of Eman's life's story. More significantly, the flashback

scene serves to inform on the origin of Eman's character strength. He leaves the

initiation camp to protect his and Omae's moral principles against the pretentious
 60

and immoral tutor. His behaviour displays bravery, courage, strong will and

above all, maturity. This is evident not only in the abrupt decision to leave the

training centre but also in the unemotional resolute break from his village, his

father as well as his love, Omae. His character thus portrayed, the society,

through the reader or the audience, can rely on Eman to take them through the

ritual cleansing without wavering.

Lastly, the play makes use of a flashback in which information about Omae's

death at child delivery is provided. This scene is done with such artistic care that

we not only have character merge (Eman in the past as well as a carrier) but also

a merge of settings. Thus even though Eman is a carrier in a different land from

his homeland, he walks to his dead wife's grave in his current state (as carrier).

The stage directions read thus:

Eman, as carrier walking towards the graveside, the other Eman

having gone. His feet sink into the mound and he breaks slowly

on to his knees, scooping the sand in his hands and pouring

it on to his head. (Bold mine, p. 117).

The action implied by the bolded words signifies that Eman anoints himself to go

his wife's way, to die. Such should be the case for when we meet him again, in

what seems to be a continuation of this flashback, he is pleading with his father

to .wait for him. Since his father is already dead, their union leave very little room

for speculation. As observed in the stage directions, 'he [Eman] makes to hold

him [his father]. Instantly, the old man breaks into a rapid trot. Eman hesitates,
 61

then follows, his strength nearly gone' (p.118). It is after this that he pleads 'wait

father. I am coming with you ... wait ... wait for me father' (p.188) and those being

his last words, he dies. Thus a flashback propels the play forward to the death of

Eman, which is the intended climax of the ritual that Soyinka designs.

Another technique employed in The Strong Breed, is foreshadowing in which a

symbolic miniature cleansing ritual parallels and anticipates the major one. A girl

who ~escribes herself as unwell drags behind her an 'effigy by a rope attached to

one of its legs' (p.84). She is isolated from the rest of the community: 'I play

alone,' she says. 'The children won't come near me. Their mothers would beat

them' (p.88). Her sickness like the evil of the society is undefined throughout the

play. Sunma's description of her creates the impression that her case is an

offshoot of the community's: 'She is not a child. She is as evil as the rest of them'

(p86). After all, the whole community 'from the oldest to the smallest child [is]

nourished in evil and unwholesomeness' (p.88). Of the effigy she carries, she

observes: ' My mother says it will take away my sickness of the old year' (p.85).

A while later she warns Ifada that the effigy which she now refers to a 'carrier' is

meant for her personal salvation even though Ifada may help with the ritual: 'I am

the one who will get well at midnight, do you understand? It is my carrier - and it

is for me alone' (p.87)

The treatment given to the effigy parallels that which Eman receives later, as a

carrier. The effigy is beaten violently after which the intention is to hang and burn

, "
 62

it. Actually at the moment of Eman's death, the play presents a glaring image of

'the effigy hanging from the sheaves in front of Eman's house' p.118). The

miniature ritual gives a reflection of the other (the main ritual) in all aspects. Later

Eman ends up in the sacred trees after stepping on the fallen twigs (of a tree),

which suggests hanging. The hanging and the tree create an image of Jesus

hanging on the cross and therefore defining Eman's role like Jesus Christ's as a

scapegoat. The desperation of the girl to get well, echoes that of the society. It is

through her that the para-ritual merges with the ritual. Both Ifada and Eman meet

their destiny in her presence, seemingly with her help. She appears at the scene

as a 'betrayer' leading the community to its source of redemption. Her

enthusiasm to get healed at midnight parallels the community's. So well designed

is the anticipatory rite that it lays the basis for comprehending the main ritual

upon which the progression of the largest part of the play develops. The

transition from one to the other is clear. Consider the following:

The girl is now seen coming back, still dragging her 'carrier'.

Ifada brings up the rear as before. As she comes round the

comer of the house two men emerge from the shadows. A sack

is thrown over Ifada's head, the rope pulled tight rendering him

instantly he/pless. The girl ... turns round at the sound of the

scuffle. She is in time to see Ifada thrown over the shoulders

and borne away ... the girl backs slowly away, turns and flees,

leaving the carrier behind. (Bold mine, p. 92).

 63

The heroine of the para-ritual 'backs away' so that from now on, the focus shifts

from the dummy to the real human carrier - first Ifada, then Eman. She leaves

her carrier behind because she does not need it anymore - the entire community

together with her, will be sanctified by the human saviour.

The play also makes use of symbolic objects to further the scapegoat theme

which has metaphysical significance. Sunma has particular preoccupation with

the lamp. She lights two kerosene lamps and when Eman says 'one is enough',

she replies that she wants to leave one outside and proceeds to do that (p.92-

93). She who is so preoccupied and threatened by the evil of the night wishes to

not only light up the house where she dwells but also the outside whose

darkness is nearly overwhelming her. Her fear, of the outside (community's evil)

is evident in the resolute bolting of the door, under the pretext that it is getting

cold. The gesture underscores Sunma's intention to keep herself and Eman

isolated 'safe' in their cocoon and shut the community with its troubles outside.

Eman counters this action by not only being suspicious of Sunma's action but

also unbolting the door to let Ifada in and to mingle with the ritual cleansing

mood. By juxtaposing Eman and Sunma in their views and feelings toward the

events of the night and letting Eman triumph, Soyinka seems to suggest that the

individual is part of the community and ought to partake in its life. Eman implies

this when he says, 'we must not remain shut up here. Let us go and be part of

the living' (p.92). The festival is for the living and it means life to the society

members when they share in the celebration. One at this point is likely to justify

..
 64

Okot p'Bitek's condemnation of Christians who feeling too holy to live with

sinners, embrace the ascetic tradition and live away from the rest of the

community. He observes:

... the attempted fleeing from life, from full participation in the

tremendous and deepest challenges of the life-process with its risks

and dangers; with its joys and success and brief sorrows of failure

and loss; [that] world view ... the ascetic tradition of the so called

'great' but foreign religions is wholly meaningless in African

thought. (1986:21).

Soyinka does seem to agree with P'Bitek that Sunma's perspective does not

serve African metaphysics. Like Eman, she ought to go out and get involved with

life and in p'Bitek's words, sing and dance the people's philosophy to celebrate

and perpetuate the African worldview. Soyinka therefore, uses his character to

communicate the communal aspect African philosophy of life.

Other symbols include the effigy, boat and lorry. The objects suggest the crucial

vehicle of salvation - the carrier. Sunma wishes to get away from the community

and her only means of salvation is the lorry, which supposedly should 'carry' her

away. This is why, when it takes off, leaving her behind, she desperately says to

herself, 'what happens now? (p.90). It is as though this action blocks all her

avenues for happiness and wholeness, which she seeks. Also the unnamed girl

(who therefore represents every member of the society) with unnamed sickness

(which can thus refer to every of the society's ills) has an effigy, which is the
 65

vehicle which must cleanse her by carrying her problems, physical or otherwise,

away. Likewise, the old man has a boat (not an effigy). The boat too is the carrier

of evil. Other than the effigy which takes the form of a person, the other two

symbols (lorry and boat) have container-like body thus creating a very strong

image through which the requirements of the ritual can be understood.

The symbolic objects combine with the movement motif to culminate in a

successful portrayal of the cleansing ritual. The play, The Strong Breed, is full of

movements; in fact, the characters are hardly in the same place, just talking while

seated. There is a lot of action. Even the girl, who introduces the first action of

the ritual, keeps moving (walking or running) around with the carrier. The old man

upon holding the content of the boat, runs and the men who lay the burden in him

follow him at a trot. The words suggesting movement are highlighted. The

following extracts trace the activities from the beginning of the ritual to its end. He

(the old man) refers to the event he is now undertaking as his 'last journey' (to

the river):

It if narrow passage-way between two mud houses. At the far

end one man after another is seen running across the entry, the

noise dying off gradual/y. As the noise dies off, he seems to relax,

but the alert-hunted look is still in his eyes which are ringed in

reddish colour ... (Bold mine, p.1 07)

 66

As the two elders, Jaguna and Oroge discuss Eman a while later, Jaguna asks,

'what made him run like a coward?' (p.102) Then at the scene where Eman

freezes and reflects on his father's role as a carrier, the following takes place:

Orage ... looks behind him to see what has engaged Eman's

attention... Jaguna enters sees him and shouts, 'Here he is',

rushes at Eman who is whipped back to the immediate and flees,

Jaguna in pursuit. Three or four others enter and follow them.

(p.106, Bold mine)

Towards the end of the ritual, when Eman is thirsty and the girl betrays him, the

truth dawns on him suddenly and he 'moves off, sadly' (p.115). At the very end

as Eman makes his way to the stream, he says, 'wait, I am coming with you ... '

after which he steps on the twigs and he dies.

The above are just some of the extracts that capture the chronological progress

of the ritual. The highlighted words make the movement motif in the play

undeniable. The movements work up to a climax in which the victim or rather the

volunteer of community sacrifice dies. Of what implication then are the

movements? Movement creates the impression of transition, a tearing apart of

oneself from something or from one place to one another. At its depth, it

symbolises growth. This is why at some stage mid-the ritual, we are treated with

Eman's violent break up from his village, his father and his spouse, Omae. Eman

justifies this movement thus: 'A man must go on his own, go where no one can

help him, and test his strength'. It is this conviction that makes Eman act in the
 67

following way: 'His face set, Eman slides off and Omae loses balance as he

increases his pace. Falling, she quickly wraps her arms around his ankle, but

Eman continues unchecked, dragging her along' (p.114). We can rightly

conclude that without this initial movement, the society in question would lack the

services of the 'strong breed' which Eman has to offer.

For the rest of the society, the movement has the same implication. It is a leaving

behind of their unpleasant past to embrace a new self after exorcising (purging)

themselves of their guilt by sacrificing the carrier and driving it away. Soyinka

thus uses movement as part of the cleansing ritual to communicate the

importance of accepting Change. There is no static rite of passage, for such

would mean a static community, which maintains the status quo by getting stuck

up in their incompleteness. The transition, which Eman initiates, is a collective

call for society members to experience. This way, it is evident that Soyinka thus

does fashion his drama alongside his idea that '[r]itual equates the divine

(superhuman) cleansing with the communal will fusing the social with spiritual. ..

the ritual sublimated or expressive, is both social therapy and reaffirmation of

group solidarity' (1988:71). The ritual cleansing in The Strong Breed is aimed at

social therapy and group solidarity.

\
The three elaborate flashback scenes also bring out another aspect of the ritual

in The Strong Breed which cannot be overlooked, that is, the relationship

between the present, the past and the future. Through this technique Eman
 68

meets with his father (who is already dead). In the ensuing dialogue, Eman's role

is explained. Shortly after this dialogue, Eman has a vision in which he witnesses

the cleansing ritual as performed by his father. He now has had both the theory

and demonstration of the practice. It is left to him to play his part. The second

flashback bears some complications so that there is character-merge when

Eman, still as a carrier, has a conversation with his already dead wife, Omae. It is

as though Eman is a formation of both his past and his presenting the third

flashback; we are treated to information that Eman has a son (by Omae) who too

is a 'strong breed' (women die as they give birth to these carriers). Then Eman

dies soon after a conversation with his father a case which creates the

impression of a dramatic union of the present and the past. It is as though the

dead (Eman's father) stretches their hand to receive the living (Eman) who must

pass on into the next world. Thus with a calculated economy of words, the

present (represented by Eman) merges into the past (the old man's world) and

the future (Omae's son's world). This is a central idea in the Yoruba cosmology-

the present leaming from the past, and the future having its foundation on the

present.

The Role of the Scapegoat

Even though the two rituals - self-sacrifice and ritual cleansing - have been

treated in isolation, they are not unrelated; nor are the tragic characters involved

different. The activities of both Elesin and Eman fit both characters very well inn

the scapegoat scheme - in the sense that they are supposed to lose their lives
 69

for the society to survive into the future. They are set apart to be 'the grain of

wheat' that falls to the ground to guarantee new growth. The success of the ritual

in each case depends on their performance.

The combined role played by Eman and Elesin has significance in the wider

Yoruba cosmology. Just like in the world of the plays, the role is that of the

saviour; it is the role of the victim for sacrifice. The two tasks of the two

characters form the function of a community scapegoat. As has been observed at

the beginning of this Chapter, such role is meant to bridge the gulf and make

transition in the area / stages of existence smooth. Only after Eman and Elesin

have perfonned their duties can the living coexist in harmony with the dead.

Also the events in rituals call to mind de Graft's views on the function of drama.

The human community threatened by their own inadequacies as well as the

hostile environment design 'those rituals of apprehension, propiation, purification

and exorcism' (de Graft, 1979:4). The Yoruba society therefore opts for a ritual of

propiation through Elesin to placate their dead king and for the continued well-

being. Through Eman, the Yoruba society begs for purification and exorcism

rituals to rid themselves of their human failings and guilt and look forward to a

better future. Both rituals are clearly community rituals. The anxiety, aspiration

and participation of the community in the plays are the same as that of the

Yoruba c~mmunity in the traditional rituals. Both communities reach out for
 70

'sanity' through their 'identification with [the] impersonator[s] acting as

mediator[s]' between them and the threatening forces. (p.5)

 71

CHAPTER FOUR: A NEW SOCIAL ORDER

This chapter recognises changes in society, which Wole Soyinka explores in his

two texts. At its core, it evaluates the shifts from societal options for Ifada to

Eman (in The Strong Breed) and from Elesin Oba to his son, Olunde (in Death

and the King's Horseman). The process of analysis has its point of departure

rooted in Soyinka's critical observation of relationships in Yoruba cosmology -

that the purpose of life is to maintain balance within and across the four areas of

existence. This goes hand in hand with the concept of salvation in which the

survival of the society is assured. Thus the principle which or the individual who

leads the society successfully into a good future (informed by the present and

rooted in the past) provides the greatest morality of African society. The task in

this chapter involves the examination of the performance of the tragic characters

in the ritual (in the texts) as well as the prescriptions in supporting myths.

Eman Versus Ifada

The purification ritual in The Strong Breed gives a central position to the

services of an outsider. For this society then, Ifada, a dumb boy, whom Eman

describes as helpless and unwilling for the task is a 'godsend ' in Jaguna's

words. He does not have to be willing to provide the required services. Oroge

explains the reason behind the community's hospitality to the mentally retarded:

This is not a cheap task for anybody. No one in his normal senses

would do such a job. Why do you think we give refuge to idiots like

him? We don't know where he came from. One morning, he is

 72

simply there, just like that. From nowhere at all you see, there is a

purpose in that. (Soyinka, 1979:98)

Eman, another outsider to this society has different perspectives from Oroge's

and Jaguna's: The salvation of the society must lie within itself and the saviour

must be willing. He says, 'A village which cannot produce its own carrier contains

no men' (p.98) and 'in my home we believe that a man should be willing' (p.97). It

is this new perspective - Eman's view of the ritual of community cleansing -

which brings about a very significant change in the events of the ritual. Soon after

this exchange Ifada is released and encounter Eman as the people's new carrier.

Though not explicitly stated, we have been led to conclude that he (Eman) has

volunteered for the task. After all, Jaguna's last word to Eman had been a

challenge to step in Ifada's shoes: 'There is only one other stranger in the village

[Eman], but I have not heard him offer himself (p.99).

In terms of the ritual prescription, the process in breached at various points and

in various ways. lfada, the first carrier bolts with fear into Eman's house against

the prescriptions of the ritual which Jaguna summarises thus: 'A carrier should

end up in the bush, not in a house. Anyone who doesn't guard his door when the

carrier goes by has himself to blame. A contaminated house should be bumt

down' (p. 97). Oroge, also explains, 'a carrier should never return to the village

and if he does, the people ought to stone him to death' (p.97). Ifada's is the first
~
of the many cases of contamination in the ritual. Soon after Eman takes up the

task, he escapes his pursuerers and their fear strike once again. Jaguna

I .. ,
hi .i\ &J
 73

expresses the community's concern, 'we must find him. It is a poor beginning for

a year when our own curses remain hovering over our homes because the

carrier refused to take them' (p.102). Like the Biblical scapegoat, the carrier must

end away from the already purified community. From this moment in the play

until the end when the carrier dies, there is mounting fear, that the ritual may not

be a success. As Jaguna explains:

... things have taken a bad turn. It is not enough to drive him [Eman, .

the carrier] past every house. There is too much contamination

about already ... there is too much harm done already. The year will

demand more from this carrier than we thought. (p.100)

For Oroge, 'this is an unhappy night for us. I fear what is to come of it' (p.107).

An audience watching this play does not have to speculate about what may be

demanded of the carrier. So much in the play suggests that he must die for all

evil heaped on him to cease and this ultimately is his fate.

The implication of the contamination in the process of the ritual in the text poses

a threat to human existence in the society. Failure or deficiencies in the ritual

imply that these problems of the society would be carried into the New Year, into

the future. When Eman dies, at the end of the play, the reader, the audience, the

critic, is still left with a puzzle to solve: has the ritual been a success? Does

'-Eman's self-sacrifice fit in Soyinka's definition of the greatest I essential morality?

Extracts from the last page of the play paint a clear picture of things at the end of

the ritual: 'almost at once, the villagers begin to return, subdued and guilty. They

..
 74

walk across the front, skirting the house as widely as they can. No word is

exchanged' (p.119). Jaguna and Oroge discussing the people's reaction of

cowardice, guilty and shame observe the following:

Jaguna: Then it is a sorry world to live in. We did it for them. It was all for their

own common good. What did it benefit me whether the man lived or died? But

did you see them? One and all they looked at the man and words died in their

throats.

Oroge: It was no common sight.

Jaguna: Women could not have behaved so shamefully. One by one they crept

off like sick dogs. Not one could raise a curse.

Oroge: It was not only him they fled. Do you see how unattended we are?

A moment of guilty and shame mark the end of the ritual. There is lack of

happiness and excitement, which should mark the New Year, a new beginning of

life. The extract provides another of the several parallels between Jesus and

Eman. Soyinka, perhaps under the influence of Christianity, makes people react

to Eman's death in a similar way the Jews do to Jesus: 'when the people who

had gathered there to watch the spectacle saw what had happened, they all went

back, beating their breast in sorrow' (Luke 23:48). They (the people who partake

in this ritual of cleansing) too feel guilt and shame for the deed in which they

willingly participated.

/
Perhaps the guilt and shame is the beginning of the desired change. The silence

that augments the overall grim and solemn mood is characteristic of a reflective
 75

self, which deliberates on consequential matters. Eman's sacrificial death has

definitely planted something new in the village, which may grow - the community

should choose to nurture or kill it. But growth, if it must take place. Will have to

handle the obstacles of the voices of reaction which are already at work. Like all

change Eman's is resisted. Jaguna, one of the elders sees Eman's new vision

arising out of willing sacrifice as threatening the old regime. He observes: 'There

are those who will pay for this night's work!' Thus what the end of the ritual (and

indeed the end of the play) brings about is a conflict. Soyinka uses an old ritual in

a new way to challenge an existing order of things. He does not provide an easily

acceptable situation at the end of the play. At first sight, the scene at the end

suggests pessimism, that Eman's death is a waste. But Soyinka defends himself

by asserting that such pessimism is realism. In an interview with John Aguta

(1975), Soyinka describes such pessimism as 'nothing but a very square, sharp

look'. He continues:

I have depicted scenes of devastation, I have depicted the

depression in the minds even of those who are committed to these

changes and who are actively engaged in these changes simply

because it would be starry-eyed to do otherwise. One should not

peruse what is not there. Only one thing can be guaranteed and

that is the principle of accepting the challenges of life, of society in

the same way as nature does.

\ With this in mind, it is no wonder that Soyinka designs his protagonist (Eman) as

both committed to change but disillusioned at the same time. He starts off
 76

enthusiastically but mid-way, he breaks down tired: 'I will simply stay here till

dawn. I have done enough' (Soyinka, 1979: 101). In fact towards the end of the

play, Eman is characterised by weakness of the will and lack of clear vision in his

mission.

Olunde Versus Elesin

In Death and the King's Horseman, Elesin like Eman is charged with the

responsibility of providing survival for the society 'to overtake the world' and

maintain a balance of forces in the area of existence. As Moore (1980) says,

Soyinka presents his hero with a crucial test. He must face personal extinction in

order that the continuity of the community and its values may be assured. The

choice is his own VOluntary death or the death of those traditional values which

preserve the community. Elesin, like Ifada is a community's choice for the ritual

sacrifice by the virtue of being bom to his family. Like Eman's case or even more,

the ritual in Death and the King's Horseman is breached. Elesin Oba's

intentions and actions fail to harmonise, therefore creating an onset of the play's

conflict. The intentions are expressed in the following words:

My rein is loosened.

I am master of my fate. When the hour comes,

Watch me dance along the narrowing path

Glanced by soles of my great precursors

My soul is eager. I shall not turn aside. (Soyinka, 1975:14)

s
 77

However, when 'the hour comes', he fails to 'raise his will to cut the thread of life

at the summons of the drums' (p.75). In the process of the ritual, his will weakens

to such a level that he cannot successfully perform his task.

From the beginning of the play, one can easily doubt Elesin Oba's commitment to

the course of upholding and preserving his people's culture. His indulgence is

opposed to the spiritual abstinence associated with people preparing to

undertake spiritual rituals such as his. Even though in all his life as the king's

horseman, the best has always been his - he has had the juiciest fruits and

wooed (women) and 'rarely was the answer no' (p.18) - he still makes two

demands on the important day when the world should now receive from him. The

first is for rich clothes and the request is nothing compared to the saving mission

which Elesin is to carry out. So Iyaloja and other women grant it with a reminder

that 'the world is in [his] hands' (p.18).

Secondly, Elesin's lecherous self craves for a girl who is already promised in

marriage to Iyaloja's son. Elesin's sexual desires are evident in Iyaloja's

description of him. She says: 'even at the narrow end of the passage I know you

will look back and sigh a last regret for the flesh that flashed past your spirit in

flight. You always had a restless eye' (p.22). Elesin's request cannot be denied

him as Iyaloja observes, 'the best is [his]. We know you [Elesin] for a man of

\ honour' (p.20) and later she convinces the women that Elesin Oba is 'already

touched by the wailing figures of our departed' (p.21). However, alongside the

...
y TT~ IT u
 78

granting of his request is a constant reminder to Elesin not to 'blight the

happiness of others for a moment's pleasure' (p.20). Iyaloja on behalf of the

community expresses fear over the complications of fathering a child in the

circumstances. She tells Elesin:

Think of this - it makes the mind tremble. The fruit of such union

is rare. It will be neither of this world nor of the next. nor of the

one behind us. As if the timelessness of the ancestor world and

the unbom have joint spirits to wring an issue of the elusive

being of passage. (p.22)

Elesin listens to all these warnings but still accedes to the temptation to give in to

lust. But now even at his worst, Elesin is still true to type. He is closely modelled

on Soyinka's archetype, Ogun.

When Ogun had accepted to be King of Ire, he was beguiled by the trickster god,

Esu, to gorge himself in palm wine. Drunkenness empowered the deity to

conquer his enemies. However, under the influence of alcohol, friend and foe

became confused and he turned on his men and slaughtered them. His

indulgence like Elesin's led to his destructive nature. Even at the sight of such

destruction, Ogun unlike Obatala, makes palm wine mandatory in his worship.

He is in Ofeimun's words; a 'hot' god confronting life's challenges head long.

Then there is Ogun's association with sex, which Ofeimun (2003) opts to explain

i~ relation to Ogun's nature as a warrior and hunter. He observes:

 79

A naturalistic explanation inheres is the timeless truth that

warriors and hunters - and where do you find an army that is

not involved with wine and women - are wine-swilling tribe. It

may tell us a lot about the pragmatic nature of the Yoruba but it

tell us more about the general nature of the warrior ethic which

Ogun personified.

So Elesin through his indulgence to dress and sex is just a representative of

Ogun in Soyinka's drama. May be he too has been tricked by Esu, the spirit of

disorder. The result is a threat to the community's life since from the moment

Elesin desires are gratified; the ritual is headed for ruins. One may note, as

Moore (1980) does, that ironically, Elesin's desires hold him to life instead of

freeing him to execute his duty.

Upon interference with the ritual, Elesin knows as everyone else in the society,

that their values are threatened: 'The world is not at peace. You [Pilkings] have

shattered the peace of the world forever. There is no sleep in the world tonight'

(Soyinka, 1975:62). Even though there is an outside force to blame for the failure

of the ritual, Elesin's weakness of will springs from his relationship with the girl.

He admits:

First I blamed the white man, then I blamed you [my young

bride] for the mystery of the sapping of my will.... I have taken

countless women in my life but you are more than a desire of

flesh.... Perhaps your warmth brought new insight of this world

 80

to me and turned my feet leaden on this side of the abyss ... I

confess ... my weakness came not merely from the abomination

of white man who came violently into my fading presence; there

was also a weight of longing on my earth-held limbs. (p.65

Elesin's failure to have successful transition between the world of the living and

that of the ancestors, threatens not only those two stages of existence but the

future too (represented by the child he has fathered). He threatens existence by

beginning new life while at the same time failing to open the door to a new

existence. His 'weaken of will is likely to be passed on to the new generation as

Iyaloja observes, 'the pith is gone in the parent stem, so how will it prove with the

new shoot?' (p.68) The threat is evident in the last line of the play in which the

young mother is advised to forget about the living and the dead and to focus her

attention solely on the future (the unbom child she is carrying in her). She must

safeguard the interests of this future generation.

As already noted, the failure of the ritual cannot wholly be blamed on Elesin's

personal weakness. Elesin says that his will deserted him when Mr. Pilkings

bound his wrists in iron shackles. The Pilkings (husband and wife) represent

colonisation and indeed colonization does sweep away people's culture. The play

documents an incidence where the Pilkings play with egungun (ancestral

masquerade) confisticated from a Yoruba sacred ceremony. This is desecration

and it amounts to undermining the Yoruba culture as well as attempting to wipe it

out. Even the learned Olunde understanding the implication of the Pilkings' action
 81

gives a mild admonition. He asks Jane, 'And that [the prince's party] is a good

cause for which you desecrate an ancestral mask?' (p.50) Mr. Pilkings'

interruption at the opportune moment in which Elesin is supposed to die,

becomes a critical stage in the chain of threats to the continuity of the Yoruba

traditions.

Furthermore, there is another minute yet significant detail. When Elesin is

arrested, he is held in 'that annex where slaves were stored before being taken

down to the court' (p. 58). This reference to slavery has important implication. It

is a reminder of a historical fact in which African culture (as well as politics and

economy) suffered at the hands of the Whites in the Americas and the

Caribbean. To imprison Elesin in this room is not just to enslave him as a person

but also to imprison the traditions of his entire community which he wishes to

preserve in the ritual sacrifice. Thus in this single action, the West attempts to

arrest and enslave Yoruba culture. Significantly, Elesin dies in the same cellar

and with his death the keen reader nearly feels the death of Yoruba traditions

through total subjugation by the West. The threat is enormous and therefore a

remedy must be designed to reverse the process. This is how and why Olunde,

the centre of the following discussion comes to the scene.

Elesin like Ifada (in The Strong Breed) fails to fit in Soyinka's scheme of heroic

i~dividuals whose act is meant for the salvation of the society. This is evident in

the Praise Singer's blame for Elesin:

 82

Elesin, we placed the reins of the world in your hands, yet you

watched it plunge over the edge of the bitter precipice. You sat

with folded arms while evil strangers tilted the world from its

course and crashed it beyond the edge of emptiness - you

muttered, there is little that one man can do, you left us

floundering in blind future. (p.75)

It is just like Soyinka to strongly assert that there is something that 'one man' can

do for the society. He chastises, through Elesin, those who fail to realise that

individuals are charged with social responsibilities.

Both Ifada and Elesin share the same weakness - lack of willingness and the

strength of their will power. The outsider, Mr. Pilkings knows Elesin's weakness

and capitalises on it. He thinks of an old Yoruba proverb, 'the elder grimly

approaches heaven and you ask him to bear your greetings yonder; do you think

he makes the joumey willingly?' (p.64) After this, he does not hesitate to 'rescue'

Elesin from what he considers a dreadful situation. Both characters (Ifada in The

Strong Breed and Elesin in Death and the King's Horseman) must therefore

be dropped for Soyinka to advance his theory of salvation. It is within Soyinka's

style that Olunde should bear his father's burden and kill himself to ensure

survival for his community. To counter the threat to African culture (whether such

threat is an outside force like colonisation or individual weakness like Elesin's),

'the intellectual adherence to indigenous culture, associated with a young

generation of the educated is required' (Kerr, 1995:121). Olunde represents this

 83

generation. He arrives at the scene decisive and enthusiastic. He understands

exactly why his father should die and that is why he travels from England to take

his rightful position in the order of things. When his father fails in his duty, Olunde

renounces him, 'I have no father, eater of left-overs' (p.61).

However, like Eman's death in The Strong Breed, Soyinka does not explicitly

state the role of Olunde's sacrificial death to the Yoruba cosmology. It is open for

speculation. There is a feeling of uncertainty among the member of the society

over the reversal of roles between Elesin and his son, Olunde. The Praise

Singer's last speech summarises the community's position: 'What the end will be,

we are not gods to tell. But this young shoot has poured in sap into the parent

stalk and we know this is not the way of life. Our world is tumbling in the void of

strangers' (p.75). So is Olunde's death necessary or wasteful? Griffiths (2000)

thinks that it is both. Quoting Achebe, that each one must dance the dance of his

time, he says that Olunde like the girls, could have functioned to resist the

destructive impact of the coloniser in ways Elesin cannot. Olunde must sacrifice

his own dance to complete the unfinished dance of his father a dance not

intended for him. Moore (1980) agrees with the last statement when he suggests

that soyinka wishes that someone of Olunde's background renounces his

education in reverence to the ways of his people. This study has a different

position. Olunde does not sacrifice his own dance (his education) to save his

s01iety from the impending destruction. He displays knowledge of the West as

well as rootedness in his own African culture. As such, he is in a better position

 84

(than Elesin's) to lead his society into the salvation they seek. His father, Elesin,

says of Olunde:

Once I mistrusted him for seeking the companionship of those my

spirit knew as enemies of our race, now I understand. One should

seek to obtain the secrets of his enemies. He will avenge my

shame white one. His spirit will destroy yours. (Soyinka, 1975:63)

Soyinka's view is very much similar to Achebe's. In The Arrow of God, Ezeulu

the traditional priest gives one of his sons to the church to learn the secrets of the

white man. The strategy of sending a spy into the enemy camp is a wise step in

the plot to conquer the enemy.

The question is thus not so much as to whether Olunde's death is necessary or

wasteful. In fact, the emphasis is not on death at all. Of greatest significance,

Soyinka seems to imply, is the spirit behind the (self) sacrifice. The spirit, which

is intended at destroying the white man's, is a spirit of willingness and a strong

will power that pervades Olunde's heroic act. The spirit is evident in his

discussion of self-sacrifice with Jane Pilkings. Even at the sight of his father

spared from death, Olunde is not tempted to embrace a meaningless life by

embracing his father. Such act would be tantamount to acceptance of failure and

weakness which his father represents. 'He [Olunde] stares above his [Elesin's]

head into the distance and his father pleads, 'Son, don't let the sight of your

father turn you blind!' (p.60). These lines could be taken literally to mean that

Olunde stares at a distance to avoid getting blind (for otherwise would be a

 85

taboo), but also at a deeper level, the lines imply something else. Olunde by

fixing his eyes away from the present moment transcends his father's failures for

only then can he offer a successful remedy. As his father says, he (Olunde) has

a choice not to be disillusioned ('blinded') by his father's conduct. He definitely

demonstrates his ability for choice and remains focused and unclouded. It is such

a clear vision, rather than guilt or embarrassment, which leads to Olunde's self

sacrifice.

The New Versus the Old Order

The foregoing discussion has presented Soyinka's fascination with a new order

of things. In both texts, it cannot be dismissed as a minor detail that Soyinka lets

an apparently old order fail and replaces it with a new one. The transition

however is very quick but smooth. Ifada and Elesin represent the old order. They

are meant to carry out the old rituals in an apparently old way. They do not

choose themselves but are rather forced into their roles by the society.

Interestingly, Ifada is dropped at an early stage in the play unlike Elesin who is

the centre of focus in Death and the King's Horseman for most of the play. The

reason for Soyinka's treatment of the two characters lies in their understanding of

the task presented to them. Ifada completely lacks knowledge as well as

willingness to partake in the ritual and for this he cannot serve Soyinka's interests

in creating a saviour. Elesin Oba starts off with full knowledge of his task as well

as a feeling that he does not have an option but to undergo the tragic experience.

He is thus willing to honour the prescription of his society. However, his is only
 86

blind obedience of the law for when another law is presented to him by Mr.

Pilkings, he complies with an excuse that 'there might be the hand of gods in a

strangers intervention' (69). He too cannot fit into Soyinka's description of a

saviour for he lack the self-drive to sustain him throughout his mission.

Eman and Olunde represent the new order which must thrive. Eman starts off

like Elesin with knowledge of what the society demands of a carrier. But he goes

beyond mere societal prescription to a willing acceptance of a task that is not

initially cut out for him in the community in which he undertakes (but meant for

him in his homeland). In fact, he is persuaded by the custom of his homeland to

accept the position of a carrier. He observes: 'in my home we believe that a man

should be willing' (Soyinka, 1979:97). By using a person who is not willing, Eman

sees it as deceit and attempt to fool the spirit of the New Year. The outcome of

such a ritual can hardly be fruitful. In the old order of the ritual, no one in his

senses would do such a job, but Eman and Olunde are in their normal senses.

They set their mind resolutely to take up the necessary task. The new order

demands that one be in the right frame of mind so as to be fully responsible for

his and to his society. Soyinka, by letting a man travel and introduce change in a

different society seems to imply, that no society is complete on its own. The

theory and practice of culture needs to be enriched by an authentic mingling of

cultures.
 87

Olunde too, like Eman has travelled. He has knowledge which his father lacks.

He knows the difference between self-sacrifice and mass suicide, the latter being

a characteristic of wars in the West. Olunde too, like Eman starts off as a mere

prescription of the society - called by his own 'blood' to be a victim of sacrifice. A

woman admonishing Sergeant Amusa for attempting to disrupt Elesin's ritual

says: 'Is it not the same ocean that washes this land and the white man's land?

Tell your white man he can hide our son away as long as he likes. When the time

comes for him, the same ocean will bring him back' (Soyinka, 1975:35). He

however moves to a higher level of making a deliberate choice to offer his

services prematurely.

Basically, the difference between the old and the new order is willingness and will

power. The latter has these qualities while the former lacks them. For example,

the difference between Olunde and his father lies principally in Olunde's will

power to take away his life. This is clearly in Soyinka's view. He writes:

The stage of transition is however the metaphysical abyss both

of god and man .... [N]othing rescues man (ancestral, living or

unborn) from loss of self within this abyss but a titanic resolution

of the will. (1976:36)

He advocates for 'titanic resolution' and empowers his two characters (Olunde

and Eman) with it while juxtaposing them with Elesin Oba and Ifada. Elesin's

ultimate death thus becomes useless because the wrong spirit - not will power

but shame and guilt feeling, fires it. Soyinka, through his treatment of change
 88

embraces the concept of Ese, which is an important principle in the Yoruba

culture. Ese refers to the principle of struggle and self-help as opposed to Ori,

the principle of predestination. Ese requires that a person struggles and works

hard to bring the potentialities of her or his Ori to fruition. It is the symbol of

activity that must accompany any successful human endevour. Ese is what

Elesin lacks - he depends very much on Ori and therefore fails. The new order of

things must make use of Ese to have a fruitful present and future.

To conclude this chapter, we realise that we are led by preceding discussion to

judge that Soyinka advocates for a new dimension in relation to the concept of a

society's salvation. He portrays a transition from a mere sufferer, scapegoat who

is manhandled to accept the role, to a saviour who is willing. Soyinka's

knowledge of Christianity might have influenced him to design his characters

(Olunde and Eman) along the concept of kenosis. This is a Greek word, which

refers to the self-emptying of Jesus. The Christ is described as humbling and

emptying himself of his own free will: 'He always had the nature of God but He

did not think that by force he should try to become equal with God. Instead of

this, of his own free will he gave up all he had and took the nature of a servant'

(Philippians 2:6-7). The saviour therefore has a choice. He can reject or accept

the call put to him. This however, is not a new concept. Soyinka's patron deity,

Ogun, on whom he fashions Olunde and Eman, is described as willing in his

task. He freely chooses to initiate a movement to bring the other orishas and

human beings to communion. He chooses without coercion to clear the bush for
 89

the community's expanding population. This being his character, he is the

informing principle on which Soyinka must create a saviour for his Yoruba, and

indeed, African society, against the threat of modern civilisation.

 90

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The study set out to investigate the metaphysical theme as it is treated in

Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman and The Strong Breed. It aimed at

identifying the myths or details of Yoruba mythology on which the two plays are

founded. The task also involved inquiring into rituals employed in the plays while

relating the same to Yoruba traditional practices. But the study did not merely

seek to identify these myths and rituals. It also aimed at revealing the

significance that the playwright attaches to these myths and rituals in artistic

terms. This means that the myths and rituals have both aesthetic value in the

literary sense as well as cosmological signification in relation to the Yoruba

metaphysics.

The study has argued in chapter two that the two texts are steeped into Yoruba

mythology. This points to the author's comprehensive knowledge of his people's

mythology, which finds expression in his creative work. Alongside reference to

gods, is a treatment of the physical environment in the plays, especially The

Strong Breed, as though it has divine characteristics. These two aspects - the

reference to Yoruba orishas and the deification of environment - function as

revealing lenses to prepare the reader of Soyinka for what to expect and what to

is required to understand the plays.

The playwright does not explicitly state all other aspects of Yoruba mythology

inherent in the plays. The case of the Ogun myth is a subtle one. However, the
 91

study does in chapter two piece details provided in the plays together. The tragic

characters are thus tailored alongside the characteristics of Ogun, Soyinka's

patron deity. Both cases of Ogun (historical and mythical) and the protagonists in

Death and the King's Horseman and The Strong Breed, have the same

qualities and function in the same way - as leaders who conscious of the social

problems of their communities, set out to save the situation.

In chapter three, the study explores the theme of the scapegoat. Death and the

King's Horseman utilises the ritual of self-sacrifice which demands Elesin's and

ultimately Olunde's sacrificial death. The Strong Breed uses a purification rite

which too demands Eman's death for its success. In both cases, Elesin, Olunde

and Eman are fashioned as scapegoats. They are meant to carry the

community's faults and social and psychological burdens and rid the community

of its guilt, so as to ensure peaceful and productive future. The discussion has

concretised the scapegoat theme of the plays by linking the events of the rituals

to those of the biblical scapegoat rite. The rituals are further linked to the Yoruba

metaphysical world. The events in the literary text bear significance in the wide

cosmology. They are ways of restoring society members to periods of grace and

glory.

The third chapter also established Soyinka as a literary writer as opposed to an

anthropologist or a sociologist. The playwright does not merely give a plain

description of the proceedings of the rituals. He instead presents the same in a

 92

creative and artistic way so that it is left to reader to scale out the various stages

of the rituals. Thus as the discussion in chapter three has demonstrated, the

plays make use of dramatic techniques carefully selected to successfully develop

the rituals and move their (rituals') participants to desired response. These

techniques include Yoruba traditional theatre forms such as drumming, song and

dance. In short, chapter three designates Death and the King's Horseman and

The Strong Breed as literary texts whose part of construction has sociological

materials.

The study in chapter four focuses on a changing trend evident in both of

Soyinka's texts. The basis of argument is Soyinka's critical remark that the

highest morality is that which guarantees survival/continuity to the entire

society. The discussion has demonstrated how such survival is threatened by the

breach of the rituals by Ifada in The Strong Breed and Elesin in Death and the

King's Horseman. The failure in the prescribed performance by the two

characters necessitates a choice for more competent personalities who would

successfully deliver the required services. The community's preferred option fails

and with it, it appears that, an old order fails and must of necessity be substituted

with a new and more efficient one. The older is characterised by service to the

community being viewed as a compulsory affair. In the new order, individuals are

presented with a duty, the requirements of which are well understood, and then a

call is extended to the individuals for acceptance or rejection. Thus unlike Ifada
 93

and Elesin, Eman's and Olunde's deaths are matters of choice by the two

characters.

In the light of its objectives thus, the study establishes that Soyinka uses Yoruba

myths and rituals as raw material for his creative work. He is however critical of

these myths and rituals. This is why he gives an artistic rather than a mere

sociological documentation of the rituals and myths. He refuses to be directed

fully by their prescriptions. Consequently, he introduces a new perspective to the

existing social order. Aware of changes in the modem world, he creates a

transition from the traditional subjection of one to duty, to an element of freedom

of choice characteristic of modem life in the world, whether Europe or Yoruba

land in Nigeria.

An area for further research could invite a focus on how the changing trends in

the modern world influences Soyinka's later writing. Does he still lean on

mythology to make his case? The interest then would be on how he perceives

and treats the social and political environment of his people in the light of

modemity. This may involve an evaluation of a cross-section of his texts written

in 1980s through 1990s to his 2006 publication, You Must Set Forth at Dawn.
 94

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