Olunde

The entire plot of Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman is based on a sense of duty. Elesin’s duty to his people is to commit a ritual suicide. Pilkings believes his duty to his people is to prevent this ritual suicide from occurring. Perhaps the character with the most complex yet somehow also clearest experiences regarding duty is seen in Olunde who returns home to bury his father. When Elesin is unable to carry out the ritual suicide, Olunde takes the place of his father and kills himself. Olunde represents an interesting mix of western and eastern beliefs. He has spent the last several years in England at medical school, but he still has deep roots in his heritage and culture. While audiences would expect him to disregard his Yoruban duty after spending time away from home, Olunde symbolizes honor. In many ways, Olunde can be seen as the moral compass of the play.  He commits the one of the few noble acts seen in the work by killing himself. He follows his belief system and stays true to his core values, even when his father is unable to. Elesin allows greed and desire to get in the way of his duty. While I believe that he intended to go through with the ritual, his delay due to relations with a beautiful girl is what eventually prevents him from being able to commit the suicide. Olunde is a martyr, even if at his own hand. He dies for his beliefs and in order to redeem his people. Soyinka is also making an interesting comment on varying beliefs on morality. While Olunde can be viewed as moral due to his following his religious beliefs, the Christian faith would condemn his actions. Through the lens of Christianity, Olunde has just committed an eternal sin against God. Again, while Soyinka urges readers to distance the play from being seen as a clash of cultures, it is almost impossible to not recognize the clear distinctions between varying identities and belief systems.