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Act 2 Summary of Death and the King’s Horseman
Act 2 of Death and the King’s Horseman shifts the setting entirely. It moves from the vibrant, indigenous world of the Yoruba market to the sterile, colonial world of the District Officer’s bungalow. This act establishes the British colonial perspective and the conflict that will precipitate the tragedy.
The act opens on the verandah of Simon and Jane Pilkings’ bungalow. The couple is dancing a tango to music from a gramophone. In a striking visual act of desecration, they are wearing egungun costumes—masks and outfits belonging to the Yoruba ancestral cult—which Simon has confiscated. They plan to wear these “macabre” outfits to a fancy-dress ball at the Residency that night.
Their dance is interrupted by Amusa, a native police sergeant. Upon seeing the Pilkingses in the ancestral masks, Amusa is horrified. Though he is a Muslim and a policeman, he retains a deep, superstitious fear of the egungun, calling it the “uniform of death.” He pleads with them to remove the costumes, stating he cannot speak to “death.” Simon mocks Amusa’s fear as “mumbo-jumbo,” but Jane persuades Simon to take off the masks so Amusa can deliver his report.
Amusa reports that Elesin Oba is preparing to “commit death” that night as part of the rituals for the late King. Simon interprets this simply as “suicide” or “ritual murder,” completely missing the metaphysical significance. He is annoyed because this “barbaric custom” threatens to cause a scandal during a visit by the British Prince, who is currently at the Residency.
As they discuss Elesin, Simon recalls that he has clashed with this chief before. Years ago, Simon helped Elesin’s eldest son, Olunde, escape to England to study medicine, against Elesin’s wishes. Simon and Jane discuss Olunde, believing they “saved” him from a backward life. Joseph, the houseboy, reveals that Elesin was angry because, as the eldest son, Olunde was destined to take his father’s place in the future. Simon is dismissive, calling the natives “sly, devious bastards.”
Throughout the act, the sound of drumming from the town permeates the bungalow. It makes the Pilkingses uneasy. Simon notes there is “something unsettling” about it, different from the usual noise. Joseph explains that the drumming sounds like the “death of a great chief” but also the “wedding of a great chief,” confusing the Europeans.
Simon resolves to stop the ritual, not out of spiritual concern, but to maintain order for the Prince’s ball. He instructs Joseph to send a note to Amusa to arrest Elesin and bring him to the Residency, where he can be locked up in the study. The act ends with Simon and Jane practicing their tango steps again, preparing to leave for the ball where they expect to win a prize for their costumes.
Analysis of Act 2
The central image of Act 2 of Death and the King’s Horseman is the egungun costume. To the Yoruba, these masks are a conduit between the living and the dead; they are terrifying and sacred. To Simon and Jane, they are merely “fancy dress”—toys to be worn for amusement at a party. This act of wearing the masks symbolises the colonial administration’s complete lack of respect for and understanding of the indigenous culture. They literally “play” with things they do not understand, stripping them of power and meaning.
Soyinka contrasts the two worlds through sound and dance. Act 1 featured the visceral, communal drumming and dancing of the market women and Elesin. Act 2 features the mechanical, tinny music of the gramophone and the stylised, artificial movements of the tango. The “distant drums” functions as a bridge between the acts; it represents the persistent, beating heart of the indigenous culture that the Pilkingses find “unsettling” because they cannot control or decode it.
In this act, Amusa is depicted as the liminal figure. He represents the colonised subject torn between two worlds. He wears the British police uniform but is paralysed by the Yoruba spiritual “uniform.” His inability to speak to the Pilkingses while they are masked highlights the resilience of traditional beliefs even in those who serve the colonial power. Simon’s frustration with Amusa (“I thought you were a good Moslem”) reveals the British expectation that their subjects should completely shed their identities.
In a disturbing manner, Simon Pilkings reduces a cosmic event to a police matter. He views Elesin’s transition not as a necessary act to keep the universe on its course, but as a “criminal offence” and a nuisance that might upset the British Prince. The irony is sharp: Simon worries about the “safety” of the colony while planning an intervention that the Yoruba believe will plunge the world into chaos.
On a final note, the discussion of Olunde foreshadows the tragedy to come. Simon believes he did a “good deed” by sending Olunde to England, viewing it as a triumph of civilisation over barbarism. He is unaware that by removing the eldest son, he has already damaged the continuity of the ritual, a disruption he is about to compound by arresting the father.
Act 3 Summary of Death and the King’s Horseman
Act 3 of Death and the King’s Horseman returns to the market, specifically the frontage of a converted cloth stall. It serves as the structural pivot of the play, transitioning from the comedic humiliation of colonial agents to the solemn, hypnotic beginning of the ritual death.
The act opens with Sergeant Amusa and his constables attempting to clear a path to the stall where Elesin is with his new bride. They are blocked by a wall of market women. The women do not use physical force but rather devastating ridicule. They mock Amusa’s manhood, calling him a “white man’s eunuch” and teasing that his baton is the only “weapon” he has left.
When Amusa insists he is there on “official business” to arrest Elesin, Iyaloja confronts him. She questions his definition of duty, asking if he has no respect for a wedding night. When Amusa refuses to leave, the younger girls of the market take over. They steal the officers’ batons and hats, and then perform a biting satirical skit.
In a moment of total theatre, the girls adopt the affected English accents and mannerisms of the British residents. They play-act a cocktail party conversation, treating Amusa as a “faithful ox” and mocking the patronising language the British use to describe “the natives” (e.g., “Tractable,” “Not a teeny-weeny bit restless?”). This performance completely undermines Amusa’s authority; humiliated and outmanoeuvred, he and his men are forced to retreat.
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Related:
- Act 1 Summary and Analysis of Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka
- Act 4 Summary and Analysis of Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka
- Act 5 Summary and Analysis of Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka
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