AN ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURAL BLENDS IN WOLE SOYINKA’S DEATH AND THE KING’S HORSEMAN

Abstract

Death and the kings Horseman is a play written by Wole Soyinka in 1975. He is a Nigerian writer. He is noted for his blend of both the African and the Western culture in his works. This paper presents an overview of the blend of both  these cultures in the play Death and the kings Horseman. In this play he traces the traits of Yoruba culture. Yoruba is religion found in Western Nigeria. The Yoruba culture has a belief that after the death of the king, the horseman should also die along with his horse. If this practice has not taken place , then the people will suffer from misfortunes. But as Africa is colonised under Britain, the District officer Pilkings decides to stop the suicide of the horseman. It is a superstitious belief for him to loss a life of a person for the cultural beliefs. The various traits of both the Yoruba and the western culture are vividly presented in this play. This play can be seen as a portrayal of the cultural blends as a result of colonisation. This play explores the strong inborn nature of both the cultures to withhold their own values.