Response Paper #3
In Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, The British colonialists Simon and Jane Pilkings clearly feel superior to the indigenous Yoruba people whom they are tasked with governing and whom they view as primitive, irrational, and uneducated. Focusing on one exchange from the first three scenes, consider how Death and the King’s Horseman calls their feelings of cultural superiority into question. The play is clearly suggesting that they are wrong to place themselves above the Yoruba people, but why? What is misguided, illogical, or incoherent about their view? How exactly does the play make them appear absurd? What strategies does Soyinka use to mock the British characters?
One page, double spaced. Due Thursday November 30
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