ABSTRACT
Death is the symbol that gives coherence to the tragic dramatic action. It seems that Soyinka is even eager, to remind us about this concept in the title of the play—Death and the King's Horseman. Death is a point on this ritual continuum. The ritual character's attitude to it sometimes defines life and the famous Soyinka's juxtaposition of opposites comes alive again. We should not discountenance Ogun, a god who also presides over death. Soyinka uses Yoruba cosmology to establish the tragedy. Elesin's Ogun characteristic cannot be ignored. Just as during the mythical times, the gods were waiting for an archetypal character like Ogun to build a bridge across the abyss and use his creative will to forge a union between gods and humans, the Oyo community was waiting on the symbol of sacrifice—Elesin—to perform a similar archetypal task of change and bridging the gap between life and death. Apart from ritual characters such as Elesin and Olunde, who are symbols of self-sacrifice, the egungun (masquerade) costumes and masks are also symbols of dead ancestors who return to earth to mingle with humans, bless them, and preside over the restoration of harmony. Egungun also represents cosmic law and order. This is important when we note that Pilkings and his wife are the only ones who wear them. Egungun costumes and masks pertain to ritual in that only the initiated can wear them and participate in the ritual. Not only are they trying to change Oyo culture and politics, but they also bring about change by wearing the costumes of masquerades without being initiated. The use of egungun symbols and masks in the play are also, inverted tragic metaphors with a certain ironic twist. The Yoruba cosmology, which has been well established in Soyinka's works, consists of the world of the unborn, the living, the dead, and the ancestors and there is no separation between them.
