Women opression as seen in the ambivalent attitudes of the Yoruba society in Wole Soyinka`s the death and King`s Horseman

WOMEN OPRESSION AS SEEN IN THE AMBIVALENT

ATTITUDES OF THE YORUBA SOCIETY IN WOLE

SOYINKA’S

DEATH AND THE

KING’S HORSEMAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

WENSISLAUS NOVAL RUMANGUN

Student Number: 124214078

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2017

ii

WOMEN OPRESSION AS SEEN IN THE AMBIVALENT

ATTITUDES OF THE YORUBA SOCIETY IN WOLE

SOYINKA’S

DEATH AND THE

KING’S HORSEMAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

WENSISLAUS NOVAL RUMANGUN

Student Number: 124214078

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2017

A Sagatw SastraUndcgraduate Thesis

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Yogyakart4 Febuary 2 g 20I 7 Faculty of Letters

. P. Ari Subagyo, M. Hum.

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA

ILMIAII

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma Nama : Wensislaus Noval Rumangun

NomorMahasiswa :124214078

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul

WOMEN

OPRESSION

AS SEEN

IN THE AMBTVALENT

ATTITT'DES

OF

THE YORUBA SOCIETY

IN

WOLE

SOYINKA'S DEATH AND THE

KING'S

HORSEMAN

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan

kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma

hak

untuk

menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau

media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta

ijin

kepada saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Padatanggal:

9

Februari 2017

Yang menyata

STATEMENT Otr ORIGINALITY

I

certit, that this

undergraduate thesis contains no material which has

bqr

previously submitted for the awrd of any other degree at any university, and tha!

to the best

of

my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously written by any other person €xcqpt where due reference is made in the text of the undergraduate thesis.

Yogyakarta, Febnrary 9 ,2017

W'ensislaus Noval Rurnangun

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The simple things are also the most extraordinary things,

and only the wise can see them.

viii

This undergraduate thesis is dedicated

to my wonderful mom

ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all I would love to thank our God, Jesus Christ, for giving me a chance so that I can finish this research. God has been a very great friend for me for he always be there when I am alone and in need of help. My next great acknowledgement is given to Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum. and Dr. G. Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S., M.Hum. as my thesis advisor and co-advisor. I am so thankful to be guided patiently even though most of time I was being reckless. Thanks very much madam Putu for her patience during the seminar classes.

I would also love to give my deepest gratitude to my mother. If the biggest

love is as the size of earth, then my mother’s love would be the universe. I love

you mom. The next thank is for Gandroengers and EMC. Thank you for being my family for the last four years. I am hoping for the best in this New Year.

The next gratitude is presented to my dear lecturers who, I believe, are never tired of guiding me during those “dark days” of my life and of course to the hero of all English Letters student, Ms. Ninik.

Lastly, to my fellow friends from 2012 and 2013 batch, Yanser, Ayun, Aldwin, kaka Nita, and many more, thank you so much for being there for me.

Thank you.

x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ……….. ii

APPROVAL PAGE ……… iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……….. iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... v

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ………. vi

MOTTO PAGE ……….. vii

DEDICATION PAGE ………... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……….. x

ABSTRACT ... xii

ABSTRAK ……… xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………. 1

A. Background of the Study ………...……… 1

B. Problem Formulation ……….……….. 3

C. Objectives of the Study ………..………... 4

D. Definition of Terms ……….……… 4

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ……….………… 6

A. Review of Related Studies ………...……. 6

B. Review of Related Theories ……….……... 10

1. Theory of Character and Characterization ………... 10

2. Theory of Feminism ………. 12

3. Theory of Patriarchy ………. 15

C. Yoruba: The History and Women’s Position ….……… 16

1. History of Yoruba ………. 16

2. Women in Yoruba ………... 18

3. The Role of Yoruba Culture in the Play Death and The King’s Horseman ……… 19

D. Theoretical Framework ……….……….. 22

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……… 24

A. Object of the Study ………. 24

B. Approach of the Study ……….... 25

C. Method of the Study ……… 25

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS (RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS) …………. 27

A. The Characters and Characteristics ………... 27

1. Elesin ………,…………. 27

2. Iyaloja ………,……... 30

3. The Women of the Market ..……… ….. 33

4. The Bride …………...……….…… 35

B. The Ambivalent Attitude that appears through the Disclosure of the Character in the Play …...……..………. 36

xi

1. The Negative Attitudes towards Yoruba Female Characters …... 36 2. The Positive Attitudes towards Yoruba Female Characters ……… 43 C. The Ambivalent Attitude as another Form of Oppression towards

Women…………...………... 47 The Positive Attitudes towards Women as Oppressions ………….. 48

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ………... 56

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……… 59

xii

ABSTRACT

RUMANGUN, WENSISLAUS NOVAL. Women Oppression as seen in the

Ambivalent Attitudes in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017.

Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman which was published back in 1975 tells a story about a true event during the British colonialization. The issue brought in this research concerns the story lines of the play that exhibit the life of the women in Yoruba culture. Uniquely, not like other patriarchal cultures, the women in Yoruba culture had a complex situation. The complexity in the play leads to several ambivalent attitudes towards women. The researcher then aims to analyze what the effect of the ambivalent attitude towards women whether it will put women in neutral position or put women in miserable condition.

In order to find the answer, the analysis is divided based on three research problems. The first problem is to analyze the characteristics of each character involved in the issue. The second is to understand what the ambivalent attitudes the women face in the play. The third problem is to understand how the ambivalent attitudes play their role in oppressing women in Yoruba Society.

The approach of feminism is used to analyze the problems formulated. The first step is to do close readings in order to understand each character well. The second step is to find the interaction between the male and women characters. The last step is to make the analysis and conclusion based on the interaction in the play.

The result of the analysis shows that the complex views of women in the Yoruba Society which cause several ambivalent attitudes done by Elesin end up as oppressions for the female characters. Three problems are answered in this chapter. On the first problem, Elesin is portrayed as an honored, inconsistent, and arrogant person; Iyaloja as an obedient, traditional, honored, and powerful woman; the women of the market as obedient and brave; the bride as obedient. In answering the second and third problem, the analysis is divided into three parts: Iyaloja, the women of the market and the bride. It is found in the second problem that Iyaloja gets power abuse and her opinion is ignored. However in the other side, she is given position in the hierarchy. The women of the market are given negative stereotypes but also seen as mothers; honored and important figures. The bride is praised as an important and honored figured in the end but her right to choose is limited. In the last problem it is found that the positive attitudes the female characters get in fact are just another form of benevolent oppressions.

Iyaloja’s position as mother of the market forces her to follow the rules that favor

men. The women of the market are obliged to have sons and responsible for their future. The bride is praised after the marriage but before the marriage she is seen as an unimportant figure.

xiii

ABSTRAK

RUMANGUN, WENSISLAUS NOVAL. Women Oppression as seen in the

Ambivalent Attitudes in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2017.

Drama Death and the King’s Horseman yang dipublikasikan pada tahun 1975 diangkat dari kisah nyata pada saat kolonialisasi Inggris. Isu yang dibahas dalam penelitian ini mengenai kehidupan perempuan dalam budaya Yoruba. Uniknya, tidak seperti budaya patriarki lainnya, perempuan dalam budaya Yoruba menempati posisi yang kompleks. Keeadaan ini menimbulkan beberapa sikap yang ambivalen terhadap perempuan di dalam drama. Peneliti bertujuan untuk menganalisis apakah akibat dari sikap-sikap ambivalen terhadap perempuan tersebut berdampak netral ataukah menempatkan perempuan pada kondisi yang tidak menguntungkan.

Untuk mendapatkan jawaban, analisis ini dibagi menjadi tiga masalah. Masalah pertama menganalisis karakterisasi dari tiap karakter yang terlibat. Kedua adalah untuk memahami apa saja sikap ambivalen terhadap perempuan yang ditunjukkan di dalam drama dan masalah yang ketiga adalah untuk memahami bagaimana sikap ambivalen terhadap perempuan yang dianalisis sebelumnya berperan dalam penindasan terhadap perempuan dalam masyarakat Yoruba.

Pendekatan Feminism digunakan untuk menganalisis masalah. Langkah pertama adalah pemahaman karakterisasi dengan membaca teliti. Langkah kedua adalah menemukan interaksi antara karakter laki-laki dan perempuan dalam cerita. Langkah yang terakhir adalah menganalisis dan membuat kesimpulan berdasarkan interaksi yang di temukan di dalam drama.

Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa sikap ambivalen oleh Elesin merupakan salah satu tindakan penindasan terhadap karakter perempuan. Tiga masalah dijawab di bab ini. Dalam masalah pertama, Elesin ditunjukkan sebagai karakter yang terhormat, tidak konsisten dan arogan; Iyaloja sebagai karakter yang patuh, tradisional, terhormat, dan mempunyai otoritas; women of the maret sebagai karakter yang patuh namun berani; the bride sebagai karakter yang patuh. Objek dianalisis berdasarkan tiga karakter perempuan yakni Iyaloja, the women of the market, dan the bride. Dalam masalah kedua ditemukan bahwa Iyaloja mendapat tindakan penyalahgunaan kekuasaan. Pendapatnya juga diabaikan oleh Elesin. Tetapi di sisi lain dia diberikan posisi di Yoruba hirarki. The women of the market diberikan negative stereotype tapi juga dilihat sebagai Ibu, sosok yang dikagumi di masyarakat. The bride di puji sebagai sosok yang penting namun haknya untuk memilih di batasi. Pada masalah terakhir ditemukan bahwa tindakan positif yang diterima merupakan bentuk lain dari penindasan. Posisi Iyaloja mengharuskan dia untuk menaati peraturan yang menguntungkan laki-laki. The women of the market dituntut untuk mempunyai anak laki-laki. The bride di puji hanya setelah pernikahan. Sebelumnya dia dianggap sebagai sosok yang tidak penting.

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

The struggle of women in a patriarchal society is one of the interesting but concerning issues to discuss. Since the very old times, women have always been the inferior counter part of men in the society. Men exploits it by treating women as what they want. Wollstonecraft mentions one of the examples is how man can justify their action by paying women for providing sex for them. This shows how men insultingly support their superiority. Men think that desire or pleasure is just a relaxation for their focus has been given to their business while women see pleasure as a way to prove their existence (Showalter, 1971: 2).

A patriarchal society does not care much about women. It is because patriarchal society sees men as the one that will continue the progeny of family.

“Patrilineal” is considered as men’s prerogative. This is why in a patriarchal society, a family rather gives its major attention to the sons who will continue the family line rather than the daughters who will follow their husband and become

the part of other’s family. The huge attention is given towards men who are expected to run the economics of the family and the community. Since their childhood, men have been prepared for professions while women have been prepared to do the house chores and marriage (Sultana, 2011:1).

The situation that the women have been undergoing in fact does not only happen in the first or second world countries but also happens in the third world country: Africa. The gender inequality in Africa is even worse than other nations

in the worldwide. African society gets the lowest rank in the global gender equality index and has some of the highest numbers of domestic violence (Salami, 2013). The movement showed its claws in the beginning of 19th century. In this era African women try to expand their movement to not only in the domestic context but also to the politics; to the legislation.

Wole Soyinka as an African exposes the situation of the women at that time through his writing. Soyinka was born on July 13th 1934 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He is known for his famous dramas and plays that being performed for its message and cultural experiences contained. In 1986, he became the first black African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, just 11 years after his play publication Death and The King’s Horseman (The Editors, 2015).

Death and The King’s Horseman is known as one of the notable plays by Soyinka for it presents a rich experience of the root of Yoruba society culture in the era of colonialization. This work has been considered to be a masterpiece together with Oedipus Rex and Hamlet.

One of the issues found in the play is the issue of women struggle towards patriarchal system of Yoruba culture. The main characters involved in this issue are Elesin, Iyaloja, the bride, and the women of the market. As the second person to the throne, Elesin has power in the society. During the ritual of his death, Elesin decides to take a wife which is not a part of the ritual ceremony. Regarding this proposal, Iyaloja as the mother of the market, together with the women of the market try to refuse the proposal but with his power, there is nothing he cannot do. The point of view from the cultural side adds the ambiguous treatment

towards women. In order to understand further, this research analyzes the ambivalences that appear throughout the play. The outcome of the research is to find whether the ambivalences results to favor or against women.

The big issue of Death and The King’s Horseman is the clash between Yoruba and British culture. There, most researches that have been produced were focusing in determining and comparing both culture using post-colonialism approach. However, despite of the main issue of the story, the researcher tries to deepen the research by not focusing on things that has been researched by many other researchers. This research uses the feminism approach to see and unveil the women subordination happened in the culture of the Yoruba land.

In the play, the researcher analyzea the contribution of the main characters including Iyaloja, Elesin, the bride and the women of the market to understand more about the subordination and oppression that appear in the play. In brief, it is shown that the women at that time had already been given a chance in the politics and community. The society also give a huge trust to women. However whether the trust given is along with the full rights or not is analyzed in the later chapters.

B. Problem Formulation

1. What are the characteristics of Elesin, Iyaloja, the bride, and the Yoruba women of the market in the play?

2. What ambivalent attitudes appear throughout the disclosure of the character in the play?

3. How do the ambivalent attitudes expose the oppression towards women in Yoruba culture?

C. Objective of the Study

The objective of the study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation.

The first objective is to understand how the characters are described. The main idea of this objective is to understand deeper about the characters and their significance in the play.

The second objective is to describe the ambivalent attitudes towards women. This section analyzes the positive and negative view of the women of the market, the bride and Iyaloja in the Yoruba Society.

The third objective is to understand how the two contrast point of views of the women in the Yoruba Society in the end create a chance to oppress and harm women.

D. Definition of Terms

1. Ambivalence

Ambivalence is a term used to describe “the existence of two opposite

feeling” in an object (Rozensweig, 1938:223). It appears in a contradictorily

“attitudes or feelings towards an object, person or action” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

2. Attitude

“A relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols”

(Vaughan and Hogg, 2011:150). 3. Ambivalent Attitude

Referring to the definitions above, ambivalent attitude can be defined as conflicting feelings or concepts or behaviors towards objects, groups, events or symbols.

6

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

The first study used in this discussion is from the research by Taiwo Makinde who writes about the life of women in the Yoruba society in Nigeria. In his paper, he describes the role of women in the society of how women role in conveying their suggestion, and other things compared to men. He finds out that women in Nigeria at that time has already been given a ‘place’ in the society. Makinde writes “A woman in Yoruba Culture occupies various positions – a mother, a wife, a daughter, a priestess, or even a withch. The way she is perceived depends on the position she occupies” (2004 : 165).

However women also can be seen in a very bad way; as the “eru” (slave). When a woman become a wife, she will be seen as the slave of her husband.

However the society’s attitude towards her will change after she has baby(-es). In Yoruba culture, a woman who become a mother will be praised highly (2004: 166). This research will help the researcher in understanding the action done by Elesin to his new bride before and after their wedding night. However Makinde’s

research and this present research is different on the object and the analysis. The

researcher uses Makinde’s research as a reference to understand the Yoruba Society in Death and the King’s Horseman’s context. Makinde focuses more on the women in Yoruba culture in general in the marriage affairs while this research

focuses not only for the marriage affairs but also in political affairs in relation to the support of the culture.

The second study is O.O. Familusi’s research which talks about the negative and the positive impacts of the woman status in the society in Yoruba. His research described that women at that time in Nigeria had advantages and disadvantages by using their gender to survive in the society. Familusi also emphasizes few ideas about women’s position in the society as mothers and how the society reacts to them.

“ Immediately a child is born, the question that will be posed will centre on sex, not minding of health of the mother. If the baby is a female, the mother will be scolded and treated as a lazy, good for nothing woman. On the other hand if the child is a male, praise will be showered on the mother, not considering the fact that Biology has shown that it is the

father who determines the sex of an offspring. “ (2012: 300)

The society of Yoruba in fact puts the women in a very low place besides the fact that they will be put in a high place only if they have become a mother and had a son(s). There are some cases when women are being put in a lower place than the men. First is in the case of inheritance. When a husband dies, the one who will be trusted to rule the family is the male child, no matter how young the son is or that he has other sisters. The property then will be given to the sons not to the daughters. In some cases, the daughter will not be given anything. One thing that is becoming the problem is the mother will be considered also as a property. So in the end, when a husband die, the wife will be counted as a property that is freely given to the next owner. This research will help me to understand any opression done by the society and the male characters towards the

women in the story of Soyinka’s Death and The King’s Horseman (2012: 301-303).

The third study is Ikfina Maufuriyah on her undergraduate thesis “The

Native’s Resistance against Colonialism in Wole Soyinka’s Death and The King’s Horseman”. Using the colonialism approach, Maufuriyah tries to analyze what form of resistance that the native people of the Yoruba society tried to protect their culture from the intervention of the colonialism. There are two problems she analyzed. The first problem discusses the different point of view of cultural practice in Yoruba between the white and Yoruba people. The second problem discusses the resistance the local people do in preserving the practice.

The main issue Maufuriyah brings in her analysis is the existence of cultural oppression. She analyzed how the oppression can be seen through

Soyinka’s Death and The King’s Horseman. Her focus is on the cultural relation between the Yoruba people and the colonizer; how the relation impacted on the local cultural believe. Compared to the analysis conducted in this research, the main focus will be how the local culture see the women of the local in the public

and domestic sphere. Even though the point of this research and Maufuriyah’s research are two different issues, but the researcher will use Maufuriyah’s analysis on the society background.

The fourth study is Abeda Sultana’s research. In his journal, he analyzed the root of patriarchy and some theories that support and backlash it. Sultana defines patriarchy as the domination of male towards public and private spheres.

As stated in the opening of his journal that “patriarchy is the prime obstacle to

women’s advancement and development”, Sultana tried to see the existence of women’s subordination in one of the third world countries: Bangladesh. He

argued that in the development of civilization, the level of male domination in the society may be different from the nature of men’s control in the past but does not mean that men are not in power anymore. He brings the example of how nowadays people may have Queens and women Presidents and Prime Ministers but it does not cover the fact that besides there are indeed women in power, the rights of women are still not fully covered yet (Sultana 2011: 1-2).

Sultana believes that the development of a nation could not be as modern as now without the contribution of women, which is why he said that “no nation

can progress without the help of women”. He argued that not only men who take

the world in the modernization alone but both men and women joint together to make it real (Sultana 2011: 1).

He wrote on his journal about the root of patriarchy, there are two big groups conveying their thoughts. The first group, the traditionalists, values the existence of men to dominate the world including women. The group believes that

the male dominance is a “rule of nature” that has already been there and therefore could not be changed. However, another group believe that the idea and the

existence of patriarchy are merely “man-made” and further it still can be changed (Sultana, 2011: 3-6).

Sultana also quotes from Lerner about how Aristoteles, shared the same idea with the traditionalists, proposes about the root of patriarchy lies in the description of women as ‘mutilated male’. Therefore as they are biologically inferior, the same thing goes for their capability and ability to work things and create rational reasons. The extreme feminists supports this idea by claiming that biological features of both men and women do not have anything to do with women’s capability, however the idea of ‘male-ness’ and ‘female-ness’ do exist merely as the result of a long historical process. The process itself is not new. It has been at work for about 2,500 years (Sultana, 2011: 4-6).

In conclusion, this research analyzes conflicting attitudes towards women. The further research is to find how these ambivalences in the end propose the same idea which is to oppress women.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Characters are persons who appear and are presented in the works. They are the ones who make the story runs. Characters in a work could be dynamic or static, depending on their development throughout the story (Abrams, 1985: 23).

Most of the characters made in the story are fictional. Even though made

according to the author’s imagination, the characters are made as human as possible so that the reader will feel as if the character in the story can represent the reality (Holman and Harmon, 2009: 95).

According to Christopher Russell Reaske there are six ways in analyzing characters in a play.

a. The appearance

Reaske believes that characters can be characterized from the way they are portrayed in the play. The playwright usually gives descriptions about how the characters look like, how they behave, etc. The appearance of a character can be in the form of how she/he walks, dresses, etc. These can show age, possible behaviors whether she is a good or evil, etc.

b. Asides and soliloquies

There are moments in a play which a character will speak to him/her own self, or murmur about something. It is believed that through asides and soliloquies, characteristics of a character can be disclosed. Sometimes they speak about their intents towards an object. From this short or long speech, the character can be analyzed whether she/he is good or evil.

c. Dialogues

When a character responds to other characters, there can be analyzed the characteristics of him/her. The way the character reacts and responds in dialogues can show the other side of him/her.

d. Hidden narration

Another way in finding the characteristics of characters in a play is by analyzing carefully the speech of other characters. Reaske believes that it is possible for other characters to mention the characteristics of another character on their speeches whether in the form of opinions, thoughts, etc. The idea of hidden in hidden narration could mean that the characteristics are not directly mentioned by the playwright but can be found somewhere in the play.

e. Language

From speeches, characteristics of a character can be inferred. When a character speaks, she/he will have a different way of speaking whether in the form of dictions, intonations, etc. Through language it can be seen whether a character is intelligent or not, what background she/he probably comes from.

f. Character’s action

Actions of a character do not appear in a play randomly but there are reasons that trigger that to happen. In order to make an action, characters will have motivation coming from their inner side suggesting and sometimes forcing them to take such actions. Besides that, the pattern of the actions done by a character can show his/her identity or true characteristics. The more a character acts the more it can be seen naturally how his/her character really is.

In short, Reaske proposes six ways of analyzing a character: appearance, asides and soliloquies, dialogues, hidden narration, language and actions (Reaske, 1966: 46-48).

2. Theory of Feminism

History records that women have been treated unequally for ages.

Despite that women’s population is more than the half of human population, they were always being forced to occupy a secondary place in the world’ while men have been always considered to get the first position (Beauvoir, 1989: 39). Concerning this situation, women try to seek for the betterment which is the equal position between men and women. Women have been tried to release themselves

from the injustices that they have had (Humm, 1995: 94). The efforts and struggle

in voicing women’s idea are conceptualized in what we call feminism.

Feminism is defined as “the ideology of women’s liberation… that

women suffer injustice because of our sex” (Humm, 1995:94). In its development,

many theorists come with their new ideology that enrich the branch of feminism. This research will specify to use liberal feminism.

Liberal feminism “aims to achieve equal legal, political and social rights

for women” (Humm, 1992:181). Liberal feminist believes that patriarchal society

plays important role in women subordination concerning the oppression and the limitation of rights. They also propose that there should be a fair legislation to both women and men. The legislation should guarantee the equality not only in term of race, culture, work place etc (humm, 1990:119).

Men are believed to be favored by patriarchal society. Men tends to have more job opportunities or even be favored regarding the law matters. In Sex from Plato to Paglia, Alan Soble argues that Liberal feminism tends to criticize the

unfair treatment and promotes “equal protection under the law”. Liberal feminists believes that women has their right to have “personal privacy”, “autonomy” and “consent” therefore it is in their (women’s) capacity to choose what they want to

do with their live. Alan brings Wollstonecraft’s argument that men and women are different solemnly because of their sexes is “either fabricated or exaggerated

and therefore could not be used as the basis for differential rights and roles”. Wollstonecraft believes that women should have the same right as men in many

fields such as education. She believes that education is important for one to be rational in reasoning (Alan, 2006:334).

John Stuart Mill also believes that sex roles is a kind of “caste system” which women are placed lower than men and restricted to only several rights. His wife Harriet Taylor Mill then adds that if women get proper education as men,

“women would choose to become the partners of men” in the workplace (Alan, 2006: 334).

The same ideas about self-autonomy and consent are also brought into marriage, sexuality and prostitution issue. Marriage should happen when there are consents from both parties. There should be consent without coercion to participate (Alan, 2006: 336). In the marriage later, “sex roles within the family

has to become androgynous” where both couple has the same position in nurturing

the children to gain equality in family.

Liberal feminists believe that there are times when the sexual interaction

happened because they are “violently forced or coerced into it”. Some factors that coerce them in ‘consenting’ such as “childhood sexual abuse, drug dependency and poverty”. They believe that women have the right to “free to reject the norms

and that any legal arrangement” that harms them (Alan, 2006: 337). In conclusion,

Liberal feminists propose the idea that women have rights to choose and decide based on their own willingness and consent.

3. Theory of Patriarchy

Patriarchy in the past is used to describe a household in which is ruled by

the father. Patriarchy itself means “the rule of the father”. The term then

developed to the modern era to show a community or society dominated by male. Domination here refers to the power in the society in a small community like family to big community like nation. In maintaining their power, men then have to limit women’s accesses and rights (Bhasin, 2006:3).

In using their power, men dominate woman in every aspect. In the households for instance, women would be the one who take care of the children and do the houseworks. Men also control women in many aspects. Men have power to use women body to fulfill their desire. Women are also confined in the economical access. In this ideology, women are the one who works and men are the one who enjoy the products. (Hartmann, 1993: 13). Besides in economy and society, men also dominate women in the culture (Lim, 1997:220).

In order to keep things in order, in patriarchal way, “masculine and

feminine characteristics, private-public realms” (Sultana, 2010:8) were created. This idea is then introduced since the childhood age; which toys are for girls and for boys, what acts should one does, etc. At the end, the patriarchal system in society will always be there. Male in their adult age will acknowledge their dominance towards women and then they have control upon women not only in

the economic sphere but further to the women’s reproduction, mobility and

C. Yoruba: The History and Women’s Position

1. The History of Yoruba

Among the states in Africa, Nigeria is more distinguished compared to other states. Before gaining the world acknowledge of its capability of maintaining its own economics and politics, Nigeria has been through a distinct change of cultures, politics. Talking about Nigeria, we cannot silence the facts of its glorious past of its ancient cultures as Ife, Benin and Nok (Fayusi, 1973:11-13).

According to its administrative development, Nigeria can be divided into three era, pre-colonial in which the ancient kingdoms were still in its glorious time, the colonial era in which it was under the rule of the monarchy of England, and lastly the current era. Concerning the object of research Death and The King’s Horseman, the era that contributes a lot in this research would be the pre-colonial and the beginning of the colonialization era (Fayusi 1973: 9).

In the pre-colonial era, there were few huge kingdoms that ruled the land with its people in its own cultural policy. One land is the Ife land that is believed to be the origin land of the two big empires. One of the empire is the Kingdom of Yoruba. It is believed that the sons of the founder of Ife later found the seven lands of seven crowns and make it an empire. Basically at this time, the administrative and the politics has been established quite well seen through how each of the land have their own leader or chief to make sure the stability of each region. Most interestingly on how the king established a special council to make

sure that each chief will lead the land accordingly to the king vision. The council

consists of “heads of various cult societies, outstanding warriors, religious and

political leaders” (Fayusi 1973: 12).

Each chief of the land has the duty to create peace by putting things in order of how they work and how the talent is being past to the next generation.

The sons of a family will then have to learn how to inherit his father’s talent. For

example, if the father is a carpenter so in the young age, the son will have to follow his father wherever he goes in order to learn the pattern of work so that he can later continue his father work when his father passed away and can keep contributing to the community. In the other hand, women will be in home preparing for the needs of the men working outside (Fayusi 1973: 17-19).

When the British arrived at the land of Yoruba, they forced the people to join their belief and their political way of thinking. While the power of the ancient empire was already weaken added with the influence from the British, some lands that tried to free themselves from the power of the old empire and swear allegiance to the monarchy of England. Some lands where still had no or less intact with the colonizer and lands that still has kings kept practicing their rituals based on their own cultural policy.

Interestingly, with or without the existence of the British, the existence of women in the society was still getting no improvement. In most of the African culture including Yoruba women were placed as the second place or even lower.

Women were seen as properties that could be given to anyone (O.O Familusi, 2012:301).

2. Women in Yoruba

Women have never been given a fair judgement and treatment of the society. In Yoruba culture there is an ambivalent position of women. Women in the Yoruba culture are categorized to daughter, teenager, wife and mother. From those stratas, only the mother is the one that is put in the higher place. As it has been stated that only a mother will be treated differently, however when the husband is passed away, the mother will be treated as a furniter of the house which could be given to anyone according to the husband’s will.

One of the most nightmare of the women in Yoruba culture is the issue of virginity. In that culture, a girl should be a virgin until the day she married. The husband of the women can sue the family if he found out that his wife is no longer a virgin. The society however does not care whether the husband has slept with other women or not. When this situation happens, the society will justify any action of punishment given to the wife. When a couple is found out doing the adultery, the women will be judged as murderer and will be punished however there is no any punishment given to the male partner.

A wife will be seen as a slave of their husband. She will be forced to do everything the husband ask her to do. Even she is seen as the property of the husband. A woman no matter she is single or married does not have any right to said his opinion against the men. Women will be seen as immoral if they go

tresspass this and will be punished according to the culture. Women are responsible for the behaviour of the children. When a child acts unaccordingly, the mother will be the one to be blamed. Besides that, they are not trusted. There is an expression “obinrin koni gogongo” which means women can not be trusted because they have no adam apple. This can be seen as a very illogical things because the society is using the biological feature to go against women in which does not have any relation at all (familusi: 305).

3. The Role of Yoruba Culture in the Play Death and The King’s Horseman

Values and attitudes are closely related. Values are abstract therefore it is believed to be able to affect one’s attitudes in many ways (Maio and Olson, 1994:268).

Yoruba Society is one of the ancient culture that holds on to patriarchal system. One of the characteristics as depicted in the play is the hereditary that is passed from one to another generation through the male heir. It is the men then are sit as the authorities to both domestic and public spheres.

PRAISE-SINGER. … a man is either born for his art or he

isn’t.

(Soyinka, 1986: 10) ---

PILKINGS. … The old pagan wanted him to stay and carry on some family tradition or the other.

(Soyinka, 1986: 28) ----

WOMAN. … It is not he who calls himself Elesin Oba, it is his

blood that says it. As it called out to his father before him and will to his son after him.

The value that family tradition should be passed to the next male in blood line shows a significant position of men in the society and also justify the society as a patriarchal society. Like other patriarchal societies, the lives of women in the society are concerning.

Yoruba culture plays a very important role in shaping the mind of its people and how they act. The myth about the other life, curses, legends are believed to be true and have impact on the livings. The culture also embodies the idea of women subordination. Women become less active in the society because of many restriction of rights that is held on by the society. Furthermore, the subordination towards women could be in a position to oppress them. Elesin in the play becomes the capable character in representing the issue.

Elesin who is introduced in the play as the horseman of the king plays a role as the representative of the culture. As holding the second most important

position in Yoruba society, Elesin is known as the “man of honour”. The title according to the play is derived from his past achievements with the previous king. His achievements strengthen the honor and respect of the people to him. Besides the title, Elesin is also believed to have more ability and knowledge about the culture. His position as the right hand of the king also appoints him naturally as the implementer of the cultural rituals. His action is believed to bear a direct relation to the culture. That makes people trust him about the decisions he made. As someone who preserves the continuity of the culture, is the second in line to the monarch, and plays a crucial part in the cultural rituals, Elesin is necessary to be seen as the culture itself.

Yoruba people highly respect the culture. The subordination seems to be something natural to be embraced and practiced in everyday life. The examples of the subordination of women in Yoruba culture are such as the inferior position, the restriction of rights like right to make own decision, little access to resources, etc. Some women might voluntarily accept the “subordinate status in exchange of protection and privilege, a condition which characterizes

so much of the historical experience of women”. However in many cases like in the play, the male character uses this privileges to fulfil their “evil intent” toward the submissive (Learner 1989:234-235). Aristotle said “the courage of man is

shown in commanding of a woman in obeying” (Learner1989:8-11).

There are various examples in the play that shows how the trust that Yoruba women gives to the males is not used properly. The first and obvious example is polygamy. Yoruba Society does agree in polygamy. Men can have many wives for many reasonable reasons. One of the reasons mentioned above is to have protection. However in the play, the idea of women seeking for protection and other needs does not appear.

ELESIN. … I deserve a bed of honour…

WOMEN. But she is betrothed to your own son (Iyaloja). Tell him.

(Soyinka 1986: 21)

ELESIN. … oh little mother, I have taken countless women in

my life …

(Soyinka, 1986: 65)

PRAISE-SINGER. … Because the man approaches a brand new bride he forgets the long faithful mother of his children.

As stated above, the bride is not in a state where she needs any needs from

Elesin. She is betrothed to Iyaloja’s son which means that she lives a proper live.

However the culture believes that the man who is going to face death especially a

king’s horseman’s wish is a must to be fulfilled otherwise there is something bad is going to happen. As culture’s role in the Yoruba’s lives is very crucial, there is

nothing they can do than let it happen for a good reason, hopefully.

Despite of putting women in a lower position, Yoruba culture shows its

complexity in placing women in hierarchy. Iyaloja’s position as “mother of multitude” which is equalized to Elesin’s position as “father of multitude” shows

that the culture in fact also empowers women. It shows that the culture in the very first place tries to protect both men and women however sometimes in the implementation men tends to overpower and use the chance to overcome women.

D. Theoretical Framework

There are three theories used in this discussion which will be used as the foundation to answer the questions mentioned in the problem formulation.

The first theory, the theory of character, is used to identify Elesin and Yoruba female character in the play. The women here are categorized to three parts. The first is to analyze Iyaloja, the second is to analyze the bride and the last is to analyze the general women. From the characterization of the characters we can understand how the characters are and what position they are in the society. The second theory, the theory of Feminism, will be used to show the understanding on how the female characters react to the oppresion they face based

on their position in the society and knowledge of culture. The theory also can be used to identify the women situation at that time. Iyaloja’s reaction as the ‘mother

of market’ will show us how the surroundings force women to bow under the

male domination while the bride and the women of the market reaction towards the opression supported by the culture is also analyzed in this research.

The third theory, the theory of Patriarchy, is actually the extension of the second theory. By using this theory, the male character will be analyzed so that the reasons behind his action in oppressing the women could be dissected even further.

24

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of Study

Death and The King’s Horseman was written by Soyinka in 1975 based on an event happened in 1946. It consists of five scenes tell a story about Elesin who was in the process of doing a suicide ritual in order to accompany the king who had just died. The ritual required Elesin to die to be the partner of the king to find the utopian world. At the same time, a british colonizer named Simon Pilkings tried to stop Elesin to do suicide. He then had Elesin jailed as an action to prevent

Elesin to kill himself. Elesin’s son who had just come back from England saw that

his father had already failed to do his duty to join the king in death decided to kill himself as the offer to replace his father position.

In some specific parts of the drama, the author points out a lady named

Iyaloja as the ‘mother of market’. ‘Mother of market’ here means more like the one who lead the women in that place. Even though being put as a ‘leader’, Iyaloja has no power to go against the power of man in this drama represented by Elesin.

Before facing his death, Elesin proposes his willingnes to have a night with a girl to be his bride. After the bridal night, he said he will be ready fo the riual. This play also shows us about the live of women in Nigeria at the moment the british arrive to take over the land.

The play itself has been performed many times by notable theatres in Chicago in 1976 and at Lincoln Center, New York, in 1987. The play is believed to be a great sample for people outside of Africa to study Nigerian society.

B. Approach of the Study

To find the answer of the problem formulations and to conduct the discussion, the researcher decides to use feminism approach. It is the feminist approach because basicaly, this discussion focuses on the life of the women in Yoruba in facing the oppression given by men and struggling to voice their thoughts and right to choose.

C. Method of the Study

In conducting this discussion, the researcher used a library research. There were two sources used to find the information about the topic. First is the primary resource which is the play itself why the second is the secondary sources which are books, journals and internet sources.

These are the steps the writer used to reach the end of discussion.

Firstly, the researcher chose the work used to analyze in this case Wole

Soyinka’s Death and The King’s Horseman.

Secondly, the researcher applied close reading to find the important parts that will be analyzed later. The researcher found out that the life of the woman at the moment in Yoruba society was having a depression caused by the opression given to the men in this case portrayed by the male characters.

Thirdly, the researcher looked for some books that define the theories that could be used to define the life of women. There were some books found that talks about the women struggling to find their justice in the patriarchal societies. The researcher also found jurnals that describes the society of Yoruba at that time. Fourthly, the theories that had been found were applied to analyze the problems that had been firstly formed in the problem formulation. The researcher used the theory of Characterization to analyze the characteristics of the women of the market, the bride, Iyaloja and Elesin. It then moved forward to use the theory of Feminism and Patriarchal to understand the background and reasons behinds the oppression felt by both the oppressed and the oppressor. Lastly, using the background of the story emphasized by the custom of Yoruba that is kept repeated throughout the story, the writer then could finally see how the society actually see the women of Yoruba.

Lastly, after analyzing the story, the researcher then could make a conclusion.

27

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

This chapter answers the problems stated in the Problem Formulation. Since there are three problems, this chapter is divided into three main sections. The first section talks about the first problem formulation, the characteristics of Elesin, Iyaloja, the bride and the women of the market. The writer used the theory of characterization mentioned in the Chapter II to analyze each of them. The result of the first problem formulation is used to analyze the ambivalent attitude that appears in the play. The last section then talks about how the ambivalence in the end harms women and the role of the culture in this issue.

A. The Characters and Their Characteristics

There are four characters analyzed including the two main characters in the play, Iyaloja and Elesin. However, the existence of the bride and the women of the market is also crucial in understanding and dissecting this analysis because they appear in most of the scenes that are going to be analyzed. This is why it is justified to place them in the character analysis.

1. Elesin

Elesin Oba is introduced as the right hand of the previous king. As the one that has stood beside the king ruling the kingdom together, he then has duties to perform his own death ritual to join the death king in another world. Elesin is

However his remarkable achievements resulted in his being overreact and stubborn towards the people in the lower rank then him.

a. Honored

Elesin’s past moments with the dead king about how they rule the kingdom, create peace and prosperity and conquering the villages near the kingdom create a great impression for the people of his success in accompanying the king.

ELESIN. I go to keep my friend and master company.

… our joint hands

Raised houseposts of trust that withstood The siege of envy and the termites of time. WOMEN. The town, the very land was yours. (Soyinka, 1986: 14-15)

The Yoruba people acknowledges his achievement by praising him and the

dead king as “a man of honor”. The play mentions several times about Elesin past achievement and why his position affects the life of the people at the time the dead king ruled the kingdom.

b. Inconsistent

Set aside his position as the hand of the king and also known as a man of honour, Elesin is introduced also as an inconsistent men. This is a scene which he confesses how he feels about leaving the livings and joining the deaths.

ELESIN. …there was also a weight of longing on my earth -held limbs. I would have shaken it off, already my foot had begun to lift but then, the white ghost entered and all was defiled.

(Soyinka, 1986: 65)

This confession of him contradicts with his thought in the beginning of the ritual when the women asks him whether he is ready or not to join death.

WOMEN. Nothing will hold you back?

ELESIN. Nothing. I go to keep my friend and master company.

(Soyinka, 1986: 14)

c. Arrogant

Being acknowledged as the man of honour, Elesin shows some arrogances in several scenes of the play.

IYALOJA. But you, husband of multitudes? ELESIN. I, when that Not-I bird perched

Upon my roof, bade him seek his nest again, Safe, without care or fear. I unrolled

My welcome mat for him to see. Not-I

Flew happily away, you’ll hear his voice

No more in this lifetime –You all know What I am.

(Soyinka, 1986: 14)

Elesin tells a story to the entourage about the Not-I bird which is a symbol of death. The stories says that the Not-I bird came and visited several people in different places but they refused it. But when it came to Elesin, he unrolled his

“welcome mat for him to see”. He ends his story buy saying “you all know what I am” which shows a slight proud but also a sense of arrogance for he believes he is different with other people. He did not run when the death came calling, instead he welcome it.

2. Iyaloja

Iyaloja is introduced in the story as the “Mother of the Market” which refers to her being given an authority to organize the market and as the leader of the women in Yoruba. Having that position, she then has the power higher than other women in the market. There are four characteristics she portrays in the play. a. Obedient

As the Mother of the Market appointed by the authorities, Iyaloja has duties to obey the laws, culture and the ruler of the kingdom. The obedient of Iyaloja is proven in several scenes of the play.

When Iyaloja and the women of the market asked Elesin about his readiness

to face death, Elesin got “bitterly offended” and strongly urge for the apology. Iyaloja got the message and ‘ask’ the other women to kneel and ask for

forgiveness.

ELESIN. I am master of my fate WOMEN. Nothing will hold you back?

ELESIN. Nothing. What! Has no one told you yet?... I am bitterly offended

IYALOJA Our unworthiness has betrayed us. All we can do is

ask your forgiveness. …

(She kneels, the other women follow) (Soyinka, 1986: 14-16)

The power of hierarchy, rank, in the society play a big role in Iyaloja’s act to

Elesin as her superior no matter the issue does make sense or not. The next scene that shows Iyaloja’s obedience to the upper rank is shown by how she agreed to

Elesin’s proposal to marry one of her “daughters” while in fact that girl is already

ELESIN. … Iyaloja, who is she?

IYALOJA. Has one step already in her husband’s home. She is

betrothed. ELESIN. (Irritated)

IYALOJA. … Today is your day… we know you for a man of

honour..

I dare not refuse. (Soyinka, 1986: 19-21)

Iyaloja’s idea of obedience to her superior not merely exist there, but it is shaped from the background of the community, the kingdom whose culture is upheld strongly and practiced in everyday life.

b. Traditional

Due to her strong belief into the ancient faith that has become the core of the culture, every action that Iyaloja took has been passing consideration concerning the faith itself. Lot of scenes when she has to make decisions, she will refer back to the culture, the faith that people believe and then make the decision. The scenes including the part shown in letter a when she agreed to make the girl a bride for Elesin is one example.

IYALOJA. The matter is no longer in our hands.

… Only the curses of the departed are to be feared. … be sure the seed you leave in it attracts no curse. (Soyinka, 1986: 21)

Iyaloja believes in the idea that if she does not follow what the culture tells her to do, there might be something bad happened; a curse. In the scene when Elesin gave his forgiveness to Iyaloja and the women of the market, she was so happy that nothing bad will happen concerning this issue.

IYALOJA. (Dancing round him. Sings.) He forgives us. He forgives us.

What a fearful thing it is when The voyager sets forth

But a curse remains behind. (Soyinka, 1986: 16)

c. Honored

Her actions and decisions that are seen right by the women of the market make them, the women, to give her respect and honor her for that and her respective position in the market.

When Amusa ask Iyaloja to tell the other girls to not insult him any longer and throw some kind of threats, the girls then approach him believing that he has insulted them by acting carelessly towards Iyaloja.

AMUSA. Iyaloja, make you tell dese women make den no

insult me again. If I hear dat kin’ insult once more… GIRL. He’s out of his mind. It’s our mothers you’re talking to,

do you know that? Not to any illiterate villager you can bully and terrorise.

(Soyinka, 1986: 36-37)

The way Iyaloja is addressed is also different. While talking to the other

women, they are addressed as “women” but when Iyaloja comes, she is addressed as “Madame Iyaloja”.

The two scenes above show Iyaloja as someone believed by the common villager to be in different rank that has to be treated different.

d. Powerful

The fact that Iyaloja gets honored by the common villagers affects her authority towards the women of the market. She then becomes role model of the women.

IYALOJA. …(She kneels, the other women follow.)

(Soyinka, 1986: 16)

She is believed to be more powerful and to know more than them.

WOMEN. What does he mean Iyaloja? This language is the language of our elders, we do not fully grasp it.

(Soyinka, 1986: 20-21)

This examples, added with the praise from the Praise-Singer about “how

wisdom she is” show the women’s trust and ‘dependency’ towards her words. In the end Amusa’s speech about her implies the power of her authority.

AMUSA. Madame Iyaloja, I glad you come. … Tell these women to stop obstructing me…

Make you tell dese women make den no insult me again. (Soyinka, 1986: 36)

Amusa’s speech implies that Iyaloja position is believed to control the other

women of the market which is why she can “tell the women” what to do for they,

the women, have trust and honor in her.

3. The Women of the Market

Here, the writer combines the women and the girls of the market into The Women of the Market. They are portrayed in the play to trust and have high respect to Iyaloja as The Mother.

a. Obedient

The Women of the Market have highly respect to Iyaloja and believes that his knowledge is far beyond them so it is justified for Iyaloja to make decisions and so they do what she says.

WOMEN. What does he mean Iyaloja? This language is the language of our elders, we do not fully grasp it.

…

IYALOJA. The matter is no longer in our hands.

WOMEN. But she is bethroted to your own son, tell him.

IYALOJA. … but who will remedy the blight of closed hands

on the day when all should be openness and light? … would you rather it was my hand whose sacrilege wrenched it loose?

(Soyinka, 1986: 20-21)

Besides of the characteristics above, the Women of the Market are also portrayed as talkative. Talkative here can be in positive and negative side as Pilking (a character in the play) define them as people who will talk about their own and other people secret family affairs to others. But in the other side, they would be described as brave for how they dare to stand speak against things they find unnecessary.

b. Brave

The women of the market dare and also are brave in conveying their thoughts. They are also portrayed to love telling others about how is their daily

life and even other people’s. Simon Pilkings mentions when he recalls his impression about them.

PILKINGS. These natives here? Good gracious. They’ll open

their mouths and yap with you about their family secrets before you can stop them.

(Soyinka, 1986: 29)

In spite of it, they are brave to voice what they think is wrong. There are several scenes when they urge Iyaloja and even another male character named Amusa.

IYALOJA. … I dare not refuse.

WOMEN. But Iyaloja…

IYALOJA. The matter is no longer in our hands.

WOMEN. But she is betrothed to your own son. Tell him. (Soyinka, 1986: 21)

The mothers have a feeling that there is something wrong with this issue, that they are triggered to stop it. Not only have the mothers, the girls also had some gut in them when Amusa tries to stop the ritual. They prevent Amusa even though he gives them some threats.

AMUSA. … If I hear dat kin’ isult once more…

GIRL. (Pushing her way through.) You will do what?

GIRL. He’s out of his mind. It’s our mothers you’re talking to… How dare you intrude here anyway?

(Soyinka, 1986: 36-37)

Their braveness is praised by the mother as a “defender”.

4. The Bride

The bride actually appears in many scenes in the play but she does not really join any conversation even though it is related to her. The author Wole

Soyinka describes here to be “motionless”. She appears in several scenes along

still. It can be said from there that she has a very obedient characteristic. She is being present at the events, but she does not speak anything, let the people make the decisions to her and just follow the decisions.

B. The Ambivalent Attitude that appears through the Disclosure of the Character in the Play

The ambivalent attitude refers to the conflicting concepts or views toward persons, groups, etc. (Rozensweig, 1938: 223). In the play Death and the King’s Horseman, the attitudes are derived from Elesin towards the Yoruba female characters in the play. In analyzing the ambivalence, this section is divided into the negative and the positive attitudes towards Yoruba female characters.

1. The Negative Attitudes towards Yoruba Female Characters

Since their childhood, boys and girls have already been taught what to do to be a man and a women. There is this huge barrier that differs the life of women and men. Boys were prepared to go working outside. They were given proper education and training about business and others, while women were trained how to do housework and to look pretty (Showalter, 1971:3). Living in a patriarchal society has shaped Elesin mind about women like what their position in politics, economy and culture are.

The main value of these attitudes is that women’s position is basically lower than men. The concept believes that men’s matters are different with

women’s and so, women are not supposed to intervene in any “men’s business”.

The value that appears in the play concerns many aspects of women’s lives including but not limited to marriage and workplace. Men does always occupy the first place while women are forced to be in the secondary position (Beauvoir, 1989: 39).

JANE. Please, try and understand. Everything my husband did was for the best.

ELESIN. You are the wife of the District Officer? JANE. Yes. My name, is Jane.

ELESIN. That is my wife sitting down there. You notice how still and silent she sits? My business is with your husband. (Soyinka, 1986: 66)

The conversation above shows that Elesin does not want women to

interfere with “men’s business”. He compares Jane to his wife; women, and tell

her to stand still, like his wife, because this is a business with her husband; between men. In Elesin point of view, women’s opinions do not really matter for this is a business between men so women opinion does not necessary. Elesin statement in this conversation shows how limited is the right of women in Yoruba Society. Since the female Yoruba characters mentioned above are Iyaloja, The Bride and The Women of the Market, so the attitudes will be analyzed based on those three characters.

a. Iyaloja

The idea above results in the first attitude of Elesin being ignorant and even results further to abuse of power towards Iyaloja. In the play Elesin asks Iyaloja to let him marry one of her girls but Iyaloja indirectly shows her refusal to

the offer. As depicted before, Elesin is described as an arrogant person. His characteristics of being superior is harmed by the refusal coming from Iyaloja, his subordinate and a woman. As what Wollstonecraft argues, mankind favors respect from other including women. Men believe that they should get rewards when achieving accomplishments. They tend to do anything to get the recognition in their competitive world (Showalter, 1971:2). So, despite of hearing her explanation, Elesin keeps insisting to marry the girl. He believes that he is “a man

of honour” so that he deserves “a bed of honour to lie upon”. He uses his position in the hierarchy to achieve his willingness which is to marry the girl.

In the first place, the act of asking permission to Iyaloja in fact is just as a form of formality since Iyaloja is Mother of the Market. However, her opinion and decision does not matter since Elesin has stated his opinion and so be it. Elesin uses his position in hierarchy to emphasize that his position in giving the offer is not to be refused. As what Lerner argues that Patriarchal society is a

“manifestation and institutionalization of male power”, the hierarchy is filled with

men to show to the society, women and children, which in their society men are the one in charge (Lerner, 1989:239). Even though in the case of Death and the

King’s Horseman this theory deviates a little bit since Iyaloja is given an

important position, the patrilineal system is still very strong that the positions above her is seated by men. _{The fact that Elesin is one of the men seated on those} seats, he uses it to oppress the Women of the Market by referring his proposal to his position in the institution. He mentions several times about his position as the Horseman of the king and how close he is to the king and how he and the king

conquer the world. He knows that he is in a ritual that will grant all of his wishes but he does not stop there, he continuous to remind the female character about his power and position.

b. The Bride

The second attitude is concerning the marriage. As it is portrayed in the play that at the end of Act One, Elesin has his bridal night. However, the process of the marriage is not based on both parties consent. It is shown in the play that Elesin feels attracted to the girl and wants to marry her however there is no any further details whether the girl agrees to marry him or not. Alan believes that Elesin action has proven the restriction of women’s right. Alan believes that women should have right to refuse any action that could harm them or approve any action that favor them. In the case of the Elesin’s marriage, there needs to be a consent without coercion to participate (Alan, 2006:336).

ELESIN. Tell me who was that goddess through whose lips I saw the ivory pebbles of Oya’s river-bed.

Iyaloja, who is she? I saw her enter Your stall; all your daughters I know well. (Soyinka, 1986: 19)

After the conversation Elesin asks Iyaloja to let him marry her and then

they have the marriage. The fact that the marriage happens without the girl’s

consent even though she is present there in the scene and solely because of the willingness of the men shows how girls’ lives and future is not in their hand and it is in the elder, in this case in the men’s hands. These process of choosing the bride

without their consent shows the limited power for women to decide their own fate and to do what they want solely because they are not men in charge.

Regarding this incident, Alan believes that women, including the bride,

have rights of “personal privacy”,“autonomy”, and “consent” therefore the bride

basically has the right to decide whether to accept or refuse the offer (Allan, 2006:334). The matter here is that the general understanding of the society is heavily spoiled by the patriarchal stigma. Wollstonecraft argues that one of the stigma believed by the majority of the society is that the ordinary ordinary women, excluding Iyaloja in this play, are not capable of deciding for their own problems therefore they need men to advice what to do and not to do.

The bride herself portrays the idea that women presence in the story is important but got no recognition. The most visible way is that there is no names for the Yoruba female characters besides Iyaloja. We have some servants name like Amusa, Joseph but we get no any names from the bride. In fact she is

addressed in the beginning of the play as “she” and after the marriage she is

addressed as the “wife” and “young bride”. The importance of names in the story shows that her presence in the story is not important in fact the bride gives some significance improvement in the story line.

Concerning the marriage, the Mother of the market have tried to stop the marriage by urging Iyaloja that the girl has been ‘betrothed’ to another men. However even though Iyaloja also knows that, she can do nothing for her strict

that has to be granted for it can leave curses behind. The women and Iyaloja then are not brave enough to break the cultural belief.

It is important to underline that they let the girl to marry Elesin is not based in their willingness but because of the force of the culture. As the member of a traditional society that believe highly on their ancient faith, they have to let the things happened as what the culture says even though they do not think that it is a right thing to do. Their decision does look like they let the culture mingle with it but it is important to mention that their decision and their faith in the culture not solemnly sincere since there are some burdens that there might be some curses happened in their society. Their tribe is under the attack of the British Empire so if they are to ignore Elesin’s willingness and stick to their ‘original’ faith, they will face lot of curses and the attack of the British Empire.

c. Women of the Market

The last attitude derives from the belief had by Elesin and the Praise Singer about women of the market as a threat. In their point of view, women is seen as obstacles for men to reach or stay in their glory.

ELESIN. … This market is my roost. When I come among the

women I am a chicken with a hundred mothers. …

PRAISE-SINGER. They love to spoil you but beware. The hands of women also weaken the unwary.

(Soyinka, 1986: 10)

This comment about the danger of women is said for the Praise Singer is afraid that the women, later the bride, will hamper the ritual process which Elesin has to die. According to Wollstonecraft, women with no proper education living a

life solemnly dependent on their sensibility. They have no ability to reason as well as men (Showalter, 1971:5). Women can be burden once they married men. When marriage happened, man cannot only focus on his work. He has a new duty to take care of his wife, or in this case: wives. With a new duty, men has to think harder for women cannot help him in thinking. Women are not educated, therefore men may able to share his thoughts to his wife but he should never expect a smart and importantly the answer from women.

This idea then being approved by Elesin in the end where he is in the prison after failing the ritual ceremony.

ELESIN. My young bride, did you hear the ghostly one? …

Now I feel I want to blame you for the mystery of the sapping of my will.

(Soyinka, 1986: 65)

The lines above proves the belief that women can be dangerous to men

for they hamper the success by “sapping” the “will”.

This stereotype of Yoruba women then results as an excuse for Elesin to blame the bride for his failure however as it is clearly stated in act five that it is

Elesin who wants to marry the girl and the marriage happen without the girl’s

consent. According to Allan marriage most of the time happened as a result of several factors like poverty, childhood sexual abuse, drug dependency, better caste in the society (Alan, 2006:337). For a family, to marry their daughter to a son of a wealthy family is a very huge bonus for the family without considering the happiness of their daughter. But in the other side, the groom will think this as

but in the form of pleasure. Wollstonecraft argues that women is seen as a symbol of pleasure and that is one of small reasons why men wants to marry women (Showalter, 1971:1). Elesin in the middle of his ritual feel attracted to a girl. His sexual desire excused by his achievements in the past shoves him to have a marriage night with the girl. This is what was anticipated by the praise-singer that pleasure that women offers can weaken men. Elesin with his refreshed experience of bridal night weakens his commitment to die.

2. The Positive Attitudes towards Yoruba Female Characters

Yoruba female characters despite of getting a lot of negative attitude, in some scenes they also got positive attitudes that empowering them. Here are three female characters that undergoes the complex attitudes.

a. Iyaloja

Throughout the story, Iyaloja is represented as the leader of the women,

as the leader of the market and as the “mother of multitude”. As the “mother of multitude” therefore she has the authority over the Women of the Market. Iyaloja

is seen as a role model to them. In the scene where Elesin got angry because the women questioning his decision to die following the dead king, Iyaloja becomes the mediator to help straighten the misunderstanding.

WOMEN. We know you for a man of honour.

ELESIN. Stop! Enough of that! … I am bitterly offended. IYALOJA. Our unworthiness has betrayed us. All we can do is

ask your forgiveness. Correct us like kind father. (she kneels, the other women follow)

becoming a wife and get pregnant, her status as slave to her husband is switched over to become an honorable person. However even though she is praised for her pregnancy there is a dilemma when the time to deliver it comes. When a mother gives birth to a son, she will be praised to be holly and full of grace while if she has a daughter she will be seen as a curse to a family.

The notion about the bride being praised and having dilemma happens not only for the bride but also for all the women of the market who has been in marriage. In the play the women of the market are shown to be respected ladies. Elesin in the beginning of the play states that his monarch was “built with tenderness and beauty” owned by the women. Their role in the culture is shown to be significant. Their position as mothers also make them honored. Their important role in the society however is shown to not contribute much in the decision making and the other situation which they are included. Their condition is similar to Iyaloja’s for being there because the culture requires them to be. But men still in charge in handling things. Their decision is being ignored by Elesin, and even shown to have no power against him for being supported by the culture.

Yoruba culture as shown in the play has complexities in treating women. It gives women chance to empower themselves but in the end it also has a medium that can be used by men to oppress women from doing so. Iyaloja position in the hierarchy is one of the example. Her role is tangible for women but men by using the platform provided by the culture are able to oppress them for hindering their aims.

59

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62 APPENDIX

Summary of Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman

In 1946, around the independence of Nigeria, Elesin Oba, the right hand of the king or known in Yorubaland as the king’s horseman is preparing for the suicide ritual. According to the culture, when the current king dies, the king’s horseman is obliged to join the death in order to accompany the king to start the journey in the afterlife meeting their ancestors. While preparing for the ritual, Elesin is attracted by a young girl among the group of women following the ritual. He then proposes to Iyaloja, the Mother of the Market to marry the girl before facing his death. After several considerations, the wedding night happened.

At the same time in the other part of Yorubaland, Simon Pilkings, a British district officer and his wife, Jane Pilkings are preparing for the visitation of a Prince of England. Elesin’s suicide ritual is heard by Pilkings and following his faith, he tries to stop the suicide ritual in silent. He then sents Amusa to stop them since Amusa “was” one of the Yoruba people. Instead of having the ritual stopped, he was confronted by the women and was given warnings. As the news reaches Pilkings, he goes to the ritual and had Elesin jailed.

Elesin is brought to the jail together with his new wed wife. In jail, he meets his son, Olunde, who was sent to England to study doctor. Feeling ashamed for his father’s failure in performing the ritual, Olunde secretly takes his father role and kills himself. Iyaloja comes to meet Elesin and confronts him for playing with culture. As they are talking, a group of people come and bring an object which turns out to be Olunde’s corpse. Overwhelmed with shame and surprise, Elesin strangle himself to death.