Point of View

Wole Soyinka has written "Death and the King's Horseman" in the third-person omniscient perspective when it comes to setting scenes or events. However, Soyinka chooses first-person limited-omniscient perspective when it comes to the characters in the play actually speaking. This is done for a few different reasons. The first is that the third-person omniscient perspective in terms of narration allows the reader context within the greater historical situation of the play. Because it is a play, no one else can speak for the characters but themselves, hence the first-person perspective from each of the characters as they speak. The limited omniscient factor of this perspective allows the reader the understanding that events are unfolding as they are being read, and the readers know only as much as the characters.

Language and Meaning

Wole Soyinka tells his play "Death and the King's Horseman" in language that...