A Feminist Critique of Gender Issues in Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman

The paper is an in-depth literary analytical study of gender relations in Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman from a feminist perspective. This exploration of the treatment of the female gender by the playwright and the male characters he creates includes the consideration of such matters as betrothal and marriage, conception and pregnancy, and women’s participation in sociopolitical issues. These issues are treated against the backdrop of a feminist theory that is essentially African in outlook and content, since the term seems to have different meanings to African women from what it does for the others. In a conclusive discussion, the paper posits that the treatment of Girl and other female characters in the play betrays the chauvinism of the playwright and of other male members of the pre-literate African society represented in the play