Death and the King’s Horseman

by

Wole Soyinka

The Bride / The Young Woman Character Analysis

A beautiful young woman engaged to Iyaloja's son. Elesin catches sight of her and decides he wants to marry her before he dies. She doesn't speak at all in the play, and goes along with what Elesin and others tell her to do. It's implied that she becomes pregnant with Elesin's child.

The Bride / The Young Woman Quotes in Death and the King’s Horseman

The Death and the King’s Horseman quotes below are all either spoken by The Bride / The Young Woman or refer to The Bride / The Young Woman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Life and Death Theme Icon
).
Act 3 Quotes

Our marriage is not yet wholly fulfilled. When earth and passage wed, the consummation is complete only when there are grains of earth on the eyelids of passage. Stay by me till then. My faithful drummers, do me your last service. This is where I have chosen to do my leave-taking, in this heart of life, this hive which contains the swarm of the world in its small compass. This is where I have known love and laughter away from the palace.

Related Characters: Elesin (speaker), Iyaloja, Olunde, The Bride / The Young Woman
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5 Quotes

You were the final gift of the living to their emissary to the land of the ancestors, and perhaps your warmth and youth brought new insights of this world to me and turned my feet leaden on this side of the abyss. For I confess to you, daughter, my weakness came not merely from the abomination of the white man who came violently into my fading presence, 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.

Related Characters: Elesin (speaker), Simon Pilkings, The Bride / The Young Woman
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis:
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Death and the King’s Horseman PDF

The Bride / The Young Woman Quotes in Death and the King’s Horseman

The Death and the King’s Horseman quotes below are all either spoken by The Bride / The Young Woman or refer to The Bride / The Young Woman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Life and Death Theme Icon
).
Act 3 Quotes

Our marriage is not yet wholly fulfilled. When earth and passage wed, the consummation is complete only when there are grains of earth on the eyelids of passage. Stay by me till then. My faithful drummers, do me your last service. This is where I have chosen to do my leave-taking, in this heart of life, this hive which contains the swarm of the world in its small compass. This is where I have known love and laughter away from the palace.

Related Characters: Elesin (speaker), Iyaloja, Olunde, The Bride / The Young Woman
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5 Quotes

You were the final gift of the living to their emissary to the land of the ancestors, and perhaps your warmth and youth brought new insights of this world to me and turned my feet leaden on this side of the abyss. For I confess to you, daughter, my weakness came not merely from the abomination of the white man who came violently into my fading presence, 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.

Related Characters: Elesin (speaker), Simon Pilkings, The Bride / The Young Woman
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis: