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Elesin admits that even he does not understand it. One interpretation is that the intrusion of Simon Pilkings at the crucial point in the ritual was the cause for Elesin’s failure.
First off, there's the whole not understanding/wanting to stop Elesin's suicide. Without stopping to consider the significance of the ritual—and what preventing it might mean for the Yoruba—Simon throws all his effort into trying to keep it from going off.
Iyaloja says that she's not here to explain things to Pilkings. She tells him that Elesin understands what happens when a king dies. He knows that it'll cause trouble when the king realizes that he's been betrayed; the king will wander among enemies. Iyaloja asks Pilkings to let Elesin release their king.
Though Pilkings says that Elesin dying wouldn't be a great loss—he's had run-ins with Elesin in the past and finds Elesin difficult to deal with and annoyingly entrenched in native customs—Pilkings does fully believe in the Christian idea that suicide is a sin.
Simon does not understand or respect Elesin’s culture, and he uses his authority to interfere only because he does not want to be embarrassed while the prince is visiting. It is tempting, therefore, to see Simon as the cause of Elesin’s not fulfilling his duty, to see the clash of cultures as the force that moves the universe off its course.
This is confirmed when later, Elesin fails to commit suicide. Though he blames Pilkings (who arrests Elesin at the moment he tries to die), the gods, and his bride in turn, Elesin eventually admits that he loved life too much and didn't entirely want to die.
People also ask
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Tanure Ojaide writes, “Elesin’s failure is not refusing to die, but not dying at the appropriate moment. It is a ritual and there is a time for everything. However, Elesin delays and provides the opportunity for his arrest and the excuse not to die.”
