There’s nothing sacred about a marriage that abuses the woman”. In Athol Fugard’s play, “The Road to Mecca”, he makes different depictions of characters in his play with reference to real life relationships. In his play he identifies three females, each in a lifelike scenario with difficulties in relationships. The three females are: Katrina(17), a part-time domestic helper who is in an abusive relationship, Elsa Barlow(28), a school-teacher who is strong and confident and Helen Martins, “a frail, bird-like woman in her late sixties”. The first scene is started with Elsa arriving at Helen’s home after a long trip from Cape Town with nothing out of the ordinary. Tension soon unravels when difficulties in relationships are exposed, the women
…show more content…
Her conditions are common to those living in poor villages across the country. She is exposed to violence and abuse on a regular basis, her husband, Koos Malga, drinks a lot and also accuses her of adultery, he implies that the baby they have is not his, that the baby has another father. In these communities it is common for male figures in rural homes to dominate the female by abusing them, verbally and physically. Woman are seen to be “child-bearers, their social role is to raise children, and they tend to be physically weaker than men”(ENG1501/1 Pg88). Katrina’s depiction is very much similar to so many teenage mother’s face who are reliant upon their husbands. These husbands are mostly young, immature men who now see themselves as pack leaders dominating the others. The feminist statement: “There’s nothing sacred about a marriage that abuses the woman”, made by Elsa, represents the view of a majority of women, but in reality society cannot change these …show more content…
Unfortunately they don’t represent the best of circumstances. These depictions of real life relationships involve abusive and violent relationships, they involve affairs and also abortion, and they display the sad reality of broken marriages, lack of trust, secret agendas and difficult decisions. It is not only the tragic which I extracted from this play, but for the good, I realised that trust is more important than love. Trust will catch you when you fall, but love, it might just disappear when you need it
Her conditions are common to those living in poor villages across the country. She is exposed to violence and abuse on a regular basis, her husband, Koos Malga, drinks a lot and also accuses her of adultery, he implies that the baby they have is not his, that the baby has another father. In these communities it is common for male figures in rural homes to dominate the female by abusing them, verbally and physically. Woman are seen to be “child-bearers, their social role is to raise children, and they tend to be physically weaker than men”(ENG1501/1 Pg88). Katrina’s depiction is very much similar to so many teenage mother’s face who are reliant upon their husbands. These husbands are mostly young, immature men who now see themselves as pack leaders dominating the others. The feminist statement: “There’s nothing sacred about a marriage that abuses the woman”, made by Elsa, represents the view of a majority of women, but in reality society cannot change these …show more content…
Unfortunately they don’t represent the best of circumstances. These depictions of real life relationships involve abusive and violent relationships, they involve affairs and also abortion, and they display the sad reality of broken marriages, lack of trust, secret agendas and difficult decisions. It is not only the tragic which I extracted from this play, but for the good, I realised that trust is more important than love. Trust will catch you when you fall, but love, it might just disappear when you need it