The Road To Mecca Play Analysis

Elsa Barlow’s sentence, “There’s nothing sacred in a marriage that abuses the woman,” conveys her personal feelings towards the rights of woman. Her words are uncomplicated, with the absence of filler words. Filler words tend to extend sentences and ideas in real life. Some filler words include, “like” or “um,” and these words seem to become repetitive. Whereas, in a drama like “The Road to Mecca,” the screenwriter, Anthol Fugard, decides on a specific dialogue, which is then performed. The dialogue rarely contains any filler words, unless it is part of the characteristics of a particular character. The dialogue can clearly indicate a theme in a simple sentence and in this case our theme would include the rights of woman, particularly in relationships.

Fugard creates Katrina’s character as a seventeen-year-old girl who is in a very unfortunate situation. Her situation and circumstances are very common in poverty-stricken townships, such a Nieu Bethesda. Many young women, like Katrina, are married and pregnant at a young age. These women often fall victim to violence and abuse, especially from their husbands. In many poor communities, there are young women who are married to men who feel empowered and dominant because of how young their wives are. Fugard places Katrina in a situation where she falls victim to the abuse of her husband, Koos. He used to beat her physically, but Fugard allowed Elsa to intervene and the physical abuse stopped (on page 23 of ‘The Road to Mecca,’ Helen replies to Elsa saying, “No. The warning you gave him last time seems to have put a stop to it.”). However, there is still verbal abuse that takes place between Koos and Katrina. Fugard creates Koos as an alcoholic, which is very typical in poor townships. Koos accuses Katrina of infidelity and verbally abuses her and the baby, as he does not believe that the baby is his. However, there is no clear evidence as to how Katrina deals with her relationship and the abuse that happens. She remains with Koos on the condition that she is already married to him, “She can’t do that, Elsie, they’re married,” says Miss Helen on page 23 of the drama, ‘The Road to