Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Blood Knot
Blood Knot
Blood Knot
Subject: English
Principal Investigator: Prof. Tutun Mukherjee, University of Hyderabad
Module 32
Athol Fugard, Blood Knot
Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Author- personal details
1.2. His Work
1.3. Features of his Work
1.4. Background to the play
2. The Play in Brief
2.1. Summary
2.2. Plot
3. Themes and Issues in the play
3.1. Race
3.2. Identity
3.3. Poverty
3.4. Capitalism
3.5. Symbiosis of Brotherhood
4. Important Aspects of the Play
4.1. Play on the word ‘pass’
4.2. Symbolism of colour
4.3. Language
4.4. Setting
4.5. Playing games
4.6. Alarm clock as a prop
4.7. The motif of control
4.8. Religion
5. Conclusion- Fugard and Bertolt Brtecht
I INTRODUCTION
Afrikaners are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch
settlers first arriving in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and they have
traditionally dominated South Africa's politics and agriculture.
Fugard supported the Anti-Apartheid Movement (1959–94) that led to government imposing
restrictions on his work, life and movements. Fugard received many awards, honours, and
honorary degrees from the government of South Africa, and he is also an Honorary Fellow of
the Royal Society of Literature.
Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director
who writes in English and currently lives in the USA.
I. 2. Fugard’s Work:
Fugard began his career by organising a multiracial theatre in which he played multiple
roles—as writer, director, actor and producer of several plays. Along with black South
African actor Zakes Mokae, Fugard performed many plays. Later, influenced by Bertolt
Brecht’s production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Athol and Sheila Fugard started ‘The
Circle Players’. Later he formed the ‘Serpent Players’ in 1960 with all black actors. A theatre
complex named after him ‘The Fugard Theatre’ opened in Cape Town in 2011.
As his plays often opposed apartheid, he came into conflict with the government and
was forced to stage his plays outside South Africa. Blood Knot (1961) was initially banned in
South Africa. His passport was also confiscated. The restrictions were relaxed to some extent
in 1971.
Fugard who dropped out of a university was eventually awarded honorary degrees by seven
universities!
Fugard plays are often political in nature. Plays like Blood Knot (1961), Sizwe Bansi is Dead
(1972), Master Harold … and the Boys (1982) deal with themes such as hatred, violation of
the human rights under apartheid, influx control laws that control all black peoples’ lives, and
the ‘Immorality Act’ which prohibits miscegenation. The Island (1972) that focuses on two
cell mates is inspired by Robben Island on which Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for twenty
seven years.
His introspective and psycho-mythological plays include Dimetos (1975) which takes
us into a land of allegory, and, The Road to Mecca (1984) in which Miss Helen after the
death of her husband creates her own “Mecca”.
His plays, such as Valley Song (1996), The Captain's Tiger: a Memoir for the Stage
(1997), and, Victory (2007) are considered post-apartheid plays which focus on personal
issues. Many of his plays are produced internationally and several of them are made into
films.
2.2 Plot:
The plot begins to thicken with Morris’ attempts to infuse some enthusiasm into his brother
Zach who shares no interest in the future envisaged by Morris. Zach yearns for his former
times of fun and pleasure and the women he enjoyed. Morris suggests that he could have a
woman pen pal. Together they go through the newspaper and as Morris reads out for
Zachariah, out of the three classifieds, they decide to write to Ethel Lange who turns out to be
white woman.
During their correspondence she expresses her wish meet Zachariah on her visit to
Port Elizabeth. They realize they are playing with fire and are excited by the crime of it all.
Zach persuades Morris to pass off as a white man and spends all his savings in buying a suit,
hat, shoes, socks, umbrella for him and even a handkerchief for Ethel. Morris is actually torn
between his skin colour and his blood ties. He knows he cannot do it and even contemplates
leaving the shack. But the crisis is resolved when Ethel writes in her next letter that since she
was engaged to be married and her fiancé disapproves of pen-pals, she would not like to
continue their pen-friendship. And the two return to their original state of penury and an
impasse in their personal and socio-economic status because of apartheid.
Believe it or not! In the late 1970s, the daily average prison population was almost
100,000, one of the highest rates in the world. Of these, the majority were imprisoned for
statutory offenses against the so-called pass laws.