SETTING & SYMBOLISM
How does the initial tea room setting help establish the relationship between Sam, Willie, and Hally?
The tea room functions as a shared daily space where Sam and Willie work and Hally comfortably interacts with them. Its routine familiarity creates a sense of intimacy, but the physical arrangement (Black men as workers, white boy as patron) immediately marks hierarchy.
How does the father’s unseen presence shape Hally’s behaviour?
It pushes Hally into defensiveness and emotional spirals, which he redirects toward Sam and Willie.
How does each play introduce tension differently in the opening moments?
Tension in MHATB enters gradually through Hally’s phone call; in DATM, tension is present immediately through Paulina’s guarded behaviour and the ominous atmosphere.
“A rainy, windy afternoon in Port Elizabeth.”
Setting/ Imagery
Effect: The gloomy weather mirrors the emotional storm brewing beneath the surface.
It foreshadows emotional turbulence and suggests the tea room is a fragile refuge.
What similarity can you identify between the opening power dynamic in the tea room and the opening dynamic in Death and the Maiden?
Both plays begin with unequal relationships where one character is positioned with more authority, setting up tension beneath surface familiarity.
What does Fugard achieve by opening with a quiet, rainy afternoon in the tea room?
The calm, ordinary setting mirrors surface harmony while the gloomy weather hints at underlying tension.
How does Sam respond to Willie’s concerns about dancing, and what does it reveal about Sam’s role?
Sam responds with patience and guidance, offering moral correction (“You must stop that”) and technical advice. Fugard establishes Sam as the moral centre and mentor figure.
How does Hally’s authority differ from Gerardo’s authority in the opening scenes?
Hally’s authority is social and racial, taken for granted; Gerardo’s authority is rational and emotional, exercised carefully due to Paulina’s instability.
“Hilda is making me tired. She doesn’t want to practice the Quickstep.”
Authorial Choice: Symbolism (dance as ideal order)
Effect: Introduces dancing as a symbol for the world Willie longs for: structured, beautiful, collision-free.
His frustration reflects oppressed aspirations under apartheid.
How does a character’s emotional trigger in Master Harold and the Boys resemble a trigger in Death and the Maiden?
Both Hally and Paulina shift abruptly in tone—Hally after the call, Paulina after hearing Roberto’s voice. Each character’s trauma triggers sudden emotional changes, foreshadowing later eruptions.
How does Fugard use the tea room as more than a backdrop? What thematic weight does it carry?
The tea room acts as a microcosm of apartheid society. It appears warm and domestic, yet its roles are rigidly structured: Black worker/ Whites masters
What deeper cultural commentary emerges through Willie’s struggle with ballroom dancing?
Ballroom dancing symbolises order, aspiration, and beauty—an imagined world without “collisions.” Fugard uses Willie’s difficulty to reveal how apartheid disrupts Black aspirations and reinforces internalised violence
How does each playwright introduce conflict differently in pacing or style?
MHATB introduces conflict slowly, through shifts in tone; DATM introduces conflict immediately through dread, suspicion, and silence.
Line: “Did you finish cleaning the boards?”
Authorial Choice: Question - revealing power dynamics
Effect: Shows that Hally, a teenage boy, assumes a supervisory role over two grown men.
What symbolic role does the tea room play that can be compared to the beach house setting in Death and the Maiden?
The tea room, like the beach house, appears to be a safe domestic space but is charged with history, fear, and suppressed tension. Both settings reveal how private spaces become battlegrounds for political and psychological conflict.
What does the physical staging (positions, tasks) of Sam, Willie, and Hally in the tea room symbolise?
Willie scrubbing the floor and Sam carrying a tray visually cement their subordinate roles, while Hally enters casually and takes up space.
Fugard uses staging to symbolise entrenched racial hierarchy long before it is spoken aloud.
How does Fugard use the dance motif to reveal character depth?
Dancing becomes a metaphor for personal control and social harmony. Willie’s inconsistent discipline exposes his internal conflict, while Sam’s steady guidance shows emotional maturity and a longing for a world defined by grace rather than oppression.
What difference is seen in how each play portrays vulnerability early on?
Hally hides his vulnerability behind control; Paulina exposes hers through hypervigilance and emotional intensity.
Line: “Yes, Mum… All right, Mum…”
Authorial Choice: Fragmented diction
Effect: Shows emotional destabilisation caused by his father.
Signals Hally’s home trauma intruding into the tea room.
Find a connection between how the past influences the present in the tea room and how the past influences the present in Death and the Maiden.
Hally’s past trauma with his father shapes his mood and behaviour, just as Paulina’s history of torture shapes her perception and actions long before conflict erupts.
What do Hally’s early interactions with Sam show about the nature of their relationship?
They show warmth, trust, and familiarity, suggesting a father-son dynamic beneath social boundaries.
How does Willie’s behaviour in this scene foreshadow his later emotional journey?
His frustration, shame, and reliance on Sam foreshadow how he must confront the cycle of violence he participates in. Fugard plants the seeds of personal transformation
Line: “You hit her again?” — “Only on the backside.”
Authorial Choice: Dialogue revealing social conditioning
Effect: Shows how apartheid’s violence filters into personal relationships.Willie adopts the violent patterns of the society oppressing him.
List 4 themes that are in the first 10 pages of MHATB and Death and the Maiden
The Fragility of Safe Spaces /Power and Hierarchy
The Past Intruding on the Present /Emotional Instability Triggered by Trauma /Identity Shaped by Oppression/ cycles of oppression