Best Books Study Work Guide: The
Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife
for Grade 10 Home Language
Written by Charles J. Fourie
Compiled by
Peter Southey
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Wife for Grade 10 Home Language may differ from that of the printed version, depending on
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The page references in this version refer to the pages in the printed book.
In instances where learners are asked to ‘answer the questions below’ the questions may
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References to the back cover of the book refer to the About the book section in this version.
Foreword to the learners
You cannot study this study work guide instead of studying the play itself. The two must be
used together. Your edition of the play includes a great deal of information about the playwright
and about the background to the play and the play itself. This study work guide helps you to
understand these notes and it also adds to them, using page numbers to refer you to the
page you need to have open in your copy of the play. The main purpose of the study work
guide is to provide explanations and questions that will lead you to a fuller understanding of the
play itself.
The author and publishers
Analysis and questions
Foreword (p. iv)
1.
Before you begin to study something new it is helpful to search your mind for what you
already know about the new matter. You have probably never heard of Freytag’s Pyramid,
but what about the other items in the list? Write down what you understand the four terms
below to mean.
Character
Plot
Setting
Stage directions
2.
Exactly how are you going to be studying this play (actual)? Would you prefer to be
studying it in some other way (ideal)? Place ticks in the boxes that apply to you in the
table below.
Actual
Ideal
Studying it on my own as a text
The teacher reads the whole play aloud in class, taking all parts*
Play reading in class; four learners active, the others following in their books
Simultaneous play reading in class in groups of four
Stage production with costumes and props
*This approach is not included in the Foreword, but it does happen.
Key features (p. 1)
1.
This section lists the ways in which drama differs from other genres. Once you have read
through it, write down what novels and short stories have in common with drama: in what
ways is prose fiction similar to drama?
2.
How does it differ?
Introduction to The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife (p. 2)
1. What is “drama”? (p. 2)
In your own words explain what “the suspension of disbelief” means in this context: “I like going
to movies with my friend Casper because we’re equally willing to suspend our disbelief.”
2. Character and characterisation (pp. 2 & 3)
Based on what we are told in this section, place ticks in the appropriate boxes in the table
below:
Type of character
Stella Lamprecht
The other three characters
(Plaatjes, Adriaan Lamprecht and Barney)
Major character
Minor character
Round character
Flat character
Dynamic character
Static character
Protagonist
Antagonist
3. Plot (p. 3)
In this section, the key word for a clear understanding of “plot” is written in italics. Write it in the
space provided below and then explain what it means.
Word:
Meaning:
4. Conflict (p. 4)
From p. 3 of the section on Character and characterisation, quote a phrase that tells us
something about the conflict in this play.
5. Structure (pp. 4 & 5)
Fill in key words in the table below to summarise the application of Freytag’s Pyramid to The
Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife.
Structure
Applying this to The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife
Exposition
Rising action
Climax
Falling action
Dénouement
6. Setting (p. 5)
This section tells us that “The setting in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife is particularly important”
but we are not told what that setting is. Read the sections on Robben Island and the lighthouse
on pp. 8 and 9 and then describe the setting in one or two sentences.
7. Stage directions (p. 5)
Add a sentence here to the notes you wrote for question 3 above, explaining how a novelist
deals with the information that a playwright provides in stage directions.
8. Dialect
Read through Plaatjes’ speech on pp. 11 and 12 and quote an example from it of each of the
following:
Dutch:
Cape coloured slang:
An African language:
9. Theme (p. 6)
We read here that “As each boat is about ready to launch, a prison warder destroys it and the
prisoner has to start over.”
What is your view about what the warder did? What is your view about the prisoner’s
reaction?
Answer one of these questions by stating your point of view in general terms. (This would
be a theme if YOU were writing the play.)
10. About the author
List the four cities mentioned in the text box on p. 7 in which Charles Fourie’s plays have been
produced.
About the play
1. Robben Island
In the table below fill in the approximate dates during which those listed in the first column
were kept on Robben Island.
Captives
From
Until
Khoikhoi
Xhosa captives during the Frontier Wars
Tuberculosis patients
Lepers and the mentally ill
Political prisoners (maximum security prison)
Convicted criminals (medium security prison)
Oddly enough, the so-called mentally ill (“lunatics”) included homeless people, prostitutes with
sexually transmitted diseases, alcoholics and those who were unemployed because of old age
or ill health. This gives us reason to question whether Plaatjes really is mentally ill. He does
enough talking to give you evidence to make up your own mind about this.
The other three characters were invented by the playwright, but “Plaatjes the boatbuilder”
actually lived. He was an inmate in the lunatic asylum on Robben Island at the time of the play
(around 1900) and he built boats from driftwood in the futile hope of sailing to freedom – futile
because on completion his boats were always destroyed, just as they are in the play.
2. The lighthouse
Judging from what you read on p. 8, what was probably one of the lighthouse keeper’s most
important tasks?
3. Pre-reading
a.
Write down your answer to the first question under this heading on p. 9. Give your
reasons.
b.
Now answer the question at the second bullet and give reasons for your answer.
About the characters: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife
Plaatjes
An inmate of the asylum on Robben Island – arrested for stealing food and dividing it under the
poor. They treat him as insane.
Stella Lamprecht
The wife of the lighthouse keeper
Adriaan Lamprecht
The lighthouse keeper on Robben Island
Barney
An assistant at the asylum on Robben Island
The play: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife
All page numbers refer to those in the play itself.
Stage directions
The appearance of the stage – the set – is described in italics at the top of p. 11. The
lighthouse (the kitchen and living area) are on the left. The centre of the stage is covered in
beach sand. The coastal edge of the island is represented by a rocky cove on the right of the
stage. On Robben Island itself the lighthouse is several hundred metres from the nearest
section of shoreline, but the audience is expected to “suspend their disbelief” about this, thus
allowing two different settings to occupy the stage together and making scene changes
unnecessary between acts.
In this italicised section and in italics above the other five acts there are stage directions for
moving the audience’s attention to either the lighthouse or the rocky cove.
In the table below, say what these directions are in each act. Act I has been done for you
as an example.
Act
Page
I
11
II
18
III
24
IV
30
V
38
VI
41
Stage directions that identify the scene for each act
Plaatjes crosses the stage, heading for the rocky cove.
Post-reading questions on p. 48
Act I (pp. 11−18)
Answer the questions on pp. 48 and 49 BEFORE you look at the suggested answers in your
copy of the play. Below are some guidelines for these questions and spaces for your answers.
These questions are answered both in your copy of the play and in the memorandum for this
study work guide. Differences between the two sets of suggested answers tell you that writing
about a literary text is subjective, unlike solving problems in Mathematics, where there is
always a single correct answer. What is important in literary analysis is that the answer should
be true to the text.
Question 1 Act I (p. 11)
Most of what Plaatjes says in his first 25 lines is addressed to himself in the here and
now. Are there any exceptions, where he is in the role of himself in a different situation
or as someone else?
For each of the following quotations from Plaatjes’ first 25 lines, say who he is addressing
and under what likely circumstances.
Quotations
Addressed by?
To?
Where?
God knows. No more up and down empty corridors. Cold stone jugs.
Mijn baas. Mijn baas.
God knows you must think, Plaatjes.
Wash your hands. Scrub your feet. Check the chains.
Come, my captain, come and lead us from this place of desolation!
Question 2 Act I (p. 11−12)
The second part of his first speech, lines 26 to 40, contains an extended metaphor.
Explain what Plaatjes is likening to what.
Here are the relevant lines:
Give me ears, my brothers, and Plaatjes will tell you of that far shore calling in the wind. Oh, how
her sweet feet dangle in the waters of the docks. Old clock tower is ticking away. (Looks at the
horizon offshore) Looky her! She is dressed to the nines. Her hair blows fresh in the southeaster.
Shoes shining like a late afternoon. Molimo! Her lips are red like grapes. Her eyes are blue as the
morning skies! (Paces toward the edge of the cove) Watch how she pulls that blanket from the
mountain around her naked shoulders. All night she waits there. She knows we’re coming home. The
days and hours are breaking in the waves. Waiting for the day when the waters are calm as a
whisper. The tides will be in our favour. Looky how she smiles, my brothers! (Transfixed) She
knows her captain is coming home. Tomorrow we’ll walk her gentle shores and she’ll welcome us
as an old lover does. A lover one has not smelled for a long time. She’ll take us in her arms and
embrace us with tenderness.
Images
What the images refer to
… her sweet feet dangle …
She is dressed to the nines.
Her hair blows fresh …
Shoes shining …
Her lips are red …
Her eyes are blue …
… she pulls that blanket …
… around her naked shoulders
She’ll take us in her arms …
Question 3 Act I (p. 14)
How do you explain Plaatjes’ rudeness in shouting “hamba!” and “suka!” when Stella
first approaches him, and his spitting at her and pushing her over?
Read what Barney says in his speech beginning “Hey, old Plaatjes!”. Quote the sentence that
is most relevant to this question, and explain its relevance.
The quotation:
Its relevance:
Question 4 Act I (p. 12)
Why does Stella tell Plaatjes about herself in her speech to him?
Relate your answer to this question to your answer to question 3 above.
Question 5 Act I (p. 12)
What dramatic purpose does it serve?
(What additional reason might the playwright have for having Stella tell Plaatjes – and the
audience – about herself? In other words, what do we learn about her?)
Question 6 Act I (p. 13)
Plaatjes ignores the first eight questions Stella asks, but smiles when she asks, “Do you
ever get lonely here?” How do you explain that?
Here are the first eight questions from the play:
Were you a boat builder before? … Can you remember how long (you have been on this island)? … You
live in the Kraal with the others? … You ever been to Mossel Bay? Do you think one can swim to
shore? … You’re going to do it, aren’t you? Escape with your boat? … It’ll be our secret if you like? …
Do you think the water will heal them (lepers)?
In what way are these questions different from the one that causes Plaatjes to smile?
Question 7 Act I (p. 16)
When Plaatjes says “Bad tides”, Barney thinks he is predicting a storm. In the light of
what happens later in the play, however, what can we understand it to refer to?
(You need to have read to the end of the play in order to say what happens to Plaatjes that
could be thought of as a “bad tide”.)
Question 8 Act I (p. 16)
Lamprecht asks Barney if he has seen his wife. Why does Barney lie and pretend that
he hasn’t seen her?
(What do you think Lamprecht’s reaction would be if Barney admitted that he’d been speaking
to Stella and that she had been talking to Plaatjes?)
Act II (pp. 18−24)
Question 9 Act II (p. 18)
What is odd about Stella’s question, “Who?” and what does it imply?
Read the dialogue between Lamprecht and Stella from his question, “Just like that story
about old what’s his name?” to her question, “Who?”
Question 10 Act II (p. 19−20)
Study the interaction between Lamprecht and Stella until he exits and then describe the
attitudes and feelings each of them has towards the other.
To prepare yourself properly for this question, fill in the blanks in the table below. Choose the
letter (A to E) that you think applies to each of the quotations. Fill in more than one letter in a
block if you see reason to.
Attitudes and feelings Lamprecht and Stella has towards each other
Lamprecht is rude and aggressive towards Stella.
Lamprecht wants to keep Stella from interacting with other people.
Lamprecht doesn’t trust Stella with other men.
Stella feels cold and hostile towards Lamprecht.
Stella objects to Lamprecht’s attempts to control her.
Stella feels intimidated by Lamprecht.
Stella refuses to be intimidated by Lamprecht.
Stella would like to improve the relationship.
Lines from Scene 2
LAMPRECHT:
People crowd your thoughts and feelings. Much better to
observe them from a distance. What you say, Stella?
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
How was your walk this afternoon?
Fine.
Fine.
Yes.
Fine?
Yes.
(silence)
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Precisely. And I’m a grown woman. My breasts are sagging. My
thighs are getting thick … so what must I be careful of? I hardly
see anyone.
What? You lost me there.
Forget it. No use explaining to you.
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
What’s your breasts got to do with it all?
You always tell me to be careful when there’s no danger!
Well, there’s no bloody reason to be crude about it!
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Desperate? Who’s desperate now?
You … and me.
Me desperate? What makes you think I’m desperate? I’m not
desperate. … The word desperate doesn’t feature. To hell with
desperate!
You done?
Yes, but I’m not desperate. …
All right!
Just telling you. I’m not desperate.
All right then. You’re not desperate!
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Why can’t you be like other women and stay at home?
Don’t tell me what to do.
I’m just saying, if you care to listen.
I’m tired of listening to you telling me what to do!
A/B/C/D/E
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Hold it now! Don’t go blowing your horns on me, miss!
Then stop telling me what I’m allowed to do, damn it!
Don’t swear like that. It’s unwomanly.
(slams her fist on the table) Damn it! Damn it!
LAMPRECHT:
(watches her in silence and sips his brandy) I hope you didn’t
tell him who you are. I don’t want that lunatic come here and
make a nuisance of himself.
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
He’s not your concern, Stella. There’s a doctor at the Kraal who
works with these lunatics. You and I are here to man the
lighthouse. Let us keep to ourselves.
They don’t seem to be doing much for him.
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Adriaan? (LAMPRECHT puts his jacket on.) Are you happy?
Happy? About what?
About us … coming here to this island?
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
We can’t go back, can we?
That bastard touched you! He laid his hands all over you!
What about Hendricks in Mossel Bay? Did you have to beat him
to death because he brought me flowers? Did he try it with me?
No!
First it’s flowers and then … you’re a married woman! If we
hadn’t left Mossel Bay, he would’ve tried his luck with you!
LAMPRECHT:
LAMPRECHT:
They always do! I see these bastards coming and you leading
them on! (STELLA cowers. He holds himself back.)
Use these lines to describe their attitudes and feelings.
Act III (pp. 24−30)
Question 11 Act III (p. 24−25)
Describe the thoughts and feelings of the three people regarding the demolished boat.
Below are the lines for each characters that you should take into account in answering this
question.
(Barney releases PLAATJES, who kneels and gathers the scattered planks around his boat…)
PLAATJES:
If today’s not the day, then tomorrow be the day! Let there be no doubt in
the minds of the foolish! They must know it was said: ‘Believe and hope
shall be your strength!’ Yes, ye of little faith! Do not despair! Tomorrow is
but a few pieces of wood between this place and freedom away! (Gathers
the rest of the planks into a heap)
PLAATJES:
… Leave me alone. I’m a busy man. I got a boat to build. Places to go. My
people are waiting.
PLAATJES:
Wrecks to you; freedom to me. Boat to you; hope to me.
Barney and Stella:
STELLA:
It’s cruel. Does he know who destroys it?
BARNEY:
Even if he did, he doesn’t mind. What else would he be doing with his time
out here? He’ll fix it up … by next month he’s ready to escape again.
STELLA:
It’s sickening.
BARNEY:
Ag, he’s used to it. Don’t you worry.
BARNEY:
(Turns to walk) I’ll see you Sunday, Missus Lamprecht. And don’t worry
about old Plaatjes. He’ll fix that boat in no time. It’s all a game to him.
(Leaves chuckling to himself)
Barney
Stella
Plaatjes
Question 12 Act III (p. 25−26)
Plaatjes once again spits at Stella and shouts at her to go. Is this prompted by ill-will?
Discuss.
Read the full conversation between Stella and Plaatjes after Barney leaves, but take
particular note of this:
PLAATJES:
Hayi! Voetsek! Go away, woman! Suka! I see many come here bright with
hopes and dreams. Leave. Leave before it’s too late. Walk. Don’t look
back! Hamba!
Question 13 Act III (p. 25−29)
Is Plaatjes insane? Use evidence from Act III to argue both sides of the question.
To prepare for this question, decide whether each of the following quotations suggests that
Plaatjes is sane or insane and place a tick in the appropriate column.
Sane
I see many come here bright with hopes and dreams. Leave. Leave before it’s too late.
I got a boat to build. Places to go. My people are waiting.
Some they drown in the sea; others they drown in love.
Insane
That one, she is my Flora. She got herself lost in the fog one night long time ago. She
was carrying spices from the east. Smell this.
I must take the message from the spirits of the great ones.
Everywhere. Ngentla! Look and you see. (Fingers the air) Makana … Gcaleka …
Sandile. Spirits of the great chiefs who want to go back to their wives and their
children. Plaatjes must take the message to the people … they must not lose hope. The
great Molimo has spoken. Kukazakulu … the spirits will return. The Lord’s people
will be set free. Hey’ta freedom! (Dances in a circle) Hey’ta freedom! Hey’ta
freedom!
Seven seals. Seven angels. Seven trumpets. Four riders will come. White horse and his
rider take the land from the people. Red horse steals the peace from the people. Black
horse kills the cattle of the people. Pale horse stops the breaking of the waves.
Persecution. Sun burns black. Moon rises in the blood of the people. Seven seals.
Seven angels. Seven trumpets.
(Takes a worn Bible from his pocket, tears a page from it and chews it; offers her a
page) Eat, lady. Eat and walk with the spirits of the great ones. Eat the message of
Molimo and let the words of the great chiefs become flesh.
Madness, she’s like the sea. She drowns you if you let her.
Hey’ta … she’s a beauty that one. She sleeps with one eye open. Her mouth is filled
stars. Her face is bright like the early morning spring. Her breath smells like sweet
potatoes. When she smiles, the sun goes down over her head.
(slowly dances around her) Ukutya kweendlebe. Her voice is food to my ears. My
head lies in her breast like a bird in its nest. She washes my hands and my feet with her
tides. Her belly is full of seasons, year after year. At night all the men come out and
dance with her. The children play in her streets. (Takes STELLA’s hand and they
dance.)
LAMPRECHT:
(turns and faces PLAATJES who now stands ready with the
hammer in his hand. Charges PLAATJES again, who in turn
swiftly moves sideways causing LAMPRECHT to charge
into the hull of the boat. PLAATJES grabs him from behind
in a similar wrestling grip to BARNEY’s and forces
LAMPRECHT to the ground. He releases LAMPRECHT and
PLAATJES:
moves away. LAMPRECHT gasps for breath.) So, you’re not
so crazy after all, are you?
Izulu elibi … hamba! Voetsek! Go!
Act IV (pp. 30−38)
Question 14 Act IV
What do the dancing and the references to it tell us about the relationship between
Lamprecht and Stella (and Stella and Plaatjes)?
You need to go back to the following extracts from Act III to answer this question fully. Refer
to the shell in answering this question.
i. See pp. 27
PLAATJES:
STELLA:
(fetches a shell from the boat and holds it to his ear. Then he dances in a
circle again.
… Gives her the shell and returns to work on the boat)
(holds the shell to her ear) I can hear the ocean … can I keep this?
Key extracts for answering the questions to Act IV are these:
ii. See pp. 27−28
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
I told you not to come here! (Drags her by the arm but she resists)
We were just dancing!
Dancing? Just dancing with this lunatic? (Chases PLAATJES from behind
the boat) You danced with my wife, you bastard!
Stop it, Adriaan! He’s innocent!
iii. See p. 30
The light comes up on the kitchen area. LAMPRECHT is dancing by himself with a broomstick.
LAMPRECHT:
I’m having a great time here, Stella! I’m dancing a little waltz. I haven’t
lost my steps. Come on, Stella! Come dance with me, man! Where’s the
brandy! Stella?)
STELLA:
(offstage) You find the brandy? …
LAMPRECHT:
( … He picks up the broom and continues to dance.) Remember how we
used to go dancing in Mossel Bay on the Point? Those summer evenings
and that dress Aunt Libby gave you. … At twelve the sky would burst with
fireworks … and we all danced … danced till we dropped. (BARNEY
appears behind him in the doorway, dressed in a tight-fitting suit with a
half-bottle of wine and flowers in hand. LAMPRECHT stops dancing
when he sees BARNEY.)
iv. See p. 33
You dance, Barney?
A little.
Stella and I used to dance. Hey, Stella? Danced till we couldn’t any more.
Mossel Bay in the old days, when we just got married. I was thinking I’d
take her to the mainland sometime for a good old opskop.
(STELLA now has the shell cupped to her ear.)
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
v. See p. 35
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
Old Plaatjes? What’s she want to help him with?
(lights his pipe) I don’t know, but I don’t like it.
He’s harmless, I told her.
I caught him dancing with her.
Dancing? Really?
If I were you, I’d keep him locked up.
Question 15 Act IV (p. 31)
What grounds does Barney give Lamprecht in Act IV for jealousy?
Key extracts for answering this question are these:
i. See p. 31
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
ii. See p. 34
What you so dressed up for?
I brought some wine.
I don’t drink wine. Stella drinks wine. (Sees the flowers) And the flowers?
They’re for Missus Lamprecht.
That’s awfully considerate of you, Barney. (Throws the flowers on the
table)
BARNEY:
STELLA:
BARNEY:
Yes, that’s why I’m changing my name to something more flamboyant when
I get to America: Breaker Barney or Barney Breaker. (Turns to STELLA)
Which one do you prefer, Missus Lamprecht?
Breaker Barney.
Breaker Barney! (Falls to the floor and mimes a wrestling position)
iii. See p. 34
STELLA:
BARNEY:
I’m going to bed. Goodnight, Barney.
Good night, Missus Lamprecht. (LAMPRECHT follows her to the door.
Then he returns and sits down again. He fills his glass with brandy.)
What’s with the shell she’s holding to her head?
You will need to scan Act IV three times in order to answer the next three questions – a
separate reading for each of the three characters.
Question 16 Act IV
What do we learn about Barney in Act IV?
Question 17 Act IV
What do we learn about Lamprecht in Act IV?
Question 18 Act IV
What do we learn about Stella in Act IV?
Act V (pp. 38−41)
Question 19 Act V (p. 39−41)
What signs does Plaatjes show in Act V of insanity on the one hand and sanity on the
other?
The evidence here is similar to that in Act III. Here are relevant extracts:
Extract
His interaction with Barney on p. 18 before Lamprecht’s appearance. Consider the
stage directions too.
BARNEY:
PLAATJES:
… What was it like to hold his wife in your arms?
Like holding a bird in its nest.
BARNEY:
… I loved her more than … how would you say it,
Plaatjes?
More than the sun loves the early dawn.
More than the sun loves the early dawn.
More than the moon loves the evening star.
The moon loves the evening star. (cries)
PLAATJES:
BARNEY:
PLAATJES:
BARNEY:
Insane? Sane?
PLAATJES:
What was her name? … What happened to her?
BARNEY:
… Tell him what it was like to hold his wife in your arms,
Plaatjes.
Like holding a bird in its nest.
You hear that … like a bird in its nest!
More … tell him more, Plaatjes!
Looky her! She is dressed to the nines. Her hair blows
fresh in the southeaster. Shoes shining like a late afternoon.
Her lips are red like grapes. Her eyes are blue as the
morning skies. Watch how she pulls that blanket from the
mountain around her naked shoulders. All night she waits
there. She knows we’re coming. She knows her captain is
coming home. Tomorrow we’ll walk her gentle shores and
she’ll welcome us as an old lover does. A lover one has
not smelled for a long time. She’ll take us in her arms and
embrace us with tenderness. Like it was in the beginning.
Oh Lordy, I can see it happening. Clearly before my empty
eyes …
PLAATJES:
BARNEY:
PLAATJES:
Sane:
Insane:
Question 20 Act V
Why do we feel that the punishment (cutting out Plaatjes’ tongue) was too severe for
any offence he has committed? (See p. 28 in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife)
Focus on the difference between the facts of the matter (i.e. Stella’s role, and what Plaatjes
actually did and who he was addressing while he danced) and Lamprecht’s assumptions about
it. Be fair to Lamprecht: after all, this is what he saw:
PLAATJES:
(slowly dances around her) Ukutya kweendlebe. Her voice is food to my
ears. … The children play in her streets. (Takes STELLA’s hand and they
dance) They sing her praises.
What other grounds did Lamprecht think he had for his action? What role did Barney play here?
Act VI (pp. 41−46)
Question 21 Act VI
How does Stella’s “madness” resemble Plaatjes’ madness earlier in the play?
Base your conclusions by comparing Stella’s behaviour in these extracts with Plaatjes’
behaviour in the opening scene and in Act III.
i. See p. 41
The wind howls as a storm approaches the island. STELLA is anxiously working on PLAATJES’ boat,
hammering a plank into position. LAMPRECHT stands close by watching her.
i. See p. 42
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Now listen to me, Stella.
Suka! Hamba!
Don’t swear.
Suka!
Will you just listen to me!
What! Speak!
We’ve been here before. We can work it out. It’s an unfortunate thing that’s
happened, but we can work it out. You know that.
Unfortunate? (Laughs) The day I fell in love with you was unfortunate!
(Threatens him with a plank) Leave me alone, you bastard! Suka!
iii. See p. 45
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
God knows, no more. No more running away. No more empty promises.
Cold embraces. No more waiting. Watching my dreams and hopes blow
away. I must save myself …
We can try again, Stella. The doctor just wants to see you.
Our lady’s calling. Her hair blows fresh in the southeaster. Her sweet feet
dangle in the waters of the docks. Old clock tower is ticking away.
(Laughs as if she is insane. BARNEY goes behind her while
LAMPRECHT approaches her form the front.) You must think, Stella. Be
brave. No more sleepless nights. No more loneliness. No, Stella. It’s
freedom, hey’ta … freedom.
Question 22 Act VI
What aspects of the personalities or behaviour of Barney and Lamprecht could be
viewed as abnormal?
Barney
Consider these extracts when answering the questions:
i. See p. 16
There’s no storm out there, man. … (Suddenly grabs PLAATJES in a wresting grip) Now try and get
out of this one! Hah! How does that feel? Come on. Try and break free, man! It’s a Tromp van
Diggelen grip!
ii. See p. 18
I’ll become the next Tromp van Diggelen. My picture will be in the newspapers. You watch and see.
Old Barney’s going to be famous one day! (See Act IV for more on his wrestling ambitions.)
iii. See p. 25
And don’t worry about old Plaatjes. He’ll fix that boat in no time. It’s all a game to him. (Leaves
chuckling to himself)
iv. See p. 32
I was in love once. With my niece. She married someone else.
v. See p. 35
I can make him disappear if you like.
Lamprecht
Consider these extracts when answering the questions:
i. See p. 20
Just telling you. I’m not desperate. (Look at the whole of his reaction to the word “desperate”.)
ii.
First it’s flowers and then … you’re a married woman! If we hadn’t left Mossel Bay, he would’ve
tried his luck with you! They always do! I see these bastards coming and you leading them on!
(STELLA cowers. He holds himself back.) Now you be careful. You keep your eyes open. (Look at
the entire conversation preceding this.)
iii. See p. 23
The light comes up on the kitchen area. LAMPRECHT is dancing by himself with a broomstick.
iv. See p. 37
Put your arm up. (Grabs hold of Barney’s hand) Push. Come on! Push, man! (BARNEY attempts to
push, but LAMPRECHT forces his arm on to the table and grabs BARNEY by the neck.) Don’t look
at my wife the way you do. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you! (Releases his grip on BARNEY)
v. See p. 41
(LAMPRECHT suddenly leaps on to PLAATJES grabbing him by the head and forcing his mouth
open. He cuts his tongue out with his knife. Blood covers them both. PLAATJES gasps for breath.)
Question 23 Act VI
Do you believe Stella when she calls out to Lamprecht, “They’re your letters, you fool.
They were all written for you!”?
Discuss both possible answers. First explain how it might indeed be possible for her to be
writing these love letters to Lamprecht, and then explain why the letters do not seem to apply
to her feelings about the marriage as we see it in the play.
Page-by-page: explanatory notes on the text
p. 11
The first part of Plaatjes’ monologue as he crosses the stage sounds like a jumble of
disconnected thoughts, but they serve to inform us of his miserable plight as a prisoner. He
urges himself to be brave and to forget these memories. “Mijn baas” is how he has been taught
to address the prison warders – in Dutch. Later when Barney is bullying him he addresses him
as “mijn baas”. “Molimo” is the Sesotho word for God. He also addresses God as “my Lord”
and “God” further down the page. This, and his familiarity with the Book of Revelations (later)
indicate that he is religious. He addresses freedom as “my captain”.
As he reaches the boat he is busy building from driftwood planks, he cheers up because it
represents freedom to him. Hey’ta is a colloquial greeting. He names the planks according to
the six stranded ships whose planks have washed up on Robben Island (Hope, Gondolier),
which indicates that he is intelligent and knowledgeable.
p. 12
He addresses the seagulls flying overhead as his brothers, since he plans to leave Robben
Island in his boat, just as they are free to leave it with their wings. “Ndidlala” is Xhosa for
“rejoice” or “let’s play”. The rest of the page contains an extended metaphor in which he
personifies “that far shore calling in the wind” as a beautiful woman. Waves breaking against
the shore are likened to her feet “dangling in the waters of the dock” and to “shoes shining in a
late afternoon”. Clouds are likened to her hair blowing in the southeaster (the wind) and to a
blanket pulled around the “shoulders” of Table Mountain. The red and blue referring to “her lips”
and “her eyes” might refer to the red grapes that grow on the peninsula and to the blue of the
sky.
As he hugs himself in anticipation of returning to the “embrace” of the mainland, he turns and
sees Stella, who has been watching him “for a while” and listening to his words. Her actual
entry is not specified.
Stella knows his name, indicating that he is talked about on the island, and she tells him his
words were beautiful, but, despite this, Plaatjes hides behind the boat and tells her rudely in
Xhosa to go away (“Hamba!”) and spits at her. Stella tries to pacify him by telling him who she
is and to draw him out by asking if he knows her husband.
p. 13
Plaatjes responds rudely (suka! also means “go away”) to Stella’s second question and spits
again, but she is not put off, even when he knocks her down and threatens her with his hammer
after pushing her away from his boat.
Stella spends the rest of the page trying to get through to Plaatjes. She tries to find common
ground between them by asking him questions about himself and telling him about herself. She
compares the ocean around Mossel Bay (warm and inviting) with the icy, shark-infested sea
separating them from the mainland. She describes the feeling of freedom she experienced
when swimming, but even this doesn’t tempt Plaatjes to respond to her. The breakthrough
occurs near the bottom of the page when she asks, “You ever get lonely out here?” His smile
suggests that loneliness is an important theme in the play.
The Kraal is the converted sheep pen where black mental patients and lepers were housed.
Port Nolloth is a town on the Cape west coast; the Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the
Atlantic Ocean coast of Namibia between the Kunene and Swakop Rivers; Mossel Bay is a
town on the east coast.
p. 14
Stella “looks anxiously toward the lighthouse” and leaves hastily. Lamprecht might claim that
love is what keeps him “always watching … worrying”. A better word for it is jealousy.
Plaatjes fills the brief interval between Stella’s departure and Barney’s arrival by rejoicing in
his plan to sail away from the island to a hero’s welcome on the streets of Cape Town.
Papendorp and Kanaladorp are suburbs of old Cape Town; they are now known as Woodstock
and District Six respectively. The Parade is the Grand Parade, which is the main public square
in Cape Town.
Barney’s first speech clarifies the conditions that apply to Plaatjes. He is allowed to spend the
day working on his boat, but he must be back at the Kraal in time for supper. He is not allowed
to talk to strangers (which explains his attempts to chase Stella away). He must submit to
wearing a strait jacket, a restraining garment used for violent people, for the walk back to the
Kraal.
Barney uses threats to control Plaatjes – being confined to the Kraal like the other “lunatics”
or being “locked up in the darkest hole” by the Superintendent. Plaatjes responds obsequiously:
“Enkosi, (thank you) mijn baas”.
p. 15
During the next exchange between them, Barney tries to get Plaatjes to ask for the strait jacket
(“Now say it”), hinting that putting it on is a condition for the freedom he enjoys. Plaatjes
refuses to co-operate (hayi means ‘no’ in isiXhosa). Eventually Barney has to force Plaatjes into
the jacket.
He has already said that he saw Plaatjes talking to Stella, and now he reveals that
Lamprecht’s vicious jealousy is common knowledge. He is sympathetic towards Stella and
perhaps also harbours a secret longing to provide the “bit of love and care” he says she needs.
He is interrupted by Plaatjes’ premonition that bad weather (Izulu elibi – isiXhosa) is
approaching. This should prepare us for the violent storm and shipwreck at the conclusion of
the play.
p. 16
Plaatjes calls the approaching storm “bad tides”, which expands his premonition to include the
disaster that befalls him later – the cutting out of his tongue.
Barney’s dream of emulating Tromp van Diggelen (1885–1967; a travelling performing
strongman known as The South African Hercules) is undermined here: he waits until Plaatjes is
in a strait jacket before grabbing him in a wrestling grip, thus showing us that he is not so
strong.
Lamprecht appears and wastes no time on Barney’s talk about the ghosts of Xhosa chiefs,
but gets straight to his overriding preoccupation: where is Stella? Although Barney has seen
Stella and saw Plaatjes talking to her, he denies it on behalf of both of them, perhaps out of
fear of Lamprecht’s reputation for jealous violence, or because he feels guilty about his own
romantic thoughts about Stella.
p. 17
Lamprecht asks for details about Plaatjes and in this and in his comment of “Shame” we see a
humane side to him that is overtaken later by his jealousy. This adds some plausibility to the
letters Stella claims she writes to him. He is not altogether a monster. He confirms this by
inviting Barney to come over to the lighthouse for a drink.
After Lamprecht exits, Barney scolds Plaatjes for “making ways with his wife”. We see on the
next page that “Lamprecht is stage left, watching them”. Did he overhear this?
Plaatjes repeats his prophesy about bad weather and “bad tides”. (Audience, be warned.)
“Gibberish” means nonsense; a limpet is a mollusc that grips tightly to rocks in the sea.
p. 18
There is some ambivalence in Barney’s behaviour towards Plaatjes. On the one hand he bullies
and scolds him, but on the other he has put aside some chicken bones for him and shares with
him his aspirations to become a famous wrestler. (A “stone” is a unit of weight equal to 14
pounds or 6.35 kilograms.)
Act II allows us to see Lamprecht and Stella alone together at home. He is far more talkative
than she is. “You can read me some more if you like” tells us that he is illiterate, which explains
later why he has to get Barney to read Stella’s letters to him, and also that they spend time
together companionably. However, Stella’s “Who?” at the bottom of the page suggests that her
mind is elsewhere.
In Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, the main character, Prospero (the sorceror), has been
marooned on an island for 12 years before the play itself opens with a storm and shipwreck on
the island.
p. 19
A “finger” of brandy would be about a tot – enough to raise the level in the mug the width of one
finger.
The Superintendent is mentioned several times in the play, but he never appears. Here his
supper invitation gives Lamprecht an opportunity to remind Stella how anti-social he is. She
does not actually side with him in this – merely nods when he asks for her support.
She also rebuffs his attempt to draw her into conversation, and mentions visiting the leper
bath but says nothing about Plaatjes. Lamprecht sees dangers even in her seeing lepers.
Stella’s response “I’m always careful, Adriaan” triggers an angry scene, so her tone of voice
would be provocative – resentful, perhaps. This is the first time she uses his name.
p. 20
Both Lamprecht and Stella raise their voices on this page. There are two peaks in their angry
exchanges, the first when Lamprecht says “Well, there’s no bloody reason to be crude about
it!” and Stella shouts back at him and introduces the word “desperate”. Their voices drop for
the next exchange, but Lamprecht works himself up to an angry climax, which provokes Stella
into shouting too. One of the characteristics of good drama is that emotion ebbs and flows, as
in this scene.
Lamprecht’s overreaction to being called desperate suggests that he actually is desperate,
probably because of his constant distrust of Stella.
p. 21
It is this distrust that causes the two to raise their voices again on this page. The conversation
begins quietly with Stella’s mention of Plaatjes. At first Lamprecht laughs sneeringly in order to
discredit Plaatjes, but when Stella mentions that “he spoke poetry” Lamprecht tries to urge her
to stay at home. Their voices rise to a climax when Stella “slams her fist on the table” and
shouts “Damn it! Damn it!”. Then the level of emotion subsides once more.
What is clear by now is that Stella refuses to submit to her husband’s attempts to control her
and prevent her from making her own decisions – for example about seeing Plaatjes.
p. 22
We are told here that Plaatjes was sent to Robben Island for stealing vegetables. This is no
indication of lunacy, but his claim to being a prophet sent by the Almighty casts some doubt on
his sanity. We are not told in what way he “really lost it” when his wife died.
p. 23
Stella and Lamprecht disagree about her idea of helping Plaatjes in some way. As he is about
to leave, she asks him if he is happy to have come to the island, and this sparks a new row,
this time about his reason for leaving Mossel Bay. Stella does not deny that a “bastard … laid
his hands all over” her, but she counters that a man called Hendricks did nothing more than give
her flowers, yet Lamprecht “beat him to death”. This can’t be literally true, since Lamprecht
says that Hendricks would have “tried his luck” with her if they hadn’t left, so he must still have
been alive. Lamprecht believes that Stella is not innocent in this: she leads them on.
Stella’s ambivalence towards Lamprecht is hinted at in the word “pained” in brackets when
she says “Your soup”. We learn later that the writing she continues with here is one of several
love letters to Lamprecht.
p. 24
Although there are no further conversations, the scene does not end yet. The sound of the fog
horn reminds us of Plaatjes’ premonition about bad weather and tides. Barney destroys the
near-finished boat and both Stella and Lamprecht call out to each other without actually
meeting. Stella’s letter is given added significance when Lamprecht tries and fails to read it and
puts it down “quickly” on hearing her call him.
Act II ends in darkness on the lighthouse side of the stage and Act III opens with morning
light illuminating the “demolished boat”. Note the contrast between Barney and Stella in their
reaction to how “desolate” Plaatjes is at the sight of the wreck of his boat. Although Barney
claims that Plaatjes does not mind his boats being destroyed, he does it at night and does not
tell Plaatjes that he is the destroyer. Despite knowing how jealous Lamprecht is, Barney
“comes closer to her”, Stella.
p. 25
Barney is just as blind to Stella’s lack of interest in his clumsy flirtation as he is to how
distressed Plaatjes feels about the destruction of his boats.
Plaatjes again rejects Stella’s overtures of friendship and help, but this time he tells her to go
away (voetsek/go away/suka/hamba) for her own sake. He smiles at her question “Was Flora
your wife”?, but for the moment ignores it.
p. 26
Plaatjes is aware of Lamprecht as someone who walks alone, watches and waits. His verdict
on him is that he is undone by jealousy (“others they drown in love”). Stella’s persistence in
staying and trying to make conversation finally gets through to Plaatjes, and he returns to her
question about Flora, whose wreck is still visible from the shore.
p. 27
Here Plaatjes swings between normality and a kind of mysticism, claiming that he can see the
spirits of long-dead Xhosa chiefs – Makana, Gcaleka and Sandile. Ngentla = higher (isiXhosa);
Kukazakulu = the coming of the prophets (isiXhosa); Ingba-ngaba = seagulls (isiXhosa).
His final speech on this page cites various prophecies in the Book of Revelations in the New
Testament. This impression of learnedness is countered when he tears off and chews a page of
his worn Bible.
References to the Book of Revelation in the Bible:
Seven seals: when the world ends, seven seals will be opened up
Seven angels: they will pour seven plagues on the world
Seven trumpets: they will bring God’s anger upon the earth
Four riders: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are the four forces of humankind’s destruction
White horse: conquest
Red horse: war
Black horse: pestilence
Pale horse: death
Sun burns black: when the sixth seal is broken there is an earthquake and the sun turns black
p. 28
The phrase “become flesh” is associated with Christ, additional evidence of Plaatjes’ religious
background.
Two points to note on this page are the prominence given to the shell that Stella gets to keep
and Plaatjes’ comment on madness, that “she drowns you if you let her”: it is up to the individual
whether or not to be “mad”. This suggests that Plaatjes only pretends to be mad; he controls it.
At Stella’s request, Plaatjes again speaks metaphorically about the mainland. Lamprecht
appears in time to hear Stella urge him for “more” and to see him begin to dance round her.
The line on this page which probably provokes his jealousy the most is “At night all the men
come out and dance with her”.
Ukutya kweendlebe = good news (isiXhosa)
p. 29
He throws a piece of kelp at her immediately after the line “When she laughs, her breasts swell
with pleasure”.
This is a low point in the play for Lamprecht. Stella is her most rebellious and he is unable to
grab hold of Plaatjes and bully him. Instead Plaatjes turns the tables on him with a wrestling
hold. He then releases Lamprecht, who takes that as a sign that he isn’t mad
after all.
Plaatjes warns Lamprecht of the bad weather too (izulu elibi).
p. 30
Plaatjes is not intimidated by Lamprecht’s threats.
The contrast between Plaatjes’ exuberant dancing at the end of Act III and Lamprecht’s lonely
broomstick dance when Act IV opens is reflected in the contrast between the wild screams of
the seagulls and the sober sounds of a slow waltz.
This is the first sign that there is a romantic side to Lamprecht. He seems to have forgiven
Stella for dancing with Plaatjes. This gives us reason to believe Stella when she says in Act VI
that the love letters she writes now are addressed to Lamprecht. It would be to the dancing
man of their early marriage.
pp. 31−32
Barney and Lamprecht make small talk. Some points to note:
•
Although Lamprecht says “That’s awfully considerate of you, Barney”, he throws the
flowers dismissively on the table, perhaps suspecting Barney of wanting to flirt with Stella.
•
Both men are uneducated. Lamprecht is only dimly aware of Darwin and Barney has never
heard of Prospero.
•
Barney says he was once in love with his niece, unaware of the taboo against this.
•
Stella is cold towards both Lamprecht (she merely nods to acknowledge the flowers) and
Barney, refusing the glass of wine he has poured for her.
pp. 33−34
Stella ignores Lamprecht’s attempt to include her in his reminiscences about dancing. Instead
she cups the shell to her ear.
Lamprecht pours a second and then a third glass of brandy for Barney. He becomes very
talkative about body building and his ambition to emigrate to the USA to become a wrestler. He
manages to get a response from Stella to his question about changing his name. His
performance as Breaker Barney suggests that he is quite drunk by now. Stella leaves soon
afterwards.
p. 35
Lamprecht wants Barney to arrange for Plaatjes to be kept locked up to prevent Stella from
seeing him, but Barney goes further, offering to kill him: “make him disappear”. Lamprecht
declines the offer.
p. 36
Being a lighthouse keeper has “chosen” Lamprecht in the sense that he was born into the
tradition: his father was a lighthouse keeper.
No explanation is given for why he is illiterate.
Desolate: bleak, barren, isolated
Yearning: longing
p. 37
At this stage the audience is also in the dark as to who Stella addresses as “my love” in the
letter. At the end of the play she declares that she was writing to Lamprecht. A clue here to
help us believe this is “I miss your warmth”. We saw hints of this warmth at the opening of Act
IV, but he has become so obsessed with keeping her from other men and vice versa that she is
unable to love the man he has become, and longs instead for the man he once was.
His attack on Barney here is further evidence of this obsession.
Although Lamprecht has seemed perfectly willing so far to “upset Stella”, here he shows that
he would prefer not to.
p. 38
Barney exaggerates Plaatjes’ offence. He didn’t “go around dancing with other men’s wives”,
only with Stella. That only happened because of her encouragement, and they danced at arms’
length.
The sound of the wind warns us of the approaching storm.
It is clear from his suit that Barney went from the Lamprechts’ straight to the Kraal. The bottle
of brandy he’s holding and his singing indicate that he is not sober. (The words are “My bonny
lies over the ocean” – not “lays”.) His idea seems to be to frighten Plaatjes by letting him think
that he is going to put him out to sea in his unfinished boat. His drunken bullying frightens
Plaatjes.
p. 39
Fear drives Plaatjes to take refuge in “madness”, but he recovers and tells himself “no more
slipping into madness”. At the same time, Barney falls over him and is too drunk to get back to
his feet, and then Lamprecht appears, visible only to the audience, and overhears the
conversation that follows.
Barney’s speech ending with “we’re all drowned men” sounds profound but is probably just
the self-pitying ramblings of a drunk.
p. 40
The conversation has moved to Barney’s lost love when he notices Lamprecht. Barney
deliberately provokes Lamprecht by getting Plaatjes to talk about holding Stella in his arms.
p. 41
Plaatjes reverts to his metaphors about the mainland, but Lamprecht is nevertheless incensed
by their sensuousness and in the climax of the play he cuts out Plaatjes’ tongue.
Note that Barney thinks only of himself here – that he will be in trouble with the
Superintendent.
The noise of the rising storm links this act with the one that follows. However, when Act VI
opens Plaatjes and Barney have disappeared. Instead it is morning and Stella is hammering a
plank into Plaatjes’ newest boat and Lamprecht is trying to persuade her to stop.
p. 42
Although neither Stella nor Lamprecht mentions Plaatjes’ tongue, there can be no other
explanation for how angry she is with Lamprecht here. She associates herself with Plaatjes
both in her speech (Suka! Hamba!), in her desire for freedom and, of course, in taking over the
building of his boat.
pp. 43−45
The main point that Stella makes during their quarrel is that Lamprecht’s jealousy has destroyed
any love she might once have felt for him. She rejects his protestation of love by saying that his
“stupid fears” have destroyed his feelings for her as well.
Lamprecht tries to remind her about the good times in the beginning, but fails.
When Barney appears with chloroform to make her unconscious, she begins to talk exactly
as Plaatjes did earlier in the play.
p. 46
Lamprecht distracts her from this by confronting her with the letter Barney had read to him
earlier. He suspects that she wrote it to someone in Port Nolloth, but the play ends with her
declaration that they were all written for Lamprecht.
The most important rule to bear in mind whenever you are discussing a work of literature is
that you must be able to support everything you say with evidence from the text. The next two
sections give you practice in this.
Essay questions
Essay A
Answer the first essay question according to the guidelines provided on p. 54 of your play. In
doing so you will have answered the third of the three alternatives suggested there and given
the case for and against the sanity of each of the four characters. Use this material in a second
essay on the topic, written into the spaces below. This time, choose to agree entirely that
Barney and Lamprecht are insane, not Plaatjes and Stella. What you will pay special attention
to now is the structure of an argumentative essay and the use of logical connectors.
It is a good strategy in argumentative essays to acknowledge the opposing point of
view before stating your own.
In this new essay, therefore, you would use the sentence frame: “Although …, nevertheless
…”, first for Barney and Lamprecht (who might appear to be sane but are in fact not perfectly
sane) and then for Plaatjes and Stella (the opposite). Use “Similarly, …” to link the two
statements, even though they make opposite claims. Write those two sentences as your
introduction in the spaces below:
The body of your essay will consist of four paragraphs (1−4 below). The point you are to
make in each of them is given to guide you. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence – i.e. a
general statement that you go on to support with evidence from the play.
1. Why Barney and Lamprecht might appear to be sane.
You could deal with each one in a separate paragraph. Use linking words such as although
and similarly. What counts in choosing one paragraph for the two men or a separate one
for each is the idea of paragraph unity. Each paragraph should deal with only one main
idea. If you decide on a single paragraph for both characters, make sure that your topic
sentence refers to both of them.
2.
Why Barney and Lamprecht are in fact not so sane after all.
Begin with a linking word denoting contrast, such as however or despite this. Here, too,
decide whether to give each of them a separate paragraph or to include both of them in
the topic sentence of a single paragraph.
3.
Why Plaatjes and Stella might appear to be insane.
Follow the guidelines for paragraphs 1 and 2 for the next two paragraphs.
4.
Why Plaatjes and Stella are in fact sane.
5.
Conclusion.
Explain what might be learned from this about how misleading appearances can be,
especially regarding “normality”.
Essay B
To what extent does Plaatjes’ imprisonment on Robben Island serve as a metaphor for
the isolation experienced by each of the other three characters?
In preparing for the essay, analyse the nature of Plaatjes’ imprisonment before going on to
make notes on the different ways in which each of the other three characters is also isolated
(or imprisoned) on a kind of “island”. Remember that you are not asked to discuss or debate
whether or not the other three are isolated or imprisoned. Instead you have to interpret their
circumstances as a form of isolation or imprisonment within the confines of a metaphorical
island. For each character, consider what the “island” is, whether their isolation is enforced or
voluntary, what the character’s feelings are about it and what he or she tries to do about it, or
wants to.
Use the following table for key words and phrases for their “island”. Notes on Barney are
done as an example.
Plaatjes (real, not
metaphorical)
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Stella
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Lamprecht
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Barney
• Trapped within his own dysfunctional personality; feels he is “a drowned
man”; fears “something inside me”.
• Longs for love, but fails (incestuous infatuation with niece; clumsy flirtation
with Stella).
• Bullies and befriends Plaatjes by turns; has no other friends. Blind to
Plaatjes’ feelings.
• Longs futilely for fame as a wrestler (Lamprecht beats him in an arm
wrestle).
• Chooses to work on Robben Island, which makes his aspirations (love and
fame) impossible.
Always do all your thinking and planning before beginning to write the essay itself. The
introduction is not the way to begin thinking about your answer: it is a carefully considered
summary of the full essay. After filling in the table above, write the introductory paragraph in
which you state what the “island” is for each of the four characters. Use the same order in your
introduction as in the table and in the essay itself. Use the numbered spaces below. Begin each
paragraph with a topic sentence that is a fuller statement of what you aid in the introduction.
Follow the topic sentence with an explanation and examples. Note that in an exam essay you
do not number the paragraphs.
1. Introduction
2.
(Plaatjes – the real island)
3.
Stella
4.
Lamprecht
5.
Barney
6.
Conclusion
Characters
1. Plaatjes
Here are five assertions about Plaatjes with spaces for you to quote from the text to
support the assertions. Page references are provided to narrow your search.
1.1 Plaatjes sees himself as a prophet and a saviour. He makes prophecies and has
premonitions, not all of which come about.
a. He sees himself as a prophet and a saviour (pp. 17; 27 in The Lighthouse
Keeper’s Wife):
b.
Prophecies or premonitions that are fulfilled (pp. 16; 17 in The Lighthouse
Keeper’s Wife):
c.
Prophecies that are not fulfilled (pp. 12; 13; 41 in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife):
1.2 Plaatjes longs for freedom, both to escape the conditions and treatment he receives
at the Kraal and to return to the life he knew on the mainland.
a. He longs for freedom (pp. 12; 27 in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife):
b.
He wants to escape the conditions and treatment he receives at the Kraal
(p. 12 in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife):
c.
He longs for his old life on the mainland (pp. 12; 14 in The Lighthouse Keeper’s
Wife):
1.3 Plaatjes is aware of his own “madness” and exercises some control over it (p. 12 in
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife):
1.4 Through his boat-building Plaatjes shows that he is resourceful, resilient and
optimistic in the face of hardship (p. 28 in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife):
1.5 Plaatjes is imaginative and poetic (p. 12; p. 14; p. 28; p. 29 in The Lighthouse Keeper’s
Wife):
2. Stella
For the section on Plaatjes, we gave you some conclusions and asked you to find the evidence
for them. It’s more normal to do it the other way round: you study the text and deduce your
conclusions from what you find there. Here are several extracts from the play which could serve
as evidence for assertions about her character. They are grouped under six sub-headings. In
the spaces provided below each one, say what we learn from them about Stella. Refer to the
context from which the extracts are taken in for a full understanding of their significance.
2.1 Stella and Plaatjes (p. 13 in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife)
Were you a boat builder before? … I believe you’ve been here much longer. Can you remember how
long? (PLAATJES suddenly jumps at her and pushes her away from the boat. She falls. He stands
over her threateningly with the hammer.) … You live in the Kraal with the others? … You’re going
to do it, aren’t you? Escape with your boat? … I won’t tell anyone. It’ll be our secret if you like? …
You ever get lonely out here? (PLAATJES looks up and smiles at her.) I suppose you don’t. You’ve
got the boat to keep you busy.
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
I want to help him.
Help him with what?
His pain. The man’s obviously not mad. He’s suffering.
(pp. 22−23)
STELLA:
BARNEY:
STELLA:
How many boats has he built?
I don’t know … I stopped counting.
It’s cruel. Does he know who destroys it? … It’s sickening.
(p. 24)
STELLA:
PLAATJES:
STELLA:
You can call me Stella if you want.
Stella …
Tell me again about the mainland. (p. 28)
2.2 The dutiful wife
I mostly read when I’m bored, or cook for Adriaan. … (Seagulls chatter overhead. She looks
anxiously toward the lighthouse. She adjusts her dress and puts her shoes on.) I must go. (Takes a
vetkoek from her pocket) It’s getting late. Lamprecht will wonder where I am. He’s like that, always
watching … worrying about me. (pp. 13−14)
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
… (lights his pipe and then coughs again)
You shouldn’t smoke.
Ag what, there are so few pleasure left in the world. They all kill in the
end. Is there brandy? … (STELLA fetches the brandy.)
(holds the brandy over LAMPRECHT’s coffee mug) How much?
Two fingers. (STELLA adds two measures of brandy to his coffee.) (p. 18)
(pained) Your soup … (takes the soup off the stove.) (p. 23)
2.3 Her rebelliousness towards Lamprecht:
STELLA
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
And I’m a grown woman. My breasts are sagging. My thighs are getting
thick … so what must I be careful of? I hardly see anyone. (p. 20)
You’re looking pretty today, Missus Lamprecht. (Circles around her) Not
often we see such beauty on the island. (p. 25)
You’re beautiful, Stella. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid my
eyes on. (p. 44)
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Desperate? Who’s desperate now?
You … and me. (p. 20)
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Why can’t you be like other women and stay at home?
Don’t tell me what to do.
I’m just saying, if you care to listen.
I’m tired of listening to you telling me what to do!
Hold it now! Don’t go blowing your horns on me, miss!
Then stop telling me what I’m allowed to do, damn it! (p. 21)
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
Stop it, Adriaan! He’s innocent!
Come on, let’s go!
No! You go! Go to your damn lighthouse!
What’s this, Stella? What the hell is going on with you? The man’s a
bloody lunatic! Look at him! I told you I don’t want trouble again!
You’re the trouble, Adriaan! You’re the damned trouble! (Pushes
LAMPRECHT aside and leaves) (p. 29)
STELLA:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
…
STELLA:
…
STELLA:
…
STELLA:
STELLA:
Go! Go to your lighthouse! Go save the ships, you coward!
Now listen to me, Stella.
Suka! Hamba!
Unfortunate? (Laughs) The day I fell in love with you was unfortunate!
(Threatens him with a plank) Leave me alone, you bastard! Suka!
Leave me, Lamprecht! Leave me alone! I’m finishing this boat!
It’s not about the boat! It’s about me! About freedom! (p. 42)
… From Mossel Bay to Port Nolloth, it’s all you’ve ever seen. Other men
chasing after your poor defenceless little wife! Poor little lighthouse
keeper’s wife who needs to be careful, who needs to keep her eyes open!
Well, I won’t do that that anymore! I won’t live out your fears for you
anymore! (p. 44)
2.4 Her desire for freedom:
STELLA:
I used to go swimming in the ocean at Mossel Bay every day. I miss it now.
(Motions with her arms) Gave me an immense sense of freedom to be out
there in the ocean swimming and swimming. (p. 13)
STELLA:
It’s not about the boat! It’s about me! About freedom! (p. 42)
STELLA:
Our lady’s calling. Her hair blows fresh in the southeaster. Her sweet feet
dangle in the waters of the docks. Old clock tower is ticking away.
(Laughs as if she is insane. BARNEY goes behind her while
LAMPRECHT approaches her form the front.) You must think, Stella. Be
brave. No more sleepless nights. No more loneliness. No, Stella. It’s
freedom, hey’ta … freedom. (p. 46)
2.5 Her “intellectual” side:
STELLA:
I mostly read when I’m bored. (p. 13)
LAMPRECHT:
Just like old Prospero. You still reading that? You can read me some more
if you like. (p. 18)
LAMPRECHT:
Really? Stella says we all descend from the apes. She read it to me in one
of her books. Some guy called Darwin. Not your average wife, Stella. (p.
31)
2.6 Her letter-writing:
Then she takes a cake tin from the shelf above the stove and returns to the table. She takes out a
stack of letters, a writing pad and an ink pen. She starts to write thoughtfully. (p. 23)
LAMPRECHT:
I’m having a great time here, Stella! I’m dancing a little waltz. I haven’t
lost my steps. Come on, Stella! Come dance with me, man! (p. 30)
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
I love you, Stella.
Say it again.
I love you.
Put some feeling into it, man!
Damn you! Damn you, woman!
See, you can’t do it. You’ve destroyed every bit of feeling you ever had for
me with your stupid fears. (p. 44)
LAMPRECHT:
… we were happy once. Come on, Stella, help me! Help me remember
how we used to go and dance. We were happy then. You loved me. (p. 45)
STELLA:
My body aches for your touch, my love, your kisses in my neck, and your
hands on my breasts. For now we are separated from each other like this
island from the mainland and it will remain so until one day you too find
your boat and return to me. (Cries) They’re your letters, you fool. They
were all written for you! (p. 46)
3. Lamprecht
We gave you some conclusions about Plaatjes and asked you to find the evidence for them.
For Stella we turned it around and asked you to deduce what we learn about her from several
extracts. For Lamprecht’s character we combine the two: you get four basic conclusions and
19 extracts that support or illustrate them.
For copyright reasons we quote only the opening and closing words of the longer extracts
and the page where you’ll find them in your copy of the play. You will need to work with both
books open.
The spaces provided under each extract are for you to write down exactly what we can
deduce from it about one of the four aspects of Lamprecht’s character.
Spaces are provided below the 19th extract for you to write a paragraph about each of the
four aspects.
The four aspects are listed below:
•
•
•
•
Lamprecht is intensely jealous.
He is controlling and over-protective.
He can be both sociable and anti-social.
He longs to reclaim the lost love of their early marriage.
3.1
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
You see my wife?
Wife?
Stella … she said she was going for a walk. (p. 16)
3.2
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
You should come over to the lighthouse for a drink sometime.
You’re inviting me? (LAMPRECHT nods.) That’s really kind of you. (p.
17)
3.3
BARNEY:
See what I told you! to
17)
… he would’ve killed you right here. (p.
3.4
LAMPRECHT:
Just like old Prospero. You still reading that? You can read me some more
if you like. I enjoyed it. (p. 18)
3.5
LAMPRECHT:
Two fingers. to
19)
Much better to observe them from a distance. (p.
3.6
LAMPRECHT:
LAMPRECHT:
3.7
What’s your breasts got to do with it all?
to
I might be eager, but not desperate.
(A long silence) (p. 20)
LAMPRECHT:
LAMPRECHT:
Why can’t you be like other women and stay at home?
to
Don’t swear like that. It’s unwomanly. (p. 21)
3.8
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
I want to help him.
to
Let us keep to ourselves. (pp. 22−23)
3.9
STELLA:
Adriaan? (LAMPRECHT puts his jacket on.) Are you happy?
to
(STELLA cowers. He holds himself back.) (p. 23)
3.10
LAMPRECHT:
You crazy bastard!
to
You danced with my wife, you bastard! (p. 29)
3.11
LAMPRECHT:
(turns and faces PLAATJES …
to
(Follows STELLA) (pp. 29−30)
3.12
LAMPRECHT:
I’m having a great time here, Stella!
to
… danced till we dropped. (p. 30)
3.13
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
(gets up) I better get going then.
to
(Fills BARNEY’s glass again) You can’t leave now. (p. 33)
3.14
LAMPRECHT:
That’s what I want to talk to you about
to
Till it all blows over. (p. 35)
3.15
LAMPRECHT:
LAMPRECHT:
I think. Wait.
to
Don’t know. (p. 36)
3.16
LAMPRECHT:
3.17
Put your arm up
to
and it breaks my heart every time I see her just talk to another man. (p. 37)
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
I’ll listen to you. I swear. I’ll listen.
Why bother now? It’s too late.
It’s never too late. (p. 43)
3.18
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
I love you, Stella.
to
… like Prospero. (p. 44)
3.19
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Wait a moment.
to
… They were all written for you! (p. 46)
Writing about character
1. Lamprecht
You are now in a position to describe the four aspects of Lamprecht’s character, drawing on
what you have written under each of the 19 extracts above. This description consists of your
general conclusions about Lamprecht.
1.1 His jealousy:
1.2 He is over-protective and controlling:
1.3 Is Lamprecht really so anti-social?:
1.4 Reclaiming lost love:
See your notes under extracts 1.4, 12, 17 and 18.)
2. Barney
For each of the following extracts, write down what you learn from them about Barney.
2.1
BARNEY:
Hey, old Plaatjes! It’s getting late! (p. 14) to She needs a bit of love and
care by the looks of it. (p. 15)
2.2
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
You see my wife?
Wife?
Stella … she said she was going for a walk.
Not today, no. (turns to PLAATJES) You see a woman walk around here,
Plaatjes? (p. 16)
2.3
BARNEY:
Stop your gibberish! (p. 17)
to
Old Barney’s going to be famous one day! (p. 18)
2.4
BARNEY:
Morning to you, Missus Lamprecht. (p. 24)
to
(Circles around her) Not often we see such beauty on the island. (p. 25)
2.5
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
You got a girl?
No. (They drink in silence.) I was in love once. With my niece. She
married someone else. (p. 32)
2.6
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
So, can you do it? Keep him locked up?
to
This island has its secrets. (p. 35)
2.7
BARNEY:
(shocked) What the hell, man! What have you done? You cut his tongue out!
(Kneels next to PLAATJES) What am I going to tell the Superintendent? (p.
41)
Barney’s character
Write a short character description of Barney. Begin by saying who he is, what work he does
on the island and what his relationship is with Plaatjes. Go on to discuss his personality and
character, citing evidence from his interactions with the other three characters.
Themes
The themes in a play (or in any work of fiction) are the underlying ideas or questions that the
playwright explores, usually without stating his views on them directly. In The lighthouse
keeper’s wife, for example, it is up to the reader to deduce what the play says about jealousy,
for example, or freedom or sanity.
The quotations below are grouped under six themes. Below each quotation, write down a
general conclusion that can be drawn from it about the theme. The first two are done for you
as examples.
1.
Imprisonment and freedom
1.1
PLAATJES:
God knows. No more up and down empty corridors.
to
Rise of dawn, we are leaving this place of weeping forever! (p. 12)
The longing for freedom is felt most intensely by those who are imprisoned under terrible
conditions.
1.2
STELLA:
I used to go swimming in the ocean at Mossel Bay every day. I miss it now.
(Motions with her arms) Gave me an immense sense of freedom to be out
there in the ocean swimming and swimming. (p. 13)
A sense of freedom arises when one is overcoming a challenge without any assistance or
interference.
1.3
STELLA:
Lamprecht will wonder where I am. He’s like that, always watching …
worrying about me. (p. 14)
1.4
BARNEY:
Hey, old Plaatjes!
to
(slaps PLAATJES against the head) (pp. 14−15)
1.5
LAMPRECHT:
Why is he not kept in the Kraal? (p. 16)
1.6
STELLA:
PLAATJES:
Your boat is built from all the wrecks?
Wrecks to you; freedom to me. Boat to you; hope to me. (p. 27)
1.7
LAMPRECHT:
See 1.5 above.
So, can you do it? Keep him locked up? (p. 35)
1.8
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
It’s not about the boat! It’s about me! About freedom!
Freedom from what?
From you! (p. 42)
1.9
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
2.
But they’ll set him free when this is over. They will if I ask them. I
promise.
He doesn’t need you to set him free! He is free! (p. 43)
Jealousy, fear and isolation
2.1
STELLA:
Lamprecht will wonder where I am. He’s like that, always watching …
worrying about me. (p. 14)
2.2
BARNEY:
He nearly killed a man who just looked at her! (p. 15)
2.3
LAMPRECHT:
I’ve never been afraid to be by myself. (Sips)
to
… observe them from a distance. (p. 19)
2.4
LAMPRECHT:
That bastard touched you! He laid his hands all over you!
to
I see these bastards coming and you leading them on! (p. 23)
2.5
(LAMPRECHT forces his arm on to the table and grabs BARNEY by the neck.) Don’t look at my
wife the way you do. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you! (p. 37)
2.6
BARNEY:
I saw fear … and it slowly drowned him. (p. 39)
3.
Sanity and insanity
PLAATJES:
You must think, Plaatjes. No more slipping into madness. (p. 11)
3.1
LAMPRECHT:
The man’s completely insane if you hadn’t noticed. (p. 21)
3.2
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
He described the mainland as a woman. Her lips red like grapes.
What can you expect? He’s insane. Of course he’ll talk nonsense. (p. 21)
3.3
4.
Human rights; autonomy; dignity
4.1
BARNEY:
Hey, old Plaatjes! (p. 14)
to
(slaps PLAATJES against the head)
4.2
LAMPRECHT:
Dancing? Just dancing with this lunatic? (chases PLAATJES from behind
the boat) You danced with my wife, you bastard! (p. 29)
4.3
BARNEY:
5.
Sometimes I think they’re not human, you know … like they descend from
another species. (p. 31)
Love
5.1
LAMPRECHT:
And then he really lost it when his wife died. (p. 22)
5.2
BARNEY:
I was in love once. With my niece. She married someone else. (p. 32)
5.3
LAMPRECHT:
BARNEY:
(pained) Forgive me … I love her … I love her more than anything and it
breaks my heart every time I see her just talk to another man. What would
you do?
I never had a girl. I guess love is a difficult business. (p. 37)
5.4
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
I love you.
Put some feeling into it, man!
Damn you! Damn you, woman!
See, you can’t do it. You’ve destroyed every bit of feeling you ever had for
me with your stupid fears. And now you want to hide me on this island
from the rest of the world like Prospero. (p. 44)
5.5
LAMPRECHT:
It’s not a sin to love too much, Stella? Is it? (p. 45)
Writing about theme
Never write anything about a work of literature unless you can support it by quoting from the
text. This section on the themes of the play lets you put that into practice: you begin by
formulating general ideas based on quotations from the play; now you write about those
generalisations, always citing the text in support of your views.
Write about the five themes by organising your generalisations into a discussion of
each of them. Deal with your generalisations in the order that makes best sense of the
theme, grouping them into a coherent argument. Include the setting (Robben Island) and
the characters’ actions in addition to what they say to each other.
1.
Imprisonment and freedom
2.
Jealousy, fear and isolation
3.
Sanity and insanity
4.
Human rights, autonomy and dignity
5.
Love
References
Fourie, C. 2015. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife (school edition). Best Books: Cape Town.
First published by Maskew Miller Longman (Pty) Ltd, 2008. This edition is published under
licence from Pearson Marang (Pty) Ltd.
Fourie, C.F. 2008. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife. Cape Town: Pearson Marang.
Answer key to The lighthouse keeper’s wife
ANALYSIS AND QUESTIONS
Foreword
1.
2.
Character e.g. the people in the play plus their distinctive traits and qualities.
Plot e.g. what happens in the play and why it happens.
Setting e.g. the place and time where and when the action takes place.
Stage directions e.g. instructions from the playwright to guide the producer and the
actors.
There are no “right” answers.
Key features
1.
2.
Prose fiction contains all the elements that are found in drama (story, characters, etc.) and
in addition it can include all the actual dialogue that would make up a play.
It differs in that it includes in the text itself all the information that a playwright is forced to
write in stage directions.
Introduction to The lighthouse keeper’s wife
1.
The speaker and Casper are both able to prevent themselves from seeing the movie as
unreal or unbelievable.
2.
Type of character
Major character
Minor character
Round character
Flat character
Dynamic
character
Static character
Protagonist
Antagonist
Stella
Lamprecht
The other three characters
(Plaatjes, Adriaan Lamprecht and
Barney)
3.
4.
5.
Plot
Word: causality
Meaning: Whatever happens does so for a reason (a cause) and in turn it causes other
things to happen as a result.
Conflict
“Each of them in his own way represents an obstacle in Stella’s way … ”
Structure
Structure
Applying this to The lighthouse keeper’s wife
Exposition
The first two acts; we meet the four characters.
Rising
action
From Barney’s destruction of Plaatjes’ boat to rising tensions during
Barney’s visit to the Lamprechts.
Climax
Lamprechts cuts out Plaatjes’ tongue.
Falling
action
Stella echoes the words Plaatjes used at the beginning of the play.
Dénouement Stella is fitted with a strait jacket.
6.
Setting
The play is set on the existing Robben Island, which lies seven kilometres off Table Bay in
the Atlantic Ocean. The lighthouse is a real fixture on the island. The date is around 1900.
7. Stage directions
The narrator provides all information in the first or third person as the need arises. It is
distinguished from dialogue in that it is not in inverted commas.
8. Dialect
Dutch: Mijn baas
Cape coloured slang: Hey’ta
An African language: Molimo (SeSotho)/Ndidladla! (isiXhosa)
9. Theme
Being given some authority turns petty officials into bullies.
OR The desire for freedom is not easily defeated.
10. About the author
Johannesburg; Los Angeles; London; Oxford
About the play
1.
Robben Island
Captives
From
Until
Khoikhoi
1591
?
Xhosa captives during the Frontier Wars
1779
1878
Early 1800s
?
Lepers and the mentally ill
1846
1931
Political prisoners (maximum security prison)
1961
1991
Convicted criminals (medium security prison)
1961
1996
Tuberculosis patients
2.
The lighthouse
a. To make sure that the light was always burning. We are not told whether this was still
a “bonfire”, as in Van Riebeeck’s time, or a gas flame or other kind of lamp. It was
before electrification in 1938.
Pre-reading
a. There is no right answer to this question. Your reasons should be based on what you
know about yourself in hazardous situations.
b. The reasonable answer here is that the desire for freedom differs among both
individuals and cultures. Draw on your own experience to support your answer.
3.
THE PLAY: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife
Stage directions
Act Page Stage directions that identify the scene for each act
I
11
Plaatjes crosses the stage, heading for the rocky cove.
II
18
“A lamp on the table lights the kitchen area.” Lamprecht and Stella are
already present in the kitchen when the curtain opens.
III
24
There is no lamp in the kitchen area. Instead, Plaatjes and Barney are in
position near the boat and the rocky cove.
IV
30
“The light comes up in the kitchen area.” Lamprecht is in the area,
dancing, when the curtain opens.
V
38
Barney crosses the darkened stage, carrying a lamp and dragging Plaatjes
towards the boat in the rocky cove.
VI
41
Stella is busy working on Plaatjes’ boat in the rocky cove.
Post-reading questions and answers
Below are some guidelines for these questions and spaces for your answers. These questions
are answered both in your copy of the play and in the memorandum for this study work guide.
Differences between the two sets of suggested answers tell you that writing about a literary
text is subjective, unlike solving problems in Mathematics, where there is always a single
correct answer. What is important in literary analysis is that the answer should be supported by
the text.
Act I (pp. 11-18)
Question 1 Act I
Quotations
Addressed by?
To?
Where?
God knows. No more up and down
empty corridors. Cold stone jugs.
By Plaatjes and to himself here and now
Mijn baas. Mijn baas.
By Plaatjes to Barney or some other warder
in the mental patients’ quarters
God knows you must think, Plaatjes.
By and to himself while he’s in the mental
patients’ quarters
Wash your hands. Scrub your feet. Check Either by Barney or some other warder to
Plaatjes, giving him instructions
the chains.
Or by Plaatjes to himself in the mental
patients’ quarters
Come, my captain, come and lead us
from this place of desolation!
By Plaatjes to “freedom” (in the wind)
Question 2 Act I
Images
What the images refer to
… her sweet feet
dangle …
Table Bay or the mountain itself rises out of the sea
She is dressed to
the nines.
The mountain is covered in vegetation.
Her hair blows
fresh …
Wisps of cloud are being blown from the mountain.
Shoes shining …
(Perhaps) the surf breaking along the shore is bright in the sun.
Her lips are red …
(Perhaps) this refers to the reddish colour of some of the rocks or
to the grapes that grow on the slopes.
Her eyes are blue
…
(Perhaps) the blue sky above the mountain
… she pulls that
blanket …
The moving blanket of clouds …
… around her
naked shoulders
… cover the rock faces near the top of the mountain
She’ll take us in
her arms
The ‘U’ formed by Table Mountain in the middle with Lion’s Head
and Devil’s Peak on either side.
Question 3 Act I
The quotation: “You know you’re not allowed to talk to strangers.”
Its relevance: Stella is a stranger, so he wants to get rid of her to avoid landing in trouble.
Question 4 Act I
She realises that he is afraid of getting into trouble for talking to her so she wants to reassure
him that he has nothing to fear from her – she has no official status on the island.
Question 5 Act I
It’s a convenient way to inform the audience about her relationship with Lamprecht.
Question 6 Act 1
The earlier questions were impersonal, asking for information much as an official might. The
question about loneliness goes to the heart of his efforts to leave the island. He misses his own
people back on the mainland; he is lonely without them.
Question 7 Act I
The conflict between the characters, and reaches the climax when Lamprecht cuts off his
tongue.
Question 8 Act I
Perhaps to protect Stella from any suspicion Lamprecht might have that she was flirting with
Barney, or perhaps to protect himself from a similar suspicion. Either way, it tells us that he is
aware of how jealous Lamprecht is. It also tells us that he is dishonest and cowardly.
Act II (pp. 18–24)
Question 9 Act II
Stella has only just named Prospero for Lamprecht. Since he goes on to comment about
Prospero before asking Stella if she thought he had a lighthouse, it is obvious that “he” refers to
Prospero. Her question implies that her thoughts are elsewhere and she is paying little attention
to what Lamprecht is saying.
Question 10 Act II
Lines from Scene 2
A/B/C/D/E
LAMPRECHT:
People crowd your thoughts and feelings. Much better to
observe them from a distance. What you say, Stella?
B
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
How was your walk this afternoon?
Fine.
Fine.
Yes.
Fine?
Yes.
(silence)
D
STELLA:
E
D
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Precisely. And I’m a grown woman. My breasts are sagging.
My thighs are getting thick … so what must I be careful of? I
hardly see anyone.
What? You lost me there.
Forget it. No use explaining to you.
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
What’s your breasts got to do with it all?
You always tell me to be careful when there’s no danger!
Well, there’s no bloody reason to be crude about it!
A
E/G
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Desperate? Who’s desperate now?
You … and me.
A
F/G
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Me desperate? What makes you think I’m desperate? I’m not
desperate. … The word desperate doesn’t feature. To hell with
desperate!
You done?
Yes, but I’m not desperate …
All right!
Just telling you. I’m not desperate.
All right then. You’re not desperate!
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Why can’t you be like other women and stay at home?
Don’t tell me what to do.
I’m just saying, if you care to listen.
I’m tired of listening to you telling me what to do!
B
E
A
E
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Hold it now! Don’t go blowing your horns on me, miss!
Then stop telling me what I’m allowed to do, damn it!
Don’t swear like that. It’s unwomanly.
(slams her fist on the table) Damn it! Damn it!
A
E
G
LAMPRECHT:
(watches her in silence and sips his brandy) I hope you didn’t
tell him who you are. I don’t want that lunatic come here and
make a nuisance of himself.
B
LAMPRECHT:
B
E/G
STELLA:
He’s not your concern, Stella. There’s a doctor at the Kraal
who works with these lunatics. You and I are here to man the
lighthouse. Let us keep to ourselves.
They don’t seem to be doing much for him.
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
Adriaan? (LAMPRECHT puts his jacket on.) Are you happy?
Happy? About what?
About us … coming here to this island?
H
STELLA:
LAMPRECHT:
STELLA:
We can’t go back, can we?
That bastard touched you! He laid his hands all over you!
What about Hendricks in Mossel Bay? Did you have to beat
him to death because he brought me flowers? Did he try it with
me? No!
First it’s flowers and then … you’re a married woman! If we
hadn’t left Mossel Bay, he would’ve tried his luck with you!
C
G
C
They always do! I see these bastards coming and you leading
them on! (STELLA cowers. He holds himself back.)
C
F
LAMPRECHT:
LAMPRECHT:
LAMPRECHT:
Lamprecht expects Stella to agree with his opinions, for example about not socialising with
neighbours (“What you say, Stella?”). He is protective and controlling (for example warning her
against going near the lepers or the insane, and demanding “Why can’t you be like other
women and stay at home?”). He reacts defensively to any suspicion of opposition or
independence of opinion (“Now what’s that supposed to mean?”); he is prudish when she refers
to her breasts (“Well, there’s no bloody reason to be crude about it”) and says “damn” and
takes great offence when she describes both of them as “desperate”. He is jealous and
distrustful (“ … he would have tried his luck with you. They always do! I see these bastards
coming and you leading them on.”)
Stella is uninterested in his views (“Stella nods”; and she appears not to be paying attention
when he is speaking about Prospero.) She defies his instructions to be careful about who she
sees on the island and shows a lack of respect for him (“Forget it. No use explaining to you.”)
Under provocation she becomes rebellious (“Don’t tell me what to do”) and angry “(slams her
fist on the table)”; “Damn it! Damn it!”).
Act III (pp. 24–30)
Question 11 Act III
Barney:
Stella:
Plaatjes:
He is indifferent to Plaatjes’ feelings; believes Plaatjes has nothing better
to do than build his boat.
She sympathises with Plaatjes and feels sorry for him.
He looks devastated but he isn’t defeated; he will begin again.
Question 12 Act III:
No. He means she should leave the island altogether for her own good.
Question 13 Act III
Sane Insane
I see many come here bright with hopes and dreams. Leave. Leave
before it’s too late.
I got a boat to build. Places to go. My people are waiting.
Some they drown in the sea; others they drown in love.
That one, she is my Flora. She got herself lost in the fog one night long
time ago. She was carrying spices from the east. Smell this.
I must take the message from the spirits of the great ones.
Everywhere. Ngentla! Look and you see. (Fingers the air) Makana …
Gcaleka … Sandile. Spirits of the great chiefs who want to go back to
their wives and their children. Plaatjes must take the message to the
people … they must not lose hope. The great Molimo has spoken.
Kukazakulu … the spirits will return. The Lord’s people will be set free.
Hey’ta freedom! (Dances in a circle) Hey’ta freedom! Hey’ta freedom!
Seven seals. Seven angels. Seven trumpets. Four riders will come.
White horse and his rider take the land from the people. Red horse
steals the peace from the people. Black horse kills the cattle of the
people. Pale horse stops the breaking of the waves. Persecution. Sun
burns black. Moon rises in the blood of the people. Seven seals. Seven
angels. Seven trumpets.
(takes a worn Bible from his pocket, tears a page from it and chews it;
offers her a page) Eat, lady. Eat and walk with the spirits of the great
ones. Eat the message of Molimo and let the words of the great chiefs
become flesh.
Madness, she’s like the sea. She drowns you if you let her.
Hey’ta … she’s a beauty that one. She sleeps with one eye open. Her
mouth is filled with stars. Her face is bright like the early morning
spring. Her breath smells like sweet potatoes. When she smiles, the sun
goes down over her head.
(slowly dances around her) Ukutya kweendlebe. Her voice is food to
my ears. My head lies in her breast like a bird in its nest. She washes my
hands and my feet with her tides. Her belly is full of seasons, year after
year. At night all the men come out and dance with her. The children
play in her streets. (Takes STELLA’s hand and they dance)
LAMPRECHT:
PLAATJES:
He’s not insane:
(turns and faces PLAATJES who now stands ready with the
hammer in his hand. Charges PLAATJES again, who in turn
swiftly moves sideways causing LAMPRECHT to charge
into the hull of the boat. PLAATJES grabs him from behind
in a similar wrestling grip to BARNEY’s and forces
LAMPRECHT to the ground. He releases LAMPRECHT
and moves away. LAMPRECHT gasps for breath.) So,
you’re not so crazy after all, are you?
Izulu elibi … hamba! Voetsek! Go!
•
•
•
•
His advice is based on his observations and makes sense; he is also able to see the
matter from her point of view.
He is able to point out a shipwreck and to name the ship.
He dodges Lamprecht and after subduing him lets him go. This persuades Lamprecht that
he is not mad after all.
His knowledge of the book of Revelations is accurate.
He is insane:
•
He persists in rebuilding the boat despite knowing that Barney will simply break it up each
time.
•
He sees spirits.
•
He believes what is in the book of Revelations to be literal.
Act IV (pp. 30–38)
Question 14 Act IV
Stella dances with Plaatjes, but when Lamprechts calls to her to join him in dancing she does
not arrive and he has to dance with a broomstick instead. The implication is that their
relationship has lost the joy and intimacy that it had earlier on. When Lamprecht recalls the way
they used to dance in Mossel Bay early in their marriage, Stella puts a large shell to her ear.
This distances her from Lamprecht’s nostalgia and again aligns her instead with Plaatjes, who
gave her the shell.
Question 15 Act IV
Barney brings wine for both of them and he brings flowers for Stella alone. He offers her wine,
makes several attempts to include her in the conversation, and when she leaves the room he
follows her to the door.
Question 16 Act IV
•
He views the inmates as sub-human.
•
He is unaware that it is incestuous to have a relationship with your niece.
•
He is willing to “make Plaatjes disappear” – i.e. to murder him.
•
He aspires to be a wrestler like his hero, Tromp van Diggelen.
Question 17 Act IV
•
He is distrustful of other men near his wife.
•
He doesn’t respect Stella’s privacy; he steals the letter she has been writing and gives it to
•
Barney to read to him.
He longs for signs of affection from Stella.
Question 18 Act IV
•
She is cold and unfriendly towards her husband and her visitor, not even thanking Barney
for the flowers. She answers Barney’s direct questions but does not otherwise participate
in the conversation; instead she cups the shell to her ear and leaves early to go to bed.
Act V (pp. 38–41)
Question 19 Act V
Extract
His interaction with Barney on p. 18 before Lamprecht’s appearance.
Consider the stage directions too.
BARNEY:
PLAATJES:
… What was it like to hold his wife in your arms?
Like holding a bird in its nest.
BARNEY:
… I loved her more than … how would you say it,
Plaatjes?
More than the sun loves the early dawn.
More than the sun loves the early dawn.
More than the moon loves the evening star.
The moon loves the evening star. (Cries)
What was her name? / … What happened to her?
PLAATJES:
BARNEY:
PLAATJES:
BARNEY:
PLAATJES:
BARNEY:
PLAATJES:
BARNEY:
PLAATJES:
… Tell him what it was like to hold his wife in your
arms, Plaatjes.
Like holding a bird in its nest.
You hear that … like a bird in its nest! More … tell him
more, Plaatjes!
Looky her! She is dressed to the nines. Her hair blows
fresh in the southeaster. Shoes shining like a late
afternoon. Her lips are red like grapes. Her eyes are
blue as the morning skies. Watch how she pulls that
blanket from the mountain around her naked shoulders.
All night she waits there. She knows we’re coming. She
knows her captain is coming home. Tomorrow we’ll
Insane? Sane?
walk her gentle shores and she’ll welcome us as an old
lover does. A lover one has not smelled for a long time.
She’ll take us in her arms and embrace us with
tenderness. Like it was in the beginning. Oh Lordy, I can
see it happening. Clearly before my empty eyes …
•
•
Sane: He replies sensibly and even poetically to Barney’s questions, and asks sensible
questions in return.
Insane: The memories that frighten him; the list of unrelated words he babbles.
Question 20 Act V
•
Plaatjes did not have any designs on Stella; she was the initiator of their (innocuous)
relationship, not the other way round.
•
Plaatjes was describing Cape Town in his speech starting on p 41; Lamprecht was
mistaken in thinking he was talking about Stella.
Act VI (pp. 41–46)
Question 21 Act VI
•
She too is attempting to knock together a futile boat in which to escape from the island.
•
She uses the same rude words in trying to chase Lamprecht away – suka; hamba.
•
After a sane conversation with Lamprecht she talks to herself in the same way that
Plaatjes used to do and speaks about freedom and about the cloud on Table Mountain, just
as he did.
Question 22 Act VI
Barneys lack of sympathy and understanding for Plaatjes is abnormal. This is reinforced by his
nonchalant willingness to do away with Plaatjes altogether. (Is his obsession with body-building
and wrestling not abnormal too?)
Lamprecht’s jealousy regarding Stella is groundless and extreme, and it leads him to cut out
Plaatjes’ tongue, which is the act of a lunatic.
Question 23 Act VI
No. She lives in the same house as Lamprecht, so it was unnecessary to write letters to him.
She could have told him of her love if that’s what she actually felt. But she treats him with no
love at all, and in fact is by turns angry, sneering and rude.
OR
Yes. She was writing to the man as he was when she fell in love with him. She longs to have
him be like that again.
Characters
1. Plaatjes
1.1
a. BARNEY:
The boat keeps old Plaatjes occupied. Otherwise he’d be running around the Kraal
again telling everyone he’s a prophet. … Told the magistrate he’s the saviour … come
to save his people ... (p. 17)
STELLA:
Why do you want to go back to the mainland, Plaatjes? (p. 27)
PLAATJES:
I must take the message from the spirits of the great ones. (p. 27)
STELLA:
But they’re all dead. They can’t possibly return. (p. 28)
PLAATJES:
They will … that is the message I must take to my people. (p. 28)
b.
•
Izulu elibi! Plaatjes sees it coming! … Bad tides. (pp. 15-16)
•
(Breaks loose from Barney’s grip) Izulu elibi! I smell it! Bad tides are coming! (p.
17)
•
Go away, woman! Suka! I see many come here bright with hopes and dreams.
Leave. Leave before it’s too late. (p. 25)
c.
•
Let it be known, my brothers. Rise of dawn, we are leaving this place of weeping
forever! (p. 12)
•
Tomorrow we’ll walk her gentle shores and she’ll welcome us as an old lover
does. (p. 12)
•
Plaatjes is coming. Plaatjes is coming, my brothers! (p. 13)
•
All night she waits there. She knows we’re coming. She knows her captain is
coming home. (p. 41)
1.2
a. PLAATJES
Freedom! Hey’ta, freedom! She calls us in the wind! She sings to us! (p. 12)
PLAATJES
Hey’ta freedom! (Dances in a circle) Hey’ta freedom! Hey’ta freedom! (p. 27)
STELLA:
Where are these spirits? (p. 27)
PLAATJES:
(Points at the seagulls overhead) Ingaba-ngaba. (p. 27)
STELLA:
Ngaba? (p. 27)
PLAATJES:
We sing the same song of freedom! (Cries like a seagull) (p. 27)
b. No more up and down empty corridors. Cold stone jugs. Mijn baas. Mijn baas. No
more shiny floors. Stench. Death. Decay. … Cries. Whispers. Fears. … Be brave. No
more sleepless nights. Wash your hands. Scrub your feet. Check the chains. Scratch.
Scratch. Watch the rats. Lice. Lice everywhere. … No more mijn baas! (p. 12)
c. Plaatjes will tell you of that far shore calling in the wind. Oh, how her sweet feet
dangle in the waters of the docks. Old clock tower is ticking away. (Looks at the
horizon offshore) Looky her! She is dressed to the nines. Her hair blows fresh in the
southeaster. Shoes shining like a late afternoon. Molimo! Her lips are red like grapes.
Her eyes are blue as the morning skies! (Paces toward the edge of the cove) Watch
how she pulls that blanket from the mountain around her naked shoulders. (p. 12)
Our lady is calling! The bands are playing! Sweet maidens of Papendorp are lighting up
their lamps! The streets of Kanaladorp are filled with cheers and laughter! They’re dancing
on the Parade! (p. 14)
1.3 PLAATJES:
You must think, Plaatjes. No more slipping into madness ... (p. 12)
STELLA:
I don’t think you’re really mad. (p. 28)
PLAATJES:
Madness, she’s like the sea. She drowns you if you let her. (p. 28)
1.4 STELLA:
You’re quite a craftsman. Were you a boat builder before? (p. 13)
PLAATJES:
Do not despair! Tomorrow is but a few pieces of wood between this place and freedom
away! (Gathers the rest of the planks into a heap) (p. 25)
STELLA:
You should hide the boat. They’ll destroy it again. (p. 28)
PLAATJES:
They can’t kill my hope. (p. 28)
1.5 Plaatjes will tell you of that far shore calling in the wind. Oh, how her sweet feet dangle in
the waters of the docks. Old clock tower is ticking away. (Looks at the horizon offshore)
Looky her! She is dressed to the nines. Her hair blows fresh in the southeaster. Shoes
shining like a late afternoon. Molimo! Her lips are red like grapes. Her eyes are blue as the
morning skies! (Paces toward the edge of the cove) Watch how she pulls that blanket from
the mountain around her naked shoulders … (p. 12)
•
Similar descriptions of the mainland on p. 14.
•
STELLA:
Tell me again about the mainland. (p. 28)
PLAATJES:
Hey’ta … she’s a beauty that one. She sleeps with one eye open. Her mouth is filled
with stars. Her face is bright like the early morning spring. Her breath smells like
sweet potatoes. When she smiles, the sun goes down over her head.
(LAMPRECHT appears. He stops and watches them.) (p. 28)
STELLA: More! (p. 28)
•
PLAATJES:
(slowly dances around her) Ukutya kweendlebe. Her voice is food to my ears My
head lies in her breast like a bird in its nest. She washes my hands and my feet with
her tides. Her belly is full of seasons, year after year. At night all the men come out
and dance with her. The children play in her streets.
(Takes STELLA’s hand and they dance) They sing her praises. They dance to her
rhythms. When she laughs, her breasts swell with pleasure. When she cries, the trees
lose their leaves in her honour … (pp. 28; 29)
2. Stella
2.1 Stella and Plaatjes (p. 13)
Stella persists with her friendly questioning even although Plaatjes is rude and threatening and
tries to chase her away. She does not believe that he really means it, and she also does not
believe that he is actually mad. We see that she is patient, persistent and perceptive.
Here we have confirmation that Stella is perceptive about Plaatjes. She also has the courage
to defy Lamprecht when he tries to forbid her to see Plaatjes.
Just as Stella defended Plaatjes against Lamprecht, here she does the same against Barney.
Unlike him, she is able to see Plaatjes’ point of view and to empathise with him.
Stella appreciates Plaatjes’ poetic gift.
2.2 The dutiful wife
These signs that Stella tries to be a caring wife, concerned about Lamprecht’s health and dutiful
in providing food and drink, overlap with her growing rebellion against him.
2.3 Her rebelliousness towards Lamprecht
Although Stella tries to downplay her beauty by saying that she is losing it, we can assume that
she says so in order to reassure Lamprecht that he no longer has to fear the attentions of other
men. Both Barney and Lamprecht think that Stella is beautiful, however, and so we can assume
that she still is, and that Lamprecht still has grounds for his fears.
Stella probably means that Lamprecht’s jealousy makes him desperate in his efforts to
prevent her from interacting with other men. These attempts to control her are in turn what
make her feel desperate. During the course of the play Stella abandons all efforts to be a
dutiful wife. She becomes progressively more rebellious as the play develops. In the first
extract (p. 21) she simply says he must not tell her what to do; in the second (p. 29) she curses
him and his lighthouse; in the third (p. 42) she calls him a coward and a bastard and echoes
Plaatjes in using “suka!” and “hamba!” The key to her rebellion lies in this: “It’s about me! About
freedom!” In the final extract (p. 44) she tells Lamprecht exactly what she is rebelling against –
his controlling behaviour.
2.4 Her desire for freedom
The first extract (p. 13) implies that Stella’s desire for freedom is threatened by Lamprecht’s
controlling behaviour, but not caused by it. The pleasure she got from swimming “out there in
the ocean” shows that the desire for freedom is part of her nature.
2.5 Her “intellectual” side
Stella’s reading includes Shakespeare and books on evolution whereas Lamprecht is illiterate.
Similarly, her views about personal freedom are enlightened compared to Lamprecht’s primitive
impulses of jealousy and his ruthlessness in acting on them. He almost killed a man in Mossel
Bay (“What about Hendricks in Mossel Bay? Did you have to beat him to death … ?”) and in the
play he cuts out Plaatjes’ tongue.
2.6 Her letter-writing
In the play Stella is indifferent to the efforts Lamprecht makes to rekindle the feelings she had
when they first knew each other. It is therefore unlikely that she will ever believe that he is
capable of “finding his boat” and returning to her. Her letters can only be understood as her
hopeless longing for Lamprecht as he was when they first became lovers.
3. Lamprecht
3.1 Both of the first two aspects lie behind this exchange. Lamprecht is probably worried about
Stella’s safety (over-protective) and would like her to come home (controlling). Both are
prompted by his intense jealousy.
3.2 On the face of it Lamprecht seems to be acting against the preference for solitude he
claims. His motive behind the invitation is to talk to Barney about Plaatjes, which he does
as soon as Stella leaves the room in Act IV.
3.3 Lamprecht’s jealousy is discussed on the island – evidence of its intensity and how
dangerous Lamprecht is when aroused.
3.4 It’s clear from this that Lamprecht and Stella are not always in conflict and that Lamprecht
welcomes the companionship that they have shared.
3.5 It is not clear whether Lamprecht actually declined the Superintendent’s invitation. He
prefers not to socialise. This might be linked to his jealousy: if they both keep away from
other people she will be unable to be unfaithful.
3.6 One of the ways Lamprecht tries to control Stella is in what she says and what she thinks.
He objects to her mentioning her breasts, which suggests that he is prudish, and he
overreacts to her saying that they are both desperate.
3.7 Here Lamprecht’s desire to control Stella applies both to what she does (she goes out
instead of staying at home) and how she speaks.
3.8 Here Lamprecht repeats his wish that they should not associate with other people on the
island. In this he is showing both his anti-social side and his wish to control Stella.
3.9 It is clear that Lamprecht’s jealousy has made him violent in the past. This should prepare
us both for the way he grabs Barney by the throat and for his cutting out of Plaatjes’
tongue. Did Stella lead the men on? If so, then Lamprecht has grounds to feel insecure –
and jealous. On the other hand, an intensely jealous person would misinterpret innocent
behaviour as being provocative.
3.10 Here Lamprecht’s jealousy turns violent. We see here that his attempts to control Stella
have failed. He told her not to go to where Plaatjes was building his boat, but she
disobeyed him, and she now refuses to be dragged by the arm.
3.11 Both in his attempt to catch hold of Plaatjes and in his threat when he leaves, Lamprecht
reveals the violent side of his jealousy.
3.12 By reminding Stella of happier times earlier in their marriage, Lamprecht is hoping to
reclaim their lost love. It is also clear that he used to enjoy socialising.
3.13 Either Lamprecht craves company despite claiming that he prefers not to see other
people, or else he is delaying Barney because he hasn’t yet managed to talk to him
privately about keeping Plaatjes locked up.
3.14 Lamprecht believes that the only way to prevent Stella from seeing Plaatjes is by having
him locked up. He turns down Barney’s offer to make Plaatjes “disappear”, so there is a
limit to what he will do out of jealousy.
3.15
3.16
3.17
3.18
3.19
Jealousy makes Lamprecht distrustful and sneaky.
By apologising to Barney, Lamprecht shows that he is aware that his jealous rages are
inappropriate.
Lamprecht pleads here to recapture their lost love.
Stella’s point is that Lamprecht’s jealous fears make it impossible for him to get back his
original feelings of love for her.
Because of his jealousy Lamprecht assumes that Stella has been writing to a man she
knew in Port Nolloth. Judging from their interaction during the play it seems unlikely that
Lamprecht will ever “return to” Stella.
Writing about character
1. Lamprecht
1.1 His jealousy
Lamprecht’s jealousy dates back to when he and Stella lived in Port Nolloth. He believes she
“led men on” then, and in the play he considers that by dancing with Plaatjes she is leading him
on.
However, Barney makes overtures, commenting on her beauty and bringing her flowers when
he comes to supper, and Stella gives no encouragement. Yet Lamprecht grabs Barney round
the throat and threatens to kill him. His violence in Port Nolloth might have been similarly
unprovoked.
Plaatjes certainly has no romantic designs on Stella, yet Lamprecht attacks him twice, the
first time unsuccessfully when Plaatjes dodges away before subduing Lamprecht in a wrestling
hold, and the second “successfully” when he cuts out his tongue.
Lamprecht knows that his violence is unacceptable. He apologises to Barney for his attack
and restrains him from making Plaatjes “disappear”.
1.2 He is overprotective and controlling
Lamprecht’s jealousy makes him overprotective of Stella and determined to control her
movements.
He tries to persuade her not to walk around the island and when she does he follows her,
spying on her and sneaking up on her when he thinks he has caught her doing something wrong
– as when she was dancing with Plaatjes. He does this openly, asking Barney if he has seen
her. His jealousy is a matter of common knowledge on the island.
He tries to control what she says. He criticises her for mentioning her breasts and he scolds
her for saying “damn”.
He also tries to control her ideas, for example about whether Plaatjes needs her help and her
use of “desperate” to describe him.
Lamprecht’s jealousy makes him overprotective and controlling and this in turn makes him
anti-social.
1.3 Is Lamprecht really so anti-social?
There seem to be two sides to Lamprecht’s social urges. On the one hand he harks back to
dances at Port Nolloth but on the other he tries to persuade Stella that they are better off not
socialising with other people on the island, and he tries to keep her at home.
His invitation to Barney suggests that he simply wants his company, and he later prevails on
Barney to stay for yet another brandy. His motives are suspect, however. It seems that he
wants time alone with Barney so as to persuade him to keep Plaatjes confined to his prison
during the day.
1.4 Reclaiming lost love
When Lamprecht and Stella are not disagreeing about what she does away from the
lighthouse, they seem to get on amicably. Stella reads Shakespeare to him and he asks for
more; she prepares his meals and pours his brandy. He wants more than this too, reminding
her how they used to dance and asking her to dance with him. He has to be satisfied with a
broom as a partner, however, and this symbolises their relationship. When he promises to listen
to her she tells him it’s too late, and when he manages to say that he loves her, she tells him
that it sounds hollow – the result of his fears.
2. Barney
2.1 Although Barney is rude to Plaatjes and bossy, he is concerned about him being too late
for his supper and refers to himself as Plaatjes’ “only friend”. This is supported by the
Superintendent’s opposition to the freedom Barney allows Plaatjes. He tolerates Plaatjes’
disobedience for a while, but eventually forces him into his restraint jacket. Although he
aspires to being a professional wrestler, he waits until Plaatjes is wearing the restraint
jacket before he grabs him in a wrestling grip.
It is also inconsistent of him to warn Plaatjes to stay well away from Stella because of
Lamprecht’s reputation for violent jealousy but at the same time to harbour thoughts of
providing the “bit of love and care” he thinks she needs (the playwright implies this with the
three dots …).
2.2 Barney’s denial is a lie that tells us that he is dishonest and possibly that he wishes to
protect Plaatjes from Lamprecht’s jealous anger.
2.3 Here too we see Barney’s ambivalence towards Plaatjes. On the one hand he forces him
to be servile (Yes, mijn baas!) but on the other he has saved him “some nice chicken
bones from last night’s supper”.
2.4 This confirms our suspicion that despite the threat of Lamprecht’s jealousy, Barney has the
illusion that Stella might welcome his flirtation.
Barney is just as blind to Plaatjes’ distress at the destruction of his boat as he is to Stella’s
aversion to him.
2.5 A love affair or marriage between cousins is frowned on in the Western world, where it is
associated with the lower working class – for example with hillbillies and rednecks in the
USA and with “poor whites” in South Africa. By admitting freely that he was in love with his
niece, Barney places himself socially. However, the family relationship between an uncle
and niece is that of an adult and a child, which puts Barney’s love far more inappropriate.
2.6 Barney’s offer to murder Plaatjes is probably an empty boast to impress Lamprecht, very
much like his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. This is confirmed by the horror
he expresses when Lamprecht cuts out Plaatjes’ tongue (see 2.7 below).
2.7 Barney’s first thought is not for poor Plaatjes, but for himself: he will be in trouble with the
Superintendent.
3. Writing about character: Barney
Barney is an orderly in the Kraal, the mental hospital run by his superior, the Superintendent. He
has arranged for Plaatjes to be free every day to build a boat out of driftwood planks. He is
responsible for putting Plaatjes in a strait jacket every evening and escorting him back to the
Kraal. He also destroys Plaatjes’ boats surreptitiously when they near completion.
His treatment of Plaatjes is inconsistent. On the one hand he claims to be Plaatjes’ only
friend, he saves chicken bones for him and he shares personal things with him such as his
ambition to become a professional wrestler and how attractive he finds Stella. On the other
hand, however, he seems to find pleasure in insulting Plaatjes and bullying him and he is
unaware of how Plaatjes feels when his boat is destroyed. He also tells Lamprecht that he
could make Plaatjes “disappear”, and when Lamprecht cuts out Plaatjes’ tongue, Barney’s only
thought is for his own welfare: what will he tell the Superintendent.
There are similar contradictions in his attitude to Stella and in his aspiration to become a
professional wrestler. He is well aware of Lamprecht’s jealousy and warns Plaatjes to keep
away from her, but he nevertheless flirts with her himself, telling her she is pretty and getting
close enough to her to breathe into her neck. He boasts about putting on weight and increasing
his strength by following Tromp van Diggelen’s programmes and emigrating to the USA to
become a professional wrestler, but he gets Plaatjes in a wrestling grip only once he is tied up
in a strait jacket, and Lamprecht beats him in an arm wrestle and overpowers him.
THEMES
1.
Imprisonment and freedom
1.1 The longing for freedom is felt most intensely by those who are imprisoned under
terrible conditions.
1.2 A sense of freedom arises when one is overcoming a challenge without any assistance
or interference.
1.3 Being subject to someone’s attempts to control one is a kind of imprisonment.
1.4 A prisoner is powerless against bullying and humiliation by a warder, and this in turn
brings out the worst in the warder.
1.5 A jealous man wants all possible rivals for his wife’s attention to disappear.
1.6 A belief in freedom can survive on very little./Only through self-delusion can a prisoner
keep alive a vision of freedom.
1.7 See 1.5 above.
1.8 A relationship can be just as restrictive of one’s freedom as an island or a prison.
1.9 Freedom is in the mind, not in one’s circumstances. One’s imagination and dreams can
set one free.
2.
Jealousy, fear and isolation
2.1 Jealousy and controlling behaviour arise from the fear of losing someone.
2.2 Jealousy is obvious to outsiders; it can’t be hidden.
2.3 A jealous person seeks security in isolation.
2.4 There is usually a reason for someone to be distrustful and jealous.
2.5 Jealousy can cause someone to lose all self-control and become violent, often without
much reason to.
2.6 Fear is always destructive, even when it has no obvious cause.
3.
Sanity and insanity
3.1 It is possible to resist the onset of insanity – to control it.
3.2 Opinions about someone else’s insanity are subjective, especially if the sanity of the
one judging is itself suspect.
3.3 What seems like poetry to one person might seem like nonsense to someone else.
Opinions about poetry are just as subjective as those about madness.
4.
Human rights; autonomy; dignity
4.1 See 1.4 above. (A prisoner is powerless against bullying and humiliation by a warder,
and this in turn brings out the worst in the warder.) The relationship of warder-prisoner
lends itself to abuses of human rights.
4.2 Lamprecht believes that he has the right to control what Stella does and to treat “of
fenders” without respect.
4.3 Seeing people as “other” makes it easier to treat them with no respect for their dignity
or human rights.
5.
Love
5.1 Plaatjes’ love for his wife was genuine.
5.2 Barney’s “love” for his niece was one-sided and therefore worth little.
5.3 Love and possessiveness are not the same thing.
5.4 Fear (jealousy) destroys the feeling of love in both the jealous person and the loved
one.
5.5 Too much of anything is by definition negative; an excess of any kind is unhealthy. In
the case of love the excess takes the form of jealousy and the wish to control the
loved one.
Writing about themes
1. Imprisonment and freedom
The play shows that a relationship can be just as much a prison as a building or an island.
Stella is just as much a prisoner of Lamprecht’s jealousy as Plaatjes is of his confinement in the
Kraal on Robben Island. When Lamprecht tries to prevent Stella from building a boat near the
end of the play, she shouts that “It’s not about the boat! It’s about me! About freedom!” When
he asks her “Freedom from what?” she shouts, “From you!”
The boat-building links her to Plaatjes, who opens the play with the vow that “Rise of dawn,
we are leaving this place of weeping forever.” He is firstly a prisoner on the island, but he too is
in a relationship that confines him. Barney allows him just enough freedom to spend the day
building a boat in which he hopes to escape, but every night he puts him in a restraint jacket
and escorts him back to the Kraal.
Both relationships are damaging to the jailer as well as to the prisoner. Barney seems to take
pleasure in bullying and humiliating Plaatjes, which undermines his own humanity. Similarly,
Lamprecht loses not only Stella’s good will, but in her view he has “destroyed every bit of
feeling you ever had for me with your stupid fears”.
Imprisonment is contrasted with freedom. The longing for freedom is felt most intensely by
those who are imprisoned under terrible conditions, such as those described by Plaatjes in the
opening scene of the play. He finds freedom in his imagination by picturing the beauty of the
mainland and holding fast to his hopes of escaping. “Wrecks to you; freedom to me,” he tells
Stella. “Boat to you; hope to me.” Stella understands this. When Plaatjes is confined to the
Kraal near the end of the play and Lamprecht promises to have him released, Stella tells him
that “He doesn’t need you to set him free! He is free!”
Stella knew what freedom felt like when she was swimming at Mossel Bay, saying it “gave
me an immense sense of freedom to be out there in the ocean swimming and swimming”. The
absence of boundaries in the ocean contrasts with her confinement in a controlling relationship
on an island surrounded by an icy, shark-infested sea.
2. Jealousy, fear and isolation
Lamprecht’s jealousy has a negative effect on all four characters.
Although Lamprecht doesn’t use the word fear, for example when he tells Barney that “I love
her more than anything and it breaks my heart every time I see her just talk to another man”, it
is the fear of losing her that fuels his jealousy (breaks his heart). His solution is to isolate Stella,
first by moving to Robben Island and then, once there, by preventing her from interacting with
anyone on the island: “Lamprecht will wonder where I am. He’s like that, always watching …
worrying about me”.
He has failed to isolate Stella in the past and he fails again on Robben Island. When this
happens he becomes violent. He was said to have nearly killed a man in Mossel Bay, and in this
play he chases Plaatjes round a boat, puts a neck lock on Barney and in the climax of the play
cuts Plaatjes’ tongue out, in each case in a jealous rage.
Perhaps Stella is partly to blame for Lamprecht’s insecurity. He accuses her of “leading them
on” in Mossel Bay. She resists Plaatjes’ attempts to chase her away and in fact the two
become quite close, even dancing together. She also wanders elsewhere on the island, but not
in search of opportunities to be unfaithful: she rejects Barney’s clumsy flirtations.
Lamprecht’s jealousy has the opposite effect to what he intends. Instead of binding her more
closely to him, it drives her away in search of freedom: “I’m leaving as soon as I get this boat
finished,” she tells him, and when he asks where she will go she says, “As far away from you
as possible.”
Plaatjes is a victim both of Stella’s loneliness and of Lamprecht’s jealousy. He tries in two
different scenes to get Stella to leave, in the first because he’s afraid of getting into trouble for
speaking to a stranger and in the second because he knows it’s for Stella’s own good that she
should leave him alone. Stella’s determination to befriend him prevails, however, and Plaatjes
pays for it with the loss of his tongue.
Barney is aware of Lamprecht’s jealousy and warns Plaatjes about it. Despite this, he,
himself, flirts with her at Plaatjes’ boat and brings her flowers when he visits the Lamprechts.
Although Stella pays him no special attention in her home, when she leaves Lamprecht attacks
Barney, tells “Don’t look at my wife the way you do,” and threatens to kill him.
Barney is implicated when Lamprecht cuts out Plaatjes’ tongue: he brought Plaatjes to the
meeting place that night.
3.
Sanity and insanity
Robben Island was a prison island where the so-called insane (prostitutes, thieves, debtors and
the homeless) were supervised by the apparently sane. This play questions the sanity of both
groups.
Plaatjes was sane when he was sent to Robben Island for stealing vegetables, although he
did see himself as a prophet, but when the play opens he is struggling to control his state of
mind: “You must think, Plaatjes,” he tells himself. “No more slipping into madness.” Barney
believes that “Since his wife died last year he’s really gone crazy,” but it may well be the
inhumane treatment he receives from Barney that threatens his sanity.
Similarly, Stella is perfectly sane when the play opens, but she was angered by the way
Lamprecht tries to imprison her out of jealous fear and distressed when he cuts out Plaatjes’
tongue and has him locked up away from his boat. She takes on Plaatjes’ persona in the final
scene and is put in a strait jacket as a result, but she is of sound mind when she ends the play
with the words, “They’re your letters, you fool. They were all written for you!”
The implication is that Barney’s bullying is abnormal, and it is this that threatens Plaatjes’
sanity. Similarly, it is Lamprecht’s jealousy that is abnormal and that threatens Stella’s sanity.
Opinions about sanity are subjective. Stella thinks that Plaatjes is sane and that his utterings
are poetic, but Lamprecht declares that “The man’s completely insane if you hadn’t noticed,”
and describes his poetry as “nonsense”.
4. Human rights; autonomy; dignity
Barney says of the inmates of the Kraal that he sometimes thinks that “they’re not human, you
know … like they descend from another species”. Seeing them like this makes it easier for him
to treat them with no respect for their dignity or human rights.
Just as Barney imprisons Plaatjes in the Kraal, so Lamprecht tries to imprison Stella by
confining her to Robben Island and to the lighthouse. He gives himself the right to deprive her of
any autonomy, and this shows a lack of respect for her dignity and human rights.
5. Love
A final preoccupation in the play is about the nature of love. Plaatjes’ love for his wife was so
real that, according to Barney, he “really lost it when his wife died”. His own “love” for his niece
was one-sided (“she married someone else”) and doomed anyway since it was considered
incestuous.
Lamprecht tells Barney that he loves Stella “more than anything”, but it is clear that
possessiveness is not the same as love, and when Stella tells him to “put some feeling” into his
declaration of love, he can only respond with “Damn you! Damn you woman!” His fears have
destroyed the love he once had for her, and it’s obvious that they have destroyed her love for
him too. His confusion about love is clear when he says, “It’s not a sin to love too much, Stella,
is it?” Too much of anything is by definition negative and therefore unhealthy. His excess of love
takes the form of jealousy and the wish to control Stella.
About the Book
How well do you know your prescribed play? Do you understand the contents and structure of
your play? Are you ready to write your exams? This study work guide has been compiled to
help learners grasp each act, theme and character in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife, the
prescribed play for Grade 10 Home Language. This study work guide has been compiled to the
requirements of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and all important
aspects relating to the play have been covered – in accessible language.
Remember! This guide cannot be used on its own as it refers to the prescribed text throughout.
What makes our study work guides different?
This study work guide forms part of a series. As the name suggests, this is not only a guide in
which each poem is discussed, but also a workbook. Learners can make these notes in a
separate book based on the questions in the study work guide. This provides revision for
exams and tests and keeps valuable notes from going astray.
The contents of this study work guide
• An introduction to the play.
• An explanation of key features.
• An analysis and contextual questions about the plot, characters and themes.
• Page-by-page summaries.
• Essay questions.
All study work guides in this series have been compiled according to CAPS requirements.
This study work guide supplements the prescribed text The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife for
Grade 10 Home Language.
About the Author
Peter Southey has taught English as both first and second language for the past 45 years at
three high schools, a college of education and two universities. Although literature teaching has
always been his first love, his degrees at three levels are in Applied Linguistics.
First published in 2016 by Best Books
an imprint of NB Publishers a division of Media24 Boeke (Pty) Ltd.
40 Heerengracht, Cape Town 8001, South Africa
www.bestbooks.co.za
Copyright © 2016 by Peter Southey
All rights strictly reserved
This study work guide is based on The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife (school edition). First published by Maskew Miller Longman
(Pty) Ltd, 2008. This edition is published under licence from Pearson Marang (Pty) Ltd.
No part of this electronic book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including
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publisher.
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Also available in print:
First edition in 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77607-002-2
Epub edition:
First edition in 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77607-015-2 (epub)
Mobi edition:
First edition in 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77607-028-2 (mobi)