The Enigmatic Role of Melanie Isaacs: Exploring Exploitation and Redemption in J.M. Coetzee's 'Disgrace

Disgrace is a story that explores the life of a college professor from South Africa. He teaches English at a University in Cape Town at a time when the country is recovering from post-apartheid. He is a man with a high level of sexual desire for which he rises to quench by visiting prostitutes from time to time, and one of them is Soraya. However, this does not satisfy him and transcends to other aspects of his life. It is until he meets Melanie that he gets the wow factor. She re-energizes his life and elicits the feeling of passion which he never knew he had. In the story, Melanie is very influential in developing the plot of the story. Her involvement in the story is small, but her character is very influential especially in the life of David. This essay will explore the character of Melanie Isaacs regarding how her role is significant to the story as well as the impact she brings in the story (Oriaku, 2016).

Melanie is first of all the student of David form one of the classes. David first meets her is a class about romantic literature and is greatly attracted to her. At the time David exhibits sexual activities that could be termed risky because he had divorced his wife and had now formed a habit of using prostitutes to satisfy his sexual desires. He tries to initiate sexual relations with other people before his affair with Melanie. His first sexual encounter with Melanie was after he got her drunk and his actions towards her can be considered as rape. They continue their sexual relationship a couple of time until Melanie makes a complaint to the university that marks the downfall of the professor (Oriaku, 2016).

Melanie Isaacs is a beautiful young girl. Her character is depicted of a young innocent girl pursuing her dreams of literature and drama. She is a girl that falls prey to the sexual insanity of David. David is fast attracted to her innocence. She is a complicated character who even after claiming she does not want to have a relationship with David finds herself in his house.  She is also secretive, and this can be seen when she makes the complaint about David to the university at a time when they seem to be close (Mardorossian, 2011).

As a young African girl, Melanie is used in the story to depict the aspects of exploitation that has existed in South Africa during the times of apartheid. She is young and very innocent, and David is quickly drawn to her. He rapes her after getting her drunk and takes away her innocence. David is a well-established professor at the college and has a good reputation in the school. However, he has a sexual insanity that forces him to take advantage of Isaacs. The character of Isaacs is also used to compare with the one between David and his daughter. David’s daughter suffers the same fate in the hands of hooligans who rape his daughter while he was there and could not do anything. The comparison between the two situations can be used to explore the aspect of karma, where the actions of David as a predator comes back to him in the form of the rape of his daughter (BANDICI, 2015).

 Melanie and David’s daughter are both innocent in the situation. The story of Melanie however, leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The fact that she had a sexual relationship with David even after he raped her makes her story complex. However, her character is effective in developing of sexual exploitation, post-apartheid and the relationship between a father and a daughter (LEBLANC, 2017).

Works Cited

McCoppin, Rachel. "Acceptance of the Other: Reconciliation in J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace." Atenea, vol. 31, no. 1/2, ene-dic2011, pp. 53-65.

Mardorossian, Carine M. "Rape and the Violence of Representation in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace." Research in African Literatures, vol. 42, no. 4, Winter2011, pp. 72-83.

Oriaku, Remy. "J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace as an Allegory of the Pain, Frustration, and Disorder of Post-Apartheid South Africa." Matatu: Journal for African Culture & Society, vol. 48, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 145-160.

BANDICI, Adina. "Whites as Victims of Racial Discrimination in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace." Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies, vol. 7, no. 13, Oct. 2015, pp. 35-40.

LEBLANC, MARY. "Hushed Resolve, Reticence, and Rape in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace." Philosophy & Literature, vol. 41, no. 1, Apr. 2017, pp. 158-168.