In this essay, Petrusso discusses the evolution of Lena's character and why she decides to stay with her abusive mate, Boesman, at the end of Fugard's play.

In Athol Fugard's Boesman & Lena, the title characters, de facto husband and wife, seem to have an adversarial relationship. Though they are a couple, Boesman and Lena have no love lost between them. Boesman is impatient with Lena and often threatens her. He beats her regularly, and she has the bruises to prove it. Yet Lena stays with Boesman despite this mistreatment. During the play, however, Lena undergoes a transformation that shows she is more than an object for Boesman's fists. By looking at Lena's nature and clues to her evolution, the reasons for her decision to stay with Boesman become much clearer.

When Lena and Boesman make their entrance in Act I, Fugard writes in the stage directions that...