Analysis of Onyekaonwu’s Nwata Rie AwỠUsing a Moralistic Approach

Abstract

One of the importance of literature is that it teaches morals and inculcates lessons and values to the readers who are changers of the society. Some critics verbalize that the play Nwata Rie AwỠis a tragic story spawned from infatuation not love, felt by the protagonist. However the playwright portrayed this play as a tragic ‘love’ story with several themes put in one. This paper will analyse the above mentioned play, using a Moralistic Approach to evaluate the ethical issues being shown and different lessons it could provide and this was done using sociological theory. This research adopted the descriptive qualitative method. The instrument used was the Igbo drama called Nwata Rie AwỠby Onyekaonwu, G.O. Findings made from this research showed that morals have been obscured in recent times and that free choice is important but people ignore the fact that choices have consequences. This research will be of importance to literary scholars who will embark on moralistic approach research on literary texts.