SECTION A: African Drama DELE CHARLEY: The Blood of a Stranger Comment on Wara as an admirable character.

Answer Details

Wara is the young virgin whose intended sacrifice lies at the heart of Dele Charley's The Blood of a Stranger. She is presented as an admirable character, innocent and dignified, and it is her undeserved suffering that gives the play its moral force. Several qualities make her admirable.

Her innocence and purity. Wara is chosen precisely because she is a pure and innocent maiden. She has done no wrong, yet she is marked out to be sacrificed to serve the schemes of corrupt men. Her innocence throws into sharp relief the wickedness of those who would destroy her, and it wins the audience's sympathy and admiration.

Her love and loyalty. Wara is bound in love to Kindo, the king's warrior son, and she remains faithful to him. Her genuine, devoted love contrasts with the greed and treachery around her, showing her capacity for true feeling and constancy.

Her courage and dignity in the face of a terrible fate. Confronted with the horror of being offered as a human sacrifice, Wara bears her situation with a dignity that commands respect. She does not connive or betray; she is a victim of others' evil, and she meets her ordeal with a quiet, admirable composure.

A symbol of endangered innocence. Wara functions as the emblem of everything pure and valuable in Mandoland that the greedy and the treacherous are willing to destroy. Her plight galvanises Kindo's resistance and exposes the corruption of Maligu and the exploitation by the stranger. In this way her very helplessness becomes morally powerful.

Conclusion. Wara is admirable in her innocence, her faithful love, and her dignity under the threat of sacrifice. As the pure victim whose blood the conspirators seek, she embodies the play's condemnation of greed and betrayal, and her suffering makes her the moral centre of the drama. It is precisely because she is so admirable and so undeserving of her fate that her ordeal moves the audience so deeply.