Unearthing the Roles of Regina in Maurice Udo's Part-time Lovers - Onyeji Nnaji

One relevant tool in literary appreciation is the apparent use of irony. One of the relevant usess of irony in literary discourse is that it helps the writer to create certain fancy that carries readers on, until he gets to where the assumed allusion is resolved. It gives readers the chances of creatively exploring their own mind in order to get the required undedstanding about the story in the work of art. The same, I suppose, is what Udom intends to achieve through the character, Regina, in the play text, Part-Time Lovers.

The play began with different characters and continued till movement five before the playwright intentionally introduced the character, Regina. Although Regina was portrayed as a silent voice existing unnoticed to observe things, she was intentionally created to help in resolving the conflict ravaging the house of Reverend Benson over his unidentified twin boys.

We experienced the emergence of Regina the moment Pamela's twins, Dele and Tunde were arrested by the police over a fight in the house. This arrest situation made Regina relevant in the play as she was used to ascertain and reveal to readers who Pamela was to Reverend Benson. Through Regina voice here readers uncover the true person in Reverend Benson.

Regina is also used by Udom here to settle the bobbling thought in Pamela about how and why the secret about the true father of her twin boys should be made known. Regina lent Pamela voice and gave her the courage to resolve the conflict inside of her. We see Regina defeating every obstacles suspected by Regina to usurp her intention to uncover the secret about the identity of her twins' true father. She answered all Pamela's questions and gave her reasons to do the needful.

Readers discover that Regina disappeared in the succeeding movements just like evaporated gas. The reason was that her roles have ended as the purpose the playwright intended to achieve through her characterization have been successful. Her friendship Pamela was particularly intended to call up the hidden information in the play and to expose to readers how the respected Reverend Benson managed to create the trouble that would have terminated his faith in God.

The contributions of Regina in this play are enormous. Literature pictures the society; and the beauty every literary piece carries is in it's ability to link the reader to the dominant activities in their society. The awareness created in this play about the romance of the church and the world is made is obvious through the roles of Regina. This is the primary purpose the text sets to achieve. Regina's roles strengthen the plot structure of the play.