GENDERED DEMOCRACY OF THE OPPRESSED FEMINEITY: A REFLECTION OF THE AFRICAN REVERIE OF BELEAGUERED WOMANHOOD

It is an established fact that folklore originates in the psyche of the masses. Therefore, its thematic infusion into the
plays may be seen as a conceptualization of these peoples’ voices, their ideas, their anxieties, their wants and their
social predicament. The long-suppressed desire of freedom and gender equality in the reverie of womenfolk does
sometimes reflect in the dramatic lore of this kind. The present paper attempts to bring to light this urge of the
womenfolk which is dramatized in an African one-act play – A Village Dream by Mesgun Zerai. In the cultural context
of the globe, this East-African folktale is quite significant since the dramatist here examines the reality of the postmodern
women’s life in their traditional patriarchal garb of female subjugation that represents Africa. The longdebated
issue of this gender inequality and repressed femineity undergoes a critical scanner of the playwright from
the East-African country of Eritrea. The practical solution of the male subjugation the dramatist offers here through
this play seems quite relevant even to the post-modern democratic societies of the globe today. The present paper
explores this solution that is visualized by the internationally acclaimed Eritrean playwright, Mesgun Zarai, through
his folkloric play – A Village Dream.