Folk Psyche of Feminine Emancipation in Eritrea: A Village Dream

Abstract

Folklore primarily is said to be a narrative of the masses and drama is an ancient art of common people. Since folklore originates in the psyche of the common people, its thematic infusion into the play by dramatists 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 mind of womenfolk does sometimes reflect in the dramatic lore of this kind. The present paper attempts to shed some light on this urge of the women in a folktale from the East African country of Eritrea which is dramatized in Mesgun Zerai’s internationally acclaimed one-act play – A Village Dream.