Fecundity, Barrenness and the Importance of Motherhood in Two Nigerian Plays
Jeremiah, Methuselah Samuel PhD

Abstract
Fecundity, fertility and barrenness are three concepts that are interlinked within the discourse on women. Specifically, in Africa, they serve as measuring rods for a woman’s relevance and status in most societies. Fecundity, itself, presupposes the capability by a woman to procreate. Fertility, on the other hand entails the process of actualization of procreation, which results in conception and subsequent birth. The corollary of this is barrenness which is a presentation of infertility in women which consequently affects motherhood as a result of the inability to conceive and bear children. This work investigates the phenomenon of fecundity, fertility and barrenness in Nigerian drama but specifically in Song of a Goat by JP Clark and The Trials of Bro Jero by Wole Soyinka. We shall look at the characters of Ebiere in Song of a Goat and the Woman Penitent in The Trials of Bro Jero as typologies of women who suffer excruciating pain, shame and despondence as a result of their childless status.

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