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The “Mighty Voice of Gandersheim”: Hrotsvit’s Didactic Motivation in Her Plays

Year 2024, , 158 - 165, 22.06.2024
https://doi.org/10.53487/atasobed.1496037

Abstract

The monastic author of the Saxon Imperial abbey of Gandersheim, Hrotsvit of
Gandersheim was a notable woman playwright during the reign of Otto I, who had been
crowned Roman emperor by the Pope in 962. Hrotsvit subverts notoriously misogynistic
medieval literature and the negative literary depiction of women in her plays composed
in the middle of the 10th century. She substitutes the masculine tradition and pagan
writers’ themes of shameless indecency of lascivious women with saintly women who
verbally and intellectually defeat the male oppressors. Transfiguring the earlier depictions,
she is devoted to evangelizing of the world and committed to reorienting the dramatic
representation of women. Furthermore, she identifies herself with an educator and
moralist and discloses an assertion of intention to constructs a didactic persona. This study
analyzes Hrotsvit’s plays Dulcitius and Sapientia by discussing the ways in which Hrotsvit
defies the literary conventions in male-authored narratives through her female
characters, who simultaneously defy and subvert the male authority through rhetorical
skills, moral and intellectual ability, and Christian wisdom. The aim of this study is to show
that Hrotsvit elevates the depiction of women and to serve God and spiritual ends by
writing.

References

  • Berschin, W. (2013). Hrotsvit and her works. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 23-34). Brill.
  • Case, S. (1983). Re-viewing Hrotsvit. Theatre Journal, 35(4), 533-542.
  • Classen, A. (2011). Performance, orality, and communication in medieval women convents in the light of the plays of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim. In S. Vanderputten (Ed.), Understanding monastic practices of oral communication (pp. 231-243). Breopols.
  • Dronke, P. (1984). Women writers of the middle ages. Cambridge University Press.
  • Gold, B. K. (1997). Hrotsvit writes herself: Clamor validus Ganderhemensis. In B. K. Gold, P. A. Miller & C. Platter (Eds.), Sex and gender in medieval and renaissance Text: The Latin tradition (pp. 41-70). State University of New York Press.
  • Hrotsvit of Gandershem. (1998). Hrotsvit of Gandershem: A florilegium of her works. (K. Wilson, Trans.). D. S. Brewer.
  • Hrotsvit of Gandershem. (1972). Hrotsvithae Opera. (H. Homeyer, Ed.). Verlag Ferdinand Schoningh.
  • Kline, D. T. (2004). Kids says the darndest things: Irascible children in Hrotsvit’s Sapientia. In P. R. Brown, L. A. McMlllin & K. M. Wilson (Eds.), Hrotsvit of Gandershem: Context, identities, affinities, and performances (pp. 77-95). University of Toronto Press.
  • Macy, G. (2013). Hrotsvit’s theology of virginity and continence.” In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 63-82). Brill.
  • McInerney, M. B. (2003). Eloquent virgins: The Rhetoric of virginity from Thecla to Joan of Arc. Springer.
  • McNaughton, H. (1993). Hrotswitha and the dramaturgy of liminality. Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association, 80, 1-16.
  • Newman, F. (2013). Strong voice(s) of Hrotsvit: Male-female dialogue.” In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretiveapproaches (pp. 287-310). Brill.
  • Richmond, C. D. (2003). Hrotsvit’s Sapientia: Rhetorical power and women of wisdom. Renascence, 55(2), 133-145.
  • Ruys, J. F. (2008). What nature does not teach didactic literature in the medieval and earlymodern periods. Brepols.
  • Stevenson, J. (2013). Hrotsvit in context: Convents and culture in Ottonian Germany. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 35-62). Brill.
  • Tarr, J. (1991). Hrotsvit of Gandersheim. In K. M. Wilson (Ed.), An encyclopedia of continental women writers (pp. 445 447). Taylor & Francis.
  • Verner, L. (2023). Consent, rape and pollution: the context of Hrosvitha’s Dulcitius. The Explicator, 81(2), 50-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/00144940.2023.2243537
  • Wailes, S. L. (2006). Spiritually and politics in the works of Hrotsvit of Gandershem. Susquehanna University Press.
  • Wailes, S. L. (2013). The sacred stories in verse. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 85 120). Brill.
  • Wailes, S. L., and Brown, P. R. (2013). Hrotsvit and her world. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 3-21). Brill.
  • Wilson, K. M. (1988). Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: The ethics of authorial Stance. Brill.
  • Wilson, K. M. (1985). Figmenta vs. veritas: Dame Alice and the medieval literary depiction of women by women. Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 4(1), 17-32.
  • Zampelli, SJ, M. A. (2013). The necessity of Hrotsvit: Evangelizing theatre. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 147-199). Brill.

The “Mighty Voice of Gandersheim”: Hrotsvit’s Didactic Motivation in Her Plays

Year 2024, , 158 - 165, 22.06.2024
https://doi.org/10.53487/atasobed.1496037

Abstract

The monastic author of the Saxon Imperial abbey of Gandersheim, Hrotsvit of
Gandersheim was a notable woman playwright during the reign of Otto I, who had been
crowned Roman emperor by the Pope in 962. Hrotsvit subverts notoriously misogynistic
medieval literature and the negative literary depiction of women in her plays composed
in the middle of the 10th century. She substitutes the masculine tradition and pagan
writers’ themes of shameless indecency of lascivious women with saintly women who
verbally and intellectually defeat the male oppressors. Transfiguring the earlier depictions,
she is devoted to evangelizing of the world and committed to reorienting the dramatic
representation of women. Furthermore, she identifies herself with an educator and
moralist and discloses an assertion of intention to constructs a didactic persona. This study
analyzes Hrotsvit’s plays Dulcitius and Sapientia by discussing the ways in which Hrotsvit
defies the literary conventions in male-authored narratives through her female
characters, who simultaneously defy and subvert the male authority through rhetorical
skills, moral and intellectual ability, and Christian wisdom. The aim of this study is to show
that Hrotsvit elevates the depiction of women and to serve God and spiritual ends by
writing.

References

  • Berschin, W. (2013). Hrotsvit and her works. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 23-34). Brill.
  • Case, S. (1983). Re-viewing Hrotsvit. Theatre Journal, 35(4), 533-542.
  • Classen, A. (2011). Performance, orality, and communication in medieval women convents in the light of the plays of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim. In S. Vanderputten (Ed.), Understanding monastic practices of oral communication (pp. 231-243). Breopols.
  • Dronke, P. (1984). Women writers of the middle ages. Cambridge University Press.
  • Gold, B. K. (1997). Hrotsvit writes herself: Clamor validus Ganderhemensis. In B. K. Gold, P. A. Miller & C. Platter (Eds.), Sex and gender in medieval and renaissance Text: The Latin tradition (pp. 41-70). State University of New York Press.
  • Hrotsvit of Gandershem. (1998). Hrotsvit of Gandershem: A florilegium of her works. (K. Wilson, Trans.). D. S. Brewer.
  • Hrotsvit of Gandershem. (1972). Hrotsvithae Opera. (H. Homeyer, Ed.). Verlag Ferdinand Schoningh.
  • Kline, D. T. (2004). Kids says the darndest things: Irascible children in Hrotsvit’s Sapientia. In P. R. Brown, L. A. McMlllin & K. M. Wilson (Eds.), Hrotsvit of Gandershem: Context, identities, affinities, and performances (pp. 77-95). University of Toronto Press.
  • Macy, G. (2013). Hrotsvit’s theology of virginity and continence.” In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 63-82). Brill.
  • McInerney, M. B. (2003). Eloquent virgins: The Rhetoric of virginity from Thecla to Joan of Arc. Springer.
  • McNaughton, H. (1993). Hrotswitha and the dramaturgy of liminality. Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association, 80, 1-16.
  • Newman, F. (2013). Strong voice(s) of Hrotsvit: Male-female dialogue.” In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretiveapproaches (pp. 287-310). Brill.
  • Richmond, C. D. (2003). Hrotsvit’s Sapientia: Rhetorical power and women of wisdom. Renascence, 55(2), 133-145.
  • Ruys, J. F. (2008). What nature does not teach didactic literature in the medieval and earlymodern periods. Brepols.
  • Stevenson, J. (2013). Hrotsvit in context: Convents and culture in Ottonian Germany. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 35-62). Brill.
  • Tarr, J. (1991). Hrotsvit of Gandersheim. In K. M. Wilson (Ed.), An encyclopedia of continental women writers (pp. 445 447). Taylor & Francis.
  • Verner, L. (2023). Consent, rape and pollution: the context of Hrosvitha’s Dulcitius. The Explicator, 81(2), 50-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/00144940.2023.2243537
  • Wailes, S. L. (2006). Spiritually and politics in the works of Hrotsvit of Gandershem. Susquehanna University Press.
  • Wailes, S. L. (2013). The sacred stories in verse. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 85 120). Brill.
  • Wailes, S. L., and Brown, P. R. (2013). Hrotsvit and her world. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 3-21). Brill.
  • Wilson, K. M. (1988). Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: The ethics of authorial Stance. Brill.
  • Wilson, K. M. (1985). Figmenta vs. veritas: Dame Alice and the medieval literary depiction of women by women. Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 4(1), 17-32.
  • Zampelli, SJ, M. A. (2013). The necessity of Hrotsvit: Evangelizing theatre. In P. R. Brown & S. L. Wailes (Eds.), A companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contextual and interpretive approaches (pp. 147-199). Brill.
There are 23 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Social Work (Other)
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Hediye Özkan 0000-0002-7613-553X

Publication Date June 22, 2024
Submission Date December 21, 2023
Acceptance Date February 10, 2024
Published in Issue Year 2024

Cite

APA Özkan, H. (2024). The “Mighty Voice of Gandersheim”: Hrotsvit’s Didactic Motivation in Her Plays. Current Perspectives in Social Sciences, 28(2), 158-165. https://doi.org/10.53487/atasobed.1496037

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