Hrotsvit Of Gandersheim: Play Analysis

Additionally, the title of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim’s play was changed which also denies Mary of her emotions and experiences. Evitt writes, “Originally titled Abraham by its early editors, Hrotsvit’s complete incipit title for this play reads…The Fall and Repentance of Mary, the Niece of the Hermit Abraham,” (357). By changing the title of the play, Mary becomes another woman who is denied rights in a patriarchal society. In Katharina M. Wilson’s translation, she places Hrotsvit’s original title in the introduction to the play, instead of using it as the title (124). The plays by Hrotsvit follow this same idea of antifeminist societal views, giving men control over women’s bodies (Sperberg-McQueen 48). Likewise, in a patriarchal society, they