SOURCE: "Sexism and the Search for the Thematic Structure of the Plays of Hroswitha of Gandersheim," in International Journal of Women's Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3, May / June, 1979, pp. 221-32.

In the following essay, Frankforter discusses Hroswitha's six plays, arguing that they should be viewed as works focusing on women as Christian heroes rather than as imperfectly realized dramas primarily about their male characters.

I

The writing of history has long been an activity controlled by males. Most of the honored commentators who have shaped the western historical tradition have been extraordinary men who have concentrated their professional attentions on others like themselves. As a consequence, the historical method, which was pioneered by their work, often predisposes later scholars, male and female, to approach the writing of history with a set of male presuppositons. Historians are accustomed to searching their data for evidence of the effectiveness of dominant men, and...