Date of Award

8-1998

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Medieval Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Otto Grundler

Second Advisor

Dr. Clifford Davidson

Third Advisor

Dr. Joyce Kubiski

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (935-1002 A.D.) wrote her play, Resuscitatio Drusianae et Calimachi, as the other five plays which Hrotsvit composed, as an adaptation of a hagiography from the apocryphal Acta Johannis. Written in the spirit of the tenth-century didactic esthetic delectatio et utilitas, Hrotsvit adapted the narrative of the legend to the Terentian comedic form, that she might instruct her monastic audience according to the delectatio et utilitas esthetic.

This discussion focuses on the sources and backgrounds of Hrotsvit's play, followed by Hrotsvit' s adaptive treatment of the characters in Resuscitatio Drusianae et Calimachi with a scene by scene comparative study of each character in the legend and the play, showing how Hrotsvit shifted the characterizations in the hagiography to suit her Terentian objectives in conjunction with delectatio et utilitas.

Through this study it is evident that Hrotsvit not only made significant changes to the characterizations in the hagiography, but also to its content and structure so that the legend of Drusiana and Calimachus might be shaped by the delectatio et utilitas esthetic that animates Resuscitatio Drusianae et Calimachi.

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