The dilemma of identity: Theatrical portrayals of a 16th century feminist

Recent political events involving women in power foreground the continued struggle for an appropriate intersection of socio‐political role identity and gender identity. The relationship between this struggle and feminist ideologies is demonstrated in two feminist plays about the 16th century feminist, Queen Christina of Sweden. The two playwrights, Pam Gems and Ruth Wolff, assume divergent ideological orientations in their portrayals of Christina, but both provide little hope for women seeking to nest their gender and socio‐political identities.